Harry Potter!

I'm happy to report that I'm not yet too old to stay awake through a midnight movie :-)

DH and I took 6 teenagers (including 3 of our own) to see Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince last Tuesday night for the first showing at midnight. I thought the movie was very well done, and the chemistry between Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint is by this time about as natural as can be. Helena Bonham-Carter is a totally magnificent Bellatrix Lestrange.

It was interesting to watch the character of Dumbledore change from all-powerful and all-knowing wizard to frail and sometimes uncertain old man as he prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice in the cause of good. I heard quite a few girls in the theater sniffling during the death scene, and I felt a bit like crying myself. It was as if we were all losing a grandfather.

As usual, it was unfortunate, if unavoidable, that so much content from the book couldn't be included in the movie (without making me stay up until dawn rather than 3am, at any rate). Even though the movie was titled "HP and the Half-Blood Prince," the entire mystery of figuring out who was the Half-Blood Prince was pretty much left out of the movie.

Looking forward to Deathly Hallows I + II. I'm so glad they decided to make two movies for the last book!

All the (sleepless) best,


Joy