(EARLY ACCESS YT EDIT) HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF - BLOOD PRINCE (2009) | FIRST TIME WATCHING | MOVIE REACTION

I love these movies but the books wow. A must read. I couldn’t stop reading. Don’t read the spoilers above some people pit too much info. Just put it this way these movies just get better and better.

Dawn

I think the slight difference in the books that made a huge difference to me is the reader knows, because Harry knows, about Dumbledore's hand early on. I also think because I know the typical plot for most mentors as Dumbledore is, in an epic tale such as this is, that they die or are somehow separated from the quester/chosen person to fight evil. For example, with Lord of the Rings, you think Gandalf dies, and he does and then is sent back, but he does not see Frodo again till the ring is destroyed. Frodo has to learn and struggle on his own. Same thing happens in Star Wars. Obi Wan Kenobi dies in the first movie too, though he does get to drop in on Luke Skywalker occasionally. So, when I first read the book, and saw like a chapter or two in that Dumbledore had that hand, I knew he probably was going to die, I just didn't know when he'd die. I figured it might happen early in the final book or midway through, not necessarily at the end of the 6th book. Still was so sad though.

Zoe

Another part of the book I think I remember that was interesting to me is when Harry is chasing the Deatheaters, he's calling out all these spells to stop them, which are getting blocked of course, and Snape says back to him to "stop saying the spells out loud," as if he is still training Harry. You guys need to finish this series up!

Jon

I've heard that J.K. Rowling regrets the Ron-Hermione coupling, and now thinks she should have hooked up with Harry Potter instead. Glad she didn't do that, because I could think of nothing more boring and predictable. Honesty, when I saw the first movie and she was introduced, my very first thought was "Ah, future love interest of Harry Potter." I was so happy to be surprised in the end when she made a more interesting and smarter choice. Quite frankly, I can see lots of reasons Hermione may not want to be with Harry. Starting with the fact that he's super-duper famous. She's good. Too good to be constantly in his shadow, which is what would probably happen if they became an item. And people like to feel needed. Ron needs Hermione. More than Harry ever could need her. And maybe Hermione needs Ron, too. To paraphrase Rocky Balboa, they got gaps, and they fill in each other's gaps.

Robert Greffey

Shhhhhhhhh. You’re giving spoilers.

Dawn

Helena Bonham Carter is one of my favorite actresses. She is just brilliant, and while I hate Bellatrix, it pleased me to no end that Carter was picked for the role. For a totally different look at her, She plays the Queen in the "King's Speech" which is about King George during WWII. Absolutely brilliant movie, and top notch acting with Colin Furth, Carter, and Jeffrey Rush. I love this movie and have watched it repeatedly. She was also the Fairy Godmother in the Disney live action remake of Cinderella, and that's another movie I regularly.

Kristin D

I've been feeling the same thing for the books I wanted them to read those books on their own time but... they kept getting spoiled so I joined that crowd after number three

Karl Kraus

I'm just wondering, wouldnt it make more sense to drop the unedited version first, since yk it should be done faster because its unedited?? 🤔

Vincent Baierl

I was part of a Harry Potter forum while the books were being released and there was discussion about whether or not D would die, but there was very little speculation about who and how. It was a complete and utter surprise that it was Snape. It was absolutely shocking. I also would appreciate if they would do the movies back to back.

Kristin D

Kristin D

JAY - hold your judgement re: Snape. There's FAR more to his and Dumbledore's story. All will become clear in the final movie. WORTH THE WAIT! FUN SIDE NOTE: Hero Fiennes-Tiffen (who played the very young (boy) Tom Riddle that Dumbledore visited in the orphanage) is actually Ralph (Voldemort) Fiennes nephew in real life. Nice family connection there and Hero went on to be an actor in his own right.

