This weekend, in anticipation of fall, I dedicated quite a few hours days to rewatching the Harry Potter series. At the time of writing this this post, I just finished my rewatch of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, and I need to pause my movie marathon here for a moment to reflect. To be frank, I’ve always hated this film adaptation more than any other in the franchise. Fourteen years later, this distaste still exists and still enrages me. I can attribute a majority of this dislike toward the film to the many changes and additions made to the core story. So today, let’s talk about it: This is Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince: Book vs Movie.

Before scrolling any further, why not go grab yourself a nice, little snack or drink or any other tiny indulgence to enjoy while reading? Kick back, relax, and hang on the site for a minute. You have my permission. 😄

Okay, fellow Potterheads. Have those aforementioned indulgences ready? If so, let’s get nerdy, chat Harry Potter, and reopen this awful wound a decade later.

The Good

I’m going to start this post off on a lighter, more positive note and do this by exploring the changes and additions I enjoyed in this film.

Added: Draco Scenes

First, the new Draco scenes are definitely the best of the best. In the book, readers never really get to see what Draco is up to. (Then again, the mystery is one of the key plot points.) Showing Draco’s perspective really added a lot to the film. The additions perfectly captured his deteriorating mental state as he transformed from an arrogant prick to an anxious mess.

Not to mention: Tom Felton crushed it as Draco in this film.

Changed: Lavender Brown Scenes

Secondly, I liked how Lavender Brown’s character was portrayed. In the film, her character is just as crazy and obsessed with Ron as she was in the book — if not more. I really enjoyed Lavender’s whacko self in the film and found her far more entertaining than I found her in the book.

The Bad

Whew, okay. Now, it’s time for “the bad.” Brace yourself: We’ve got a lot to talk about here. This post and these critiques have been brewing since 2009, after all!

As a disclaimer: Obviously, I never expect a perfect, word-for-word, book-to-screen adaptation when a book is turned into a movie (although, Philosopher’s Stone was pretty dang close).

But as you’ll see below, my biggest gripes with this film lie within the director’s attempt to turn The Half-Blood Prince into a teen rom-com with a just a teeny-tiny bit of mystery sprinkled in. Unfortunately, The Half-Blood Prince just does not work as a teen rom-com. Now, let’s explore why.

Added: Preoccupation Obsession with Romance

While the novel did have brief moments of romance throughout, Half-Blood Prince was never intended to be a romantic story. At its core, this is a mystery.

However, in order to turn this film into a rom-com, the screenwriters needed to improvise and add copious amounts of unnecessary romance. Unfortunately, these improvised scenes just do not work. Instead, they feel forced, unnecessary, and make the characters feel… well, out-of-character. Examples include:

• Diner Scene: I honestly have nothing to say about this awkward scene other than saying it was just unnecessary.
• Dumbledore’s interest in Harry’s dating life: This strange preoccupation is so out of Dumbledore’s character, I don’t even know where to begin.
• Cormac’s Finger-Licking Scene: Just… why? Cormac was always a bit too much into Hermione, but he’s never such a weirdo about it.
• Final Scene on the Astronomy Tower: Why are the characters still talking about kissing literally five minutes after Dumbledore dies??

Added: Misplaced Jokes

There’s no rom-com without the “com.” Therefore, like the screenwriters needed to improvise a ton of romance, they also needed to create some comedy. Unfortunately, like the romance they created, the comedy doesn’t exactly work either. In fact, the source novel is probably even less comedic than it is romantic, which makes the comedy feel even more misplaced in this story. The characters crack jokes every other sentence, but here are just two examples:

• Ron and McGonagall: Right after the Katie Bell attack Hogsmeade, the scene cuts to Harry, Ron, and Hermione in McGonagall’s office. There, Ron and McGonagall open the scene with some comical banter about how the trio is always in the wrong place at the wrong time.
• “I am the chosen one.” I remember this scene ALL OVER the trailers. In this scene, Hermione tells Harry that Romilda Vane is only interested in him because he’s the “chosen one,” to which Harry replies, “But I am the chosen one.” In-character Harry would never say this. (In addition: in-character Harry had no interest in Romilda, but whatever.)

Changed: Oppugno.

This is a smaller one, but in the book, I vividly remember Hermione straight up attacking Ron in this scene. This included point-blank screaming at him beforehand. In the film, however, Hermione merely sniffs back a weak, heartbroken, “Oppugno,” before setting her flock of birds on him. This misinterpretation really misconstrued her rage, which was a key element of her subplot and character development in this book.

Added: The Weasley House Burning Down.

