Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

I would never call myself a Harry Potter enthusiast and you will never catch me rummaging through J K Rowling's bins for clues to the series (I have the internet for that type of thing). I will be frank with you; I have never had any passion for reading the books and have only recently been toying with the idea since walking into a charity shop and purchasing a frayed copy of Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone for £1.60. However reluctant I may be in reading these books, I have to admit a little secret, I absolutely adore the film adaptations. You'll often find me humming the theme tune by John Williams while pottering around the house (please excuse the cheap pun).


The world of Harry Potter has been at the forefront of our Jungian collective subconscious for twelve years now. It was back in 1997 when J K Rowling published her first book and achieved an overwhelming success that nobody could have anticipated. With her six sequels, the books have collectively sold over 400million copies worldwide and have been translated into 67 languages. Like millions of people across the globe, I have watched Harry Potter develop from a single seed into a great flower (sorry for the crap analogy, at least it's not a cheap-ass pun).


Naturally, it only took a few years for the first book to be adapted for the screen. The folks in Hollywood-Land envisioned great mining potential for the series and you can see why, the books were a phenomenon. Rowling mania had gripped the world of literature and it was about to clench the world of cinema. You can hear the executives at Warner Bros, 'why not strike some oil, we can make some green from the movie adaptations of Harry Potter'. The bigwigs at the studio did just that. The first six film adaptations have collectively cost a staggering 905 million dollars (a hearty investment some might say). Nevertheless, it has paid off. The worldwide box-office earnings so far are over 5 Billion dollars! That staggering amount doesn't take into consideration DVD sales or the fact that there are two more adaptations in the pipeline, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part I in November 2010 and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part II planned for a July 2011 release.


The cinematic delight that is Harry Potter started in 2001 with Chris Columbus (who penned the screenplay for the cult classic The Goonies way back in 1985) when he directed the mega-hit sensation Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. We saw the world of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry jump from the page and onto our cinema-screens and fans went wild (camping outside cinemas for midnight screenings). Then, only a year later, Columbus came back to direct the second Harry Potter film, Chamber of Secrets. At this point, the people behind the films wanted to inject a new flavour into the series so they picked Alfonso Cuaron to direct Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. In 2005, Mike Newell (who directed Four Weddings and a Funeral) came on board to direct Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Two years later, David Yates would continue the series with Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, which is getting its DVD and Blu-ray release on Monday…


One would assume that writing a review for a release like this would be pointless. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, no matter what people say, will fly off the shelves with one swoosh of a wand and one swipe of a credit card, especially at this time of year. A film like this demolishes the function of a film critic like a big swing ball on a construction site. It seems like a waste of your time for me to discuss the quality of the film and if it is worth buying or not. Therefore, I thought a personal account would be more suitable to this sort of release. As if this reviewer could make a difference to the sales, how disillusioned would you have to be? Unless you are a renowned film critic who writes for film magazines like Total Film or Empire, you can't hope to make a difference. Even then, I still think you can't control a beast like Harry Potter - it's a film series (much like Star Wars, James Bond, Pirates of the Caribbean, Spider-Man etc) that is 'out of our hands' so to speak. Regardless of what we quack-heads say about the quality of the film, it's going to sell millions and on the 25th December, when people open their presents, there's going to be a lot of happy people in the world. However, if you have lost your passion for the wonderful world of Harry Potter then my only purpose is to try and reconnect your excitement, if I can do that then I have achieved my purpose, so here goes…


'If you, a family member or a close friend are a fan of the Harry Potter film series then buy this brand-new release, it's really nice. It will make someone happy and it will look good besides the other Harry Potter DVDs. If you are not a fan of the series and hate the middle-class tomfoolery of Harry Potter then do not bother, go spend your money on something like Transformers 2 or Terminator Salvation. It's that simple.'


One of the best things about reviewing the DVD release of Half-Blood Prince is that I had a sort of Harry Potter inspired movie-marathon. I watched the first six films (with special features) over the space of 2 days. I have to admit, it's been one of the most fun-filled movie-marathons I've had in years! One of the hardest questions to answer though is this: what is the best Harry Potter film? On a personal note I would have to say Prisoner of Azkaban. What's Yours?