RowlingTag Archives

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling (Book & Movie Review)

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Summary from GoodReads:

The war against Voldemort is not going well; even Muggle governments are noticing. Ron scans the obituary pages of the Daily Prophet, looking for familiar names. Dumbledore is absent from Hogwarts for long stretches of time, and the Order of the Phoenix has already suffered losses.

And yet . . .

As in all wars, life goes on. Sixth-year students learn to Apparate — and lose a few eyebrows in the process. The Weasley twins expand their business. Teenagers flirt and fight and fall in love. Classes are never straightforward, though Harry receives some extraordinary help from the mysterious Half-Blood Prince.

So it’s the home front that takes center stage in the multilayered sixth installment of the story of Harry Potter. Here are Hogwarts, Harry will search for the full and complex story of the boy who became Lord Voldemort — and thereby find what may be his only vulnerability.

Book & Movie Review:

So it took me reading and re-reading Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince about 4 times before I finally picked up the book with the knowledge that the half-blood prince was NOT Voldemort.  I’m not sure why I kept thinking that, even after re-reading the book that many times, but I did.  So it was nice approaching the book with that knowledge firmly encased in my head this time.

I just finished re-watching the movie, and I have to say the book wins on this one, hands down.  And this is, in my opinion, where you really start to lose out on things if you haven’t read the books and have only followed the movies.  For example – how would you know what those things are that attack Harry and Dumbledore and that they are chased away by fire?  How would you know where Harry got the knowledge to help Ron when he was poisoned by the mead (and furthermore, where was Rosmerta in all of this?),  since when does the Burrow get burned up? Where were Bill and Fleur? Who was the scary man running around with Bellatrix?  So many small details are left out of the movies, details that make the book so much richer and give so many answers.

While I appreciate that the movie did things to make them special, such as Harry and Ginny’s kiss, the tribute to Dumbledore, etc, the way the book had them laid out made me laugh out loud with delight, in the case of the kiss, and weep with sorrow in the case of Dumbledore.  Rowling had hit her stride in the previous book and just kept pushing forward, making The Half-Blood Prince one of the best books in the series.

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Lydia
13 July, 2011
Harry Potter Week
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Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling (Book & Movie Review)

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Summary from GoodReads:

There is a door at the end of a silent corridor, and it’s haunting Harry Potter’s dreams. Why else would he be waking in the middle of the night, screaming in terror?

Here are just a few of the things on Harry’s mind:

• A Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher with a personality like poisoned honey
• A venomous, disgruntled house-elf
• Ron as Keeper of the Gryffindor Quidditch team
• The looming terror of the end-of-term Ordinary Wizarding Level exams

. . . and of course, the growing threat of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.

In the richest installment yet of J.K. Rowling’s seven-part story, Harry Potter is faced with the unreliability of the very government of the magical world and the impotence of the authorities at Hogwarts.

Despite this (or perhaps because of it), he finds depth and strength in his friends, beyond what even he knew; boundless loyalty; and unbearable sacrifice.

Though thick runs the plot (as well as the spine), readers will race through these pages and leave Hogwarts, like Harry, wishing only for the next train back.

Book & Movie Review:

In Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix things start to get a bit.. well.. hairy.  Dumbledore and Harry are being discredited, mocked and watched and things at Hogwarts are making those first few years, basilisks, creepy two-faced men and all look, well, downright cheerful.

And all of this, in due part, to the introduction of a woman named Dolores Umbridge.

First, before I talk about the oh-so-sweet-want-to-kill-her-Dolores, let me just talk about how well Rowling managed to get across the frustration of Harry.  Like Harry, while reading the opening of this book, we don’t know.. well, anything.  What has Lord Voldemort been doing? What are Ron and Hermione hiding? What is going on!?

And then there’s the notice of being expelled.  Argh!

So, Dolores Umbridge.  Honestly, I think this was one of the most well-cast parts in the movies.  The woman chosen to play Umbridge made the hairs on the back of my neck rise up and I have never felt the desire to wring someones neck that much.  While the movie cast her so well, however, it did a great injustice to the fantastic Weasley twins.  Because, frankly, they shine in the book beyond measure.  The swamp, the tricks, the shop idea, their backing up of Harry (and by the way, what’s with not even mentioning Quidditch or the teams disbanding.  After so many movies do they just think we’ve forgotten all about it?)  Fred and George are not given their credit in the movie, nor is (again) Dobby, the elf who found the Room of Requirement, not Neville (who I like, but still.. it was Dobby!)

I really love the book – but the movie is a bit mediocre to me.  Aside from Umbridge and the final battle scene, I find that it did an injustice to many of the more notable parts of the books (don’t even get me started on Tonks).  I hope that they do a better job when it comes to the second half of Book 7.

