The point of these Book to Movie Fridays is not to judge a movie on its own merit, but rather to compare it to the book to see how it holds up.
If it were the former, Half Blood Prince would be okay. It holds together on its own for about the first 2/3. Lavender Brown is spot on, Luna is her charming self, Harry is… well… dark-haired and British (even though that’s still really quite creepy on my part), and Draco sulks marvelously.
Then, about the time of the Sectumsempra curse, and the wand fight in the bathroom, the movie — as a movie — derails. It heads down into maudlin and kind of confusing territory, doesn’t hold water, and completely disregards Snape. Again. (Will the screenwriters ever learn?)
And, while it’s an okay movie as movies go, it’s really hard to compare the book to the movie because while it’s a similar story that shares names, places and plot elements, it’s really not the story Rowling was telling. Rowling — if I remember right ; I didn’t get a chance to reread it before we went — was exploring and explaining Voldemort’s past, giving us glimpses into the path Riddle took and the choices he made in becoming Voldemort. Yes, there was a lot of teen angst and romance in the book, but there was a lot about friendship and trust as well, some of which came through in the movie, but not as strongly as it did in the book.
And then there’s Dumbledore. When I read the book, I remember bawling. Sobbing. How could he be gone? What will Harry, or Hogwarts, or me as a reader do without Dumbledore?
And, honestly, I didn’t care when he died in the movie. It was ho-hum, Dumbledore’s falling off the balcony, that’s nice, what now?
What a disappointment.
Verdict: the movie’s OK, but really (if you didn’t already know), you should read the book.
The Book Nut 
Spot on observations!! I was so frustrated that they made Harry and Dumbledore all buddy-buddy in this one, when wasn't this book all about Harry's struggles and frustrations with Dumbledore keeping Harry kind of at arm's length? And the complete lack of any stuff about Snape's history was SO wrong. Ugh. I just really shouldn't watch movies from books I loved. (And this was actually my first HP movie!)
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Dawn — what a HP movie to start on! Go back and watch Order of the Phoneix. It's not the book, and they still short-change Snape, but it's the best movie (IMHO) of them all. That, and Prisoner of Azkaban.
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I completely agree! They cut my favorite parts (Harry and Ginny's actual first kiss, the battle at the end, Dumbledore's funeral). They didn't really explain, at all, who Fenrir Greyback was. AND, what's up with just saying that Snape is The Half Blood Prince without explaining it AT ALL! It's the title! You'd think they'd want to do something with that…at least a little. I know, I'm being very harsh, but I felt bad for everyone in the theater who hadn't read the book. My poor boyfriend got lost part way through and said, “I have no idea what's going on or who these people are.” He's seen all the movies and always felt like they gave him enough of the story, but this one confused him so much that he actually started reading the books! Maybe it was a blessing in disguise…=)
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I loved this one. I thought of all the movies it was the one best done, and I actually liked the last third of it better than the first 2/3rds. I don't expect them to be like the books, but since this is one of my two favorite books in the series and they totally screwed up my other fav (Azkaban), I was really worried about this one. I think they did it really well.
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My boyfriend, having not read the books, came out of the theatre sooooo confused. He's since started on his Harry Potter quest and agrees that the books have so much more meaning than the movies.
I'm really, really keeping my fingers crossed that the last movie (or rather TWO movies) are worthy of their namesake.
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I actually loved the movie, but the one thing that bothered me was the scene when they burned the Weasley's house down! There were so many things from the book they could have added — why make stuff up?!
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