I don’t even know where to begin with this one, so I’ll start with one word: “What??????”

It’s like the screenwriters took what should have been the climax of the movie (more on that below), watered it down, made it boring, and then popped it randomly into the middle of the movie in a brand new scene that no one asked for.

Ever since I’ve been 16, this addition to the plot has me left wondering: What exactly were they trying to accomplish here? Establish Harry and Ginny, fighting side-by-side, as some kind of power couple?

I just… I just never grasped the purpose this scene served, especially considering how the Weasley house is fine and well at the start of Film 7 and their house burning down is never mentioned ever again. You’d think the Weasleys’ house burning down would come up again at some point, but nope — never. It’s never talked about again. It’s like it never happened.

Dumb.

Changed: The Felix Felicis Events.

The change here was frustrating, too. The whole purpose of the Felix Felicis chapter was to give Harry the luck he needed to extract one of Slughorn’s key memories, one of the biggest plot points in the entire book (more on the memory travesty below). But in their quest to make The Half-Blood Prince a comedy film, the screenwriters saw this part of the story as an opportunity for — you guessed it — misplaced comedy. And how did they do this? Well, by making “luck potion” manifest as drunkenness.

Yes, they decided that Felix Felicis would make Harry not only lucky but drunk and stupid, too.

I must have missed that part of the book — you know, the part where Harry is just mindlessly frolicking around Hogwarts cracking jokes and being silly. Granted, I do remember this part of the book having funny moments, but it also had touching ones.

For instance, in the book, there’s a somber moment after Aragog’s funeral where Slughorn tearfully shares with Harry how fondly he remembers the goodness of Lily Potter. Slughorn also pleads with Harry through his tears to not think poorly of him after learning the truth about his deepest-held secret.

These touching moments, unfortunately, were replaced by Harry’s stupid jokes, as the screenwriters opted to turn this into a silly sequence of events instead of highlighting the somberness and seriousness of these pivotal moments.

Changed: Dumbledore’s Thoughts on Voldemort’s Horcruxes.

The whole basis of Deathly Hallows is for Harry, Ron, and Hermione to hunt down Voldemort’s Horcruxes, which they believe to be powerful artifacts — a key piece of information Harry receives from Dumbledore himself in this book. Aside from the diary, which holds sentimental value, Dumbledore hypothesizes that Voldemort’s Horcruxes are well-guarded, powerful, ancient, and priceless artifacts.

Therefore, when Dumbledore tells Harry in the film adaptation that tracking down Voldemort’s Horcruxes is going to be challenging because “his Horcruxes could literally be anything” (i.e. random objects), this line completely contradicts the entire premise of the next book.

I just… speechless.

Changed: Snape’s Flight from Hogwarts.

Oh, this one STILL irks me years later and is, truly, unforgivable.

I remember this scene being not only traumatizing to read as a teenager but also engaging as hell. I could not put the book down as Harry chased Snape and the Death Eaters through Hogwarts.

Where, exactly, did this scene go? In the film, this scene carried no trauma, no excitement, no chase.

Was the sad excuse of a five-minute clip where Bellatrix kicks over some glasses in the Great Hall really the best the scriptwriters could do? Eh… I’m not sold, but I’m extremely disappointed.

Change: No Voldemort Memories.

Okay, we’ve finally reached the worst of the worst when it comes to the film adaptation of Half-Blood Prince. In the film adaptation, the scriptwriters pretty much eliminated the novel’s central plotline.

The whole point of The Half-Blood Prince was for Harry to learn about Voldemort’s past in order to better understand his adversary and possibly discover the secret to defeating him. In the book, Harry learns all about Voldemort’s heritage, his family, his early life, his uprise, and the beginning of the First Wizarding World. The film completely ignores this entire premise.

Instead, the film reduces the number of memories down to two: child Voldemort in the orphanage and teen Voldemort asking about Horcruxes. Now, I never believed every single memory would make it into the film.. but you’re telling the scriptwriters couldn’t have squeezed in any other memory scenes into the movie?

I’m going to go out on a limb here, but I bet had they cut out some of the unnecessary romance scenes, they could’ve squeezed in at least another memory (or two or three).

Sigh.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince: Book vs Movie – Summary

The novel, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, was easily one of my favorites in the series. For this reason, the fact that this film adaptation was so — to be frank — off-base, misinterpreted, and just overall bad has always bothered me. I am not sure what the creative vision for this film was, but I can confidently say, unless the director was going for a confusing hot mess, the vision was not achieved.

So now I’m wondering: What are your thoughts on Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince? Do you agree with me? Disagree? Let me know in the comments!