 

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Lydia
12 July, 2011
Harry Potter Week
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Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling (Book & Movie Review)

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Summary from GoodReads:

Harry wants to get away from the pernicious Dursleys and go to the Quidditch World Cup with Hermione, Ron, and the Weasleys. He wants to dream about Cho Chang, his crush (and maybe do more than dream). He wants to find out about the mysterious event that’s supposed to take place at Hogwarts this year, an event involving two other rival schools of magic, and a competition that hasn’t happened for a hundred years. He wants to be a normal, fourteen-year-old wizard. Unfortunately for Harry Potter, he’s not normal—even by wizarding standards.

And in his case, different can be deadly.

Book & Movie Review:

In my opinion, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is when the Harry Potter books cease to be childrens books and take that turn into darker subject matters.  The opening scene, with Voldemort, Wormtail and the death of the caretaker sends chills down my spine and I love that both the book and the movie handle this scene so well.

What is missing from the movies, however, are Winky and Dobby (which, to me, lessons the impact of Dobby in the first installment of the final Harry Potter movie).  Neville Longbottom is featured more prominently then he appeared to be in the book (Dobby originally gave the gillyweed to Harry) and it kind of jumbles things up a bit.  Also, I don’t understand why, in the movie, the Weasley’s and Harry are not sitting in the same box as the Malfoy’s – that was a key part of the opening, to me.  In fact, that whole Quidditch section of the movie was jumbled and made a lot more sense in the book.

But, this book (and the movie) is my favorite of the bunch.  I love tasks, competitions, meeting new people from other wizarding schools.  I love seeing Hermione come into her own, I adore Fred and George (especially in the movie, they make me laugh so much when Ron is dancing with Professor McGonagall), and I love the fast-paced action of the story.

Other fantastic characters include:

  • Mad-Eye Moody
  • Cedric Diggory (Y’all, I admit, I cry every time)
  • Viktor Krum
  • .. and though technically not a character, I love the bit of tension between Harry and Cho.  It’s a reminder that they are indeed growing up.
By and far my favorite book out of the series and close to my favorite movie.  The jury is still out on that one.

 

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Lydia
11 July, 2011
Harry Potter Week
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Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling (Book & Movie Review)

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Summary from GoodReads:

For twelve long years, the dread fortress of Azkaban held an infamous prisoner named Sirius Black. Convicted of killing thirteen people with a single curse, he was said to be the heir apparent to the Dark Lord, Voldemort.

Now he has escaped, leaving only two clues as to where he might be headed: Harry Potter’s defeat of You-Know-Who was Black’s downfall as well; and the Azkaban guards heard Black muttering in his sleep, “He’s at Hogwarts . . . he’s at Hogwarts.”

Harry Potter isn’t safe, not even within the walls of his magical school, surrounded by his friends. Because on top of it all, there may well be a traitor in their midst.

Book & Movie Review:

In my review of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets I talked about about how I really didn’t enjoy the book, but enjoyed the movie.  Well, it’s the exact opposite for Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

Azkaban definitely starts to delve into the darker aspects of the Harry Potter stories with the arrival of the Dementors, the escape of a convicted murderer and the emergence of a key player in the murders of Lily and James Potter.  But, before the darkness takes its place, this book begins with my absolute favorite of the Dursley scenes: the inflation of Aunt Marge.  Seriously, both the book was spot on with this scene and I really was disappointed in how glossed over it was in the movie.

I think my dislike of the movie stems from the over-saturated advertising that was done before the movie was released.  I could not see a movie, watch TV, turn on my computer without seeing Sirius Black’s face crying out in agony on the newspaper.  I was tired of the movie before I even saw it (and that’s saying something).  So while I love the addition of Emma Thompson as Prof. Trelawney, love seeing Hermione deck Malfoy and thoroughly enjoy seeing the book of monsters come to life, anything having to do with Sirius Black was a major turn-off for me.

Before I finish this review, I want to talk a little bit about the imaginative brilliance that is the Maurader’s Map.  Just when I’m finally recovering from how amazing the game of Quidditch is, Rowling introduces a piece of paper that any kid would love to get their hands on.  I mean.. it’s an interactive treasure map, for all intents and purposes!  So brilliant.

I enjoyed re-reading Azkaban and found myself rolling my eyes a bit at re-watching it.  I prefer the ending to the book, prefer the timeline of the gifted Firebolt, prefer many things in the book over the movie’s version of the events… but when it comes down to it, they are both still quintessential Harry Potter and it’s impossible to forget them.

 

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Lydia
10 July, 2011
Harry Potter Week
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Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling (Book & Movie Review)

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Summary from GoodReads:

The Dursleys were so mean and hideous that summer that all Harry Potter wanted was to get back to the Hogwarts Schools of Witchcraft and Wizardry. But just as he’s packing his bags, Harry receives a warning from a strange, impish creature named Dobby who says that if Harry Potter returns to Hogwarts, disaster will strike.

And strike it does. For in Harry’s second year at Hogwarts, fresh torments and horrors arise, including an outrageously stuck-up new professor, Gilderoy Lockhart; a spirit named Moaning Myrtle who haunts the girls’ bathroom; and the unwanted attention of Ron Weasley’s younger sister, Ginny.

