Thoughts on 'Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince'

I thought I'd jot down a few thoughts before moving on to dissertation editing. So, in no particular order, here are the thoughts from seeing the new Potter film with friends tonight:

*Don't start with this one - if you've never read the books, or haven't watched the other movies, at the very least, don't begin watching Harry Potter with this film. You'll be completely lost.

*The weight matches - part of the Harry Potter series is the maturing of the characters, there movement from childhood to adolesence to adulthood. As with reality, with age comes dealing with life's heavier things: death, war, disease, etc. It's in the latter years of high school that we start having to wrestle with the pain of loss. The books follow this, as the years in school (each Harry Potter book is one year in school) go by, the characters begin dealing with heavier and heavier things. This movie matches that well. While they balance it incredibly well with humor and laughs, there is a darkness that sets over the story as the showdown between good and evil comes ever closer.

*Contrasts and foils - I don't remember the book doing as good a job of this, but perhaps it did. There was a wonderful and vividly clear contrast throughout the movie tonight between the opposing sides. (1) Harry Potter is the 'chosen one,' but it doesn't become his all consuming identity or prideful. The foil to that is Draco Malfoy, Voldemort's 'chosen one' who lives in fear, takes it as his identity and pride - an identity that distances himself from everyone else in the school. (2) Harry's promise to follow Dumbledore's instructions is trusted, no need for anything more than Harry's word. For Snape and Narcissa though, especially for Bellatrix, there is no trust and so the unbreakable oath has to be made. (3) This theme of trust and mistrust contrasts the opposing sides of good and bad throughout the story. That for the 'good' guys, their is trust, faith, and loyalty in and towards one another. For the 'bad' guys, there's mistrust, traitors, and a lack of faith.

All in all, it was a really fun film and a great way to spend a couple of hours. Plenty of laughs, plenty to think about, and plenty to enjoy from the detail in the scenes to the CGI. As always, plenty to relate to: from Ron feeling like king of the world after doing really well in a sporting match to teenage infatuation to broken hearts to faithful friends to life's deepest regrets and to choices that redefine who the character is. A lot of fun! Looking forward to the next two!

Random Fact: Professor Severus Snape, played by Alan Rickman, is 63 years old and Maggie Smith, who plays Professor Minerva McGonagal is 75. Amazing to see these two actors still in these movies!