Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009)

As Harry Potter begins his sixth year at Hogwarts, he discovers an old book marked as "the property of the Half-Blood Prince" and begins to learn more about Lord Voldemort's dark past.

Director:

David Yates

Writers:

Steve Kloves (screenplay), J.K. Rowling (novel)

Stars:

Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 8 wins & 35 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Daniel Radcliffe	...	Harry Potter
Michael Gambon	...	Professor Albus Dumbledore
Dave Legeno	...	Fenrir Greyback
Elarica Johnson	...	Waitress (as Elarica Gallacher)
Jim Broadbent	...	Professor Horace Slughorn
Geraldine Somerville	...	Lily Potter
Bonnie Wright	...	Ginny Weasley
Julie Walters	...	Molly Weasley
Rupert Grint	...	Ron Weasley
Emma Watson	...	Hermione Granger
Helena Bonham Carter	...	Bellatrix Lestrange
Helen McCrory	...	Narcissa Malfoy
Timothy Spall	...	Wormtail
Alan Rickman	...	Professor Severus Snape
Oliver Phelps	...	George Weasley

Storyline

In Harry Potter's (Daniel Radcliffe's) sixth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft, he finds a book marked mysteriously, "This book is the property of the Half Blood Prince", which helps him excel at Potions class and teaches him a few dark and dangerous ones along the way. Meanwhile, Harry is taking private lessons with Dumbledore (Sir Michael Gambon) in order to find out about Voldemort's (Ralph Fiennes') past so they can find out what might be his only weakness.

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Plot Keywords:

school of magic | hereditary gift of witchcraft | witchcraft | hourglass | lifting a female into the air | 

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Taglines:

Once again I must ask too much of you, Harry.

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Family | Fantasy | Mystery

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for scary images, some violence, language and mild sensuality

Did You Know?

Trivia

Horace Slughorn's (Jim Broadbent's) outfits were designed to look very rich and elegant, but also old and threadbare. The costumes were distressed to make them appear worn, and in addition, were washed in a powdery solution to make them appear as if they had gathered dust during the years of Slughorn's retirement.

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Goofs

When Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe spots Headmaster Albus Dumbledore (Michael Gambon) from the diner, Dumbledore is on the opposite side of the Tube (subway) tracks, and the billboard is behind the Headmaster. When Harry joins Albus, they look at the billboard that is now *across the tracks*, and Harry looks *behind* him, at the diner waitress (Elarica Johnson), instead of across the tracks.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Bellatrix Lestrange: [faded voiceover] I killed Sirius Black!

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Crazy Credits

The end credits take their shape from what look like ink spills, resembling the appearance of the collected memories when they are poured into Dumbledore's Pensieve.

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Alternate Versions

Some of the dubbed versions change the names of a few characters, to match their translated novel counterparts in each respective language. Examples include Hermione, who in the German version (of all the Potter films/books) is named Hermine, and Dumbledore, who in the Dutch version is Perkamentus. (Source: Multi-lingual Blu-Ray copies of the films)

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Connections

Spoofed in Smosh: If Movies Were Real (2009)

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Soundtracks

Hedwig's Theme
Composed by John Williams

User Reviews

Key points missing!

If you love the series like I do you will know that in every movie they have to cut parts of the book out. Most of the time they manage it without compromising the integrity of the film. This time they fall very short of the mark. For those that have not read the book this movie will impress. The effects are top notch and it is a very engrossing film. I understand the need to cut the movie in order to fit it into a realistic time frame. In doing so, it seems as if they cut key parts in order to allow for more comedy. They also cut out a large action scene at the end of the movie. This scene could have been added if not for the adding of a scene in the middle that was not part of the original book. Furthermore