But each of these seem minor annoyances when the real trouble begins, and someone—or something—starts turning Hogwarts students to stone. Could it be Draco Malfoy, a more poisonous rival than ever? Could it possibly be Hagrid, whose mysterious past is finally told? Or could it be the one everyone at Hogwarts most suspects . . . Harry Potter himself?

 

 

Book & Movie Review:

For the longest time, I believed Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban to be my least favorite of the Harry Potter books – but I think this book has edged its way up.

Now, granted, there are parts I really enjoy.  I love getting to know Ginny Weasley, I love the introduction of Dobby, I can never get enough of the Dursley’s…but I think it’s Gilderoy Lockhart that is just a little too over the top for me.

Granted – the movie makes him more bearable, because it puts a face to the horribly pompous person that he is, but overall I find myself increasingly annoyed by his presence in every single important scene and, much like the teachers at Hogwarts, wish he’d just prove himself or get out of the way.

There’s a lot that’s revealed in this second book, which is a good reason in and of itself to not discount it (Harry and the parseltongue explanation), but in spite of all the good, it’s just one of my least favorite books.

Now.. here is where I am going to be a bit odd – because it’s actually one of my favorite of the movies.  Don’t ask me to explain it, but Lockheart doesn’t annoy me nearly as much on screen as he does on paper.  Make sense? No? Don’t worry, I’m confused by it too.

As always, there are small discrepancies between the book and the movie, but nothing horribly out of place (except.. why oh why wouldn’t you put Peeves in the movies?!).  At least the book is on the shorter side of all the books in this series, so while re-reading I don’t have to spend too much time being annoyed by Lockheart.

By the way, I much prefer the movie Moaning Myrtle to the book one as well – because the movie one DOES annoy me and the book one doesn’t.  I don’t make sense, I know.

 

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Lydia
9 July, 2011
Harry Potter Week
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Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling (Book & Movie Review)

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    Summary from GoodReads:

    Harry Potter has never been the star of a Quidditch team, scoring points while riding a broom far above the ground. He knows no spells, has never helped to hatch a dragon, and has never worn a cloak of invisibility.

    All he knows is a miserable life with the Dursleys, his horrible aunt and uncle, and their abominable son, Dudley—a great big swollen spoiled bully. Harry’s room is a tiny closet at the foot of the stairs, and he hasn’t had a birthday party in eleven years.

    But all that is about to change when a mysterious letter arrives by owl messenger: a letter with an invitation to an incredible place that Harry—and anyone who reads about him—will find unforgettable. For it’s there that he finds not only friends, aerial sports, and magic in everything from classes to meals, but a great destiny that’s been waiting for him… if Harry can survive the encounter.

    Book & Movie Review:

    To paraphrase Jackson Pearce, you’d have to be living under a sorcerer’s stone if you were not aware that the last Harry Potter movie is due out this summer.  Very soon in fact!  So with that in mind, I decided to make my way through the books and the movies to prepare myself for this final big event – the last movie and our farewell to Harry and his friends.

    When these books first came out I had no interest in them. None.  My siblings were all in an uproar (my sister was also 11, so she’s grown up with Harry) but I dismissed the books as fanciful nothings, young adult fiction, psh when would I ever want to read that?  I mean, at that time I was caught up in the fantastic world of romance novels. (Yes, that was sarcastic and true at the same time!)

    But then, around the release of the fourth book, I decided to pick up the series and see what all the fuss was about.  Since that first reading of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, I’ve read the book four times (one of those times out loud to my niece and nephew), and every time the book just gets better and better, and I think a large part of that is due to the movies.

    Now, I’ll first say that yes, a lot of the original books didn’t make it into the movies, specifically for Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, I missed Peeves, the potions Hermione has to get through to help Harry stop Quirrell, the introduction of Malfoy in the train (and not on the steps) and little details here and there (such as explaining to Harry where the pictures came from in the book Hagrid gives him at the end).  But overall, I think the movie did a fantastic job of bringing to life the wonder, excitement and awe I felt while reading the book.  I loved the portrayal of Quidditch and the main dining hall at Hogwarts, and I still catch my breath at that first sweeping view of the school.

    In my opinion, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone is the weakest of the books, in terms of development – but it also captures the innocence of Harry, Hermione and Ron, and grabs the reader by the hand and gently introduces them into the world of Hogwarts, allowing time for us to catch our breath and relax into it all.  That’s the best way to introduce children to the world of fantasy and Rowling did a marvelous job.

    I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention, in closing at least, how much I’ve also come to appreciate Dudley, and the Dursley’s.  They add comedy to the stories, but also that necessary anchor to the “muggle” world – the other side of what might have been had Harry’s mother not been magical.

    Feel free to join me in the next several days as I read, watch and review these books and movies.  You do not need to read or watch every one, or do both, or.. well, do whatever you wish and chime in with your thoughts, your hopes for the upcoming movies and how you plan to fill the void after the last movie has been watched.

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    Lydia
    8 July, 2011
    Harry Potter Week
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