SA 'Baz' Collins

So many things to unpack!! First and foremost, and it isn't said in the movie, but Voldemort/Tom Riddle is half-blood. It's not a spoiler but the movies won't cover it so it's just a nice piece of info to know. Tom's mother was a witch who fell in love with a muggle who didn't know she existed. This man's name was Tom and he was very good looking and charming. She used love potion on him to make him love her. They concieved Tom Riddle under the influence of love potion/fake love. Which is part of the reason why Voldemort doesn't understand love and why Lily's ultimate sacrifice to protect Harry was so strong. When Voldemort's mother stopped giving love potion to Tom while she was pregnant, he abandoned her (rightfully so, as she literally forced him into that relationship). She gave birth to her son near the orphanage and died afterwards. This is partly why Voldemort has been trashing on his father so much (in Chamber of secrets, in Goblet of Fire) Next up, if you noticed throughout this series, it's often implied that Ron has a lot of self-esteem issues. Being the 6th boy out of 7 talentful siblings, he's always been under appreciated. In the first movie, when looking into the Mirror of Erised, he sees himself as a successful quidditch player and head of Gryffindor house, while Harry's greatest desire is to be with his parents. And in Half-Blood Prince, he finally becomes adored by the whole Gryffindor house for being an amazing Keeper in the Quidditch match AND girls are throwing themselves at him. At that point, he is understandably on a high. He's never felt so "seen" and "valued". You guys did pick up on Ron being disregarded by Slughorn, who miscalled him Wallenby, where as his sister was invited to his little party and called her Miss Weasley. But all these little details are recurring things that happens in the books/movies. So I guess it's easier to understand why Ron is the way he is. As for Hermione and Ron, I feel like their relationship isn't well developed in the movies. In the books, they banter a lot, they are so different yet, they really do complement the other. In Goblet, Ron finally starts seeing Hermione as a girl, and starts liking her without realizing it. And in Phoenix's book, Ron shows jealousy a few times when he realizes Hermione is still writing to Krum. So he does like her but doesn't know how to deal with those feelings...In Half-Blood Prince's book, Ginny sort of insulted Ron, saying he had no experience with girls, that he's the only one who's never had a girlfriend... and that even Hermione "snogged" with Krum. This is the part where he felt self-conscious about his lack of experience, was jealous about Krum/Hermione's intimacy and felt the need to prove himself. When that Quidditch match happened and Lavender threw herself at him, he didn't really think about it, just jumped into that relationship because she was willing to have him. Until a couple weeks later, he already had grown over all the snogging with Lavender. Next up, Draco Malfoy. It is not said in the movies but, Voldemort asked him personally to kill Dumbledore to punish Lucius Malfoy from his fail at the Ministry of magic (5th book/movie). His mission was to bring back the prophecy but the prophecy was broken. Therefore, Voldemort doesn't "know" what was said, but Harry does. So Draco had a lot of pressure during this movie. His failed attempts to kill Dumbledore, working on mending the vanishing cabinet, isolating himself, until he had to face Dumbledore. He couldn't kill him. Malfoy is somewhat of a victim in this situation. He didn't ask to become a deatheater, he was pressured by the bad crowd surrounding his parents. It doesn't excuse his actions and I personally still don't like him, but it's nice to see some emotions from him that humanize him. Boy that was a long comment but this book is my favorite one out of the bunch because it dives deeper into Tom Riddle's origin. So many parts were left out in the movies so I had to mention them ^^ Great reaction! Can't wait to watch the full watch along 😁

Miss_CJ

Confidence is just to have someone believe in it. Love the shirt being an Empath sometimes you see with kaleidoscope eyes( Elton John Reference) loved the glasses. This is the best one of the series I think . Best to just finish the movies as soon as possible. The women you hate so much Amber is Helena Bomine Carter who played in a lot of movies Alice in Wonderland , Charlie and Chocolate Factory are just a few. You need some closure for sure so I hope you watched the last ones soon.

Lisa Rhodes

I love this movie, but there is one major oversight that I have a gripe with. While at the end Snape reveals he's the half-blood Prince, there is no explanation as to why. His father was a muggle (Snape) and his mother was a wizard (maiden name Prince). So it's ironic that he joined Voldemort who believes in purebloods only even though he's a half-blood. I'm not sure if Voldemort ever knew, or even if he ever cared, so long as they were 100% devoted to him (Voldemort). D's death was so hardcore when the books were being released. I think there was massive amount of depressed people for quite a while after this book came out. AND it took 2 years before the final book was released. You only have to wait a week! Really looking forward to the full length for this!

Kristin D

Imagine reading that scene in the book. My first thought was, now what do we do? How are we going to defeat Voldemort? Sure Harry knows that there are horecruxes but he doesn’t know where they are, or how to destroy them, except for using a basilisk fang. They tried to put a little bit of lighthearted humor, and this one through all the teenage angst and relationships that there were. But that ending just shreded my soul. The scene where Malfoy was in the bathroom before Harry got there, he was crying. I want to think he felt bad about the necklace, but I don’t know, he is a Malfoy, so maybe he was just upset Harry figured out it was him. The scene in Slughorn’s office, where he cures Ron of the love potion, when Ron falls off the couch that was not supposed to happen, he fell off by accident, and they kept it in the movie. After seeing this movie, a few times, I figured something out. The scene where Harry wins the Felix Felices, was very important. If you think about it, Malfoy was in the same potions class. Could you imagine if Malfoy had won some liquid luck?? That would’ve been terrifying. Anyway, hang in there, they took the last book, called the deathly hollows, and made it into two movies, part one and part two. Once you’re done with those two movies, we can have a really long, detailed discussion and answer all the questions you have. I loved your reaction as always.

Mary Alice

Now, this one will be fun to talk about. The Muggle and Wizarding worlds both are under a massive threat. They're in this together, whether the Muggles know it or not. For Muggle-born students, that'll be a problem. As Hermione pointed out, even if her parents aren't wizards, they feel something rotten is in the air. The bridge at the beginning (the Millennium Bridge in Muggle London) is a "flipping the bird" type deal by Voldemort and his Death Eaters. It's a sign from them that they need to watch their backs... or else. Horace Slughorn is another intriguing minor character that Rowling created. Luna Lovegood was the fifth book's quirky individual. Slughorn is this installment's. He's one of the Slytherins we all pointed out way back in this journey that aren't bad. Sure, he may be eccentric, but he's also likable. He's the wizard that all Slytherins were behaving like before the era of pure-blood mania was born. He had the resources necessary to breed a group of students to become honorable leaders and role models. That's why he always attempted to reap the cream of the crop in a class. He was also another "reason" for things being the way they are in the story, just like Pettigrew (Wormtail), this case being Tom Riddle finally discovering the answer to being immortal. Slughorn took his ability too far for this one young boy. It turned him into an egomaniacal tyrant. If anything, Riddle played on that strength and crippled Slughorn's spirit and forced him to bury that experience forever. The book discussed the memories involving Tom Riddle more in-depth. Not only did we discover both lines of Riddle's family but we also got to see how he came by a couple of items that would be some of the Horcruxes. This obviously happened when he graduated from Hogwarts. He visited a descendant of Helga Hufflepuff named Hepzibah Smith and manipulated her into giving a valuable object to use to turn into a Horcrux. Here, we realize how devious, conniving and cunning Riddle really was. We saw how he slicked past suspicion about siccing his Basilisk onto Muggle-borns in Chamber of Secrets. He really practiced on playing the part of a charming and respectable young wizard. Looking like his father helped a great deal. Plus, Borgin & Burke has some significance. Riddle took a job here while looking for Horcruxes to make. After quitting, he returned to Hogwarts to interview for the Defense Against the Dark Arts post. Dumbledore was Headmaster at that time already. Famously, he declined to award it to Riddle. After a heated exchange (on Voldemort's part), from that point onward, the DADA post was... JINXED!! He made sure that a new hire to that job would never stick around for more than a year. This is why all of these teachers kept getting killed, incapacitated permanently, resigning, impersonated and fired for misconduct, along with resigning due to fleeing with his Death Eater friends. This also reinforced the point of how Dumbledore became the one wizard Voldemort will always fear. That's how in all of the confrontations that happened in two of the first three books, Dumbledore was taken out of the equation so the vessels for Voldemort (Professor Quirrell and Ginny) can complete the schemes without further hindrance. We also get to see more similarities between Harry and Voldemort (Tom Riddle). They're both orphaned, some or most of their family didn't want him (according to the book) and were quite popular whilst in school, regular ladies men. They also grew close to one teacher especially, Slughorn and Dumbledore. This story continues to bind these two wizards closer and closer together. In the last book, the ultimate connection is made and I can't wait for you to see it. Draco Malfoy evolved from a bullying sycophant to a sympathetic minion. Atoning indirectly for his father's failure is quite the punishment. He's been cut down to size. He's become a lowly commoner after feeling like a king, being a pure-blood Slytherin, being coddled by his parents. Now, his life has been torn apart by humiliation, resentment and loneliness. Honestly, the sadness for Snape has shifted to Malfoy. I was bummed that the explanation for the nickname "Half-Blood Prince" wasn't explored. Just a couple of minutes would've sufficed. I was also disappointed in how the proceedings following Dumbledore's death was treated. It was a just a little vigil of wands and a look at his brand new portrait in the headmaster's office and nothing else. In the book, it was a beautiful spectacle. Everyone who was an acquaintance or dear friend of Dumbledore came to his funeral at the school. Even the merpeople in the Black Lake attended. Centaurs were in formation for something like a 21 gun salute, only with arrows. His tomb was made of pure white marble. It was lifted across the lake and onto a little islet in the middle. It's sad to see Fawkes leave the school after all of this. It turns out it's to be expected. In the series of movies that follow this, Fantastic Beasts, the phoenix is said to be the Dumbledore family's guardian. It comes to a member of that family when in dire need of assistance, like how Fawkes helped Dumbledore escape arrest in the last movie. Now, when the keeper of the phoenix dies, he does a little lament and then flies off, never to return again. Pretty solemn stuff. Good news of sorts. The attack on the Burrow did not happen in the book. The director, David Yates, I guess wanted to make the point of darkness more conspicuous. The fight in the Astronomy Tower, before and after Dumbledore's death, was much longer. The Order shows up to fight, including Bill Weasley, Ron's oldest brother. Unfortunately, he gets injured, quite severely. Plus, he's engaged to Fleur Delacour, the girl champion from the Triwizard Tournament. By the way, we never got to see much of Charlie Weasley, the second oldest brother, in the books or the movies (not at all as a matter of fact, just a couple of mentions). He's the one that took away Norbert in the first movie and brought in the dragons for the tournament's first task. In the fourth book, he makes an appearance before that during Harry's summer visit to the Burrow. I believe I covered everything that no one got to before I did lol This was a very packed movie with a lot to talk about. As always, I LOVE your reactions. I've been loving the HP reactions a lot more than your LOTR reactions. You're just so into the material. When I saw how you looked seeing Snape among Death Eaters, I almost lost it! I loved your face Amber! When everybody first read the book, they all got pissed I believe. In fact, Dumbledore's death was the number one event guessed to happen but I can't remember if they guessed Snape was how it happened. It got released when I was 11 so I wasn't into the "online spoiler community" yet. I love you two very much and can't wait for number seven and eight! Can you make an exception and do them back to back instead of week to week? After what you went through with LOTR, you'll want to watch back to back, trust me. You'll be tossing and turning all night wanting to know what happens next after Part 1. See you for film Friday (I hope its Close Encounters of the Third Kind)!

Karl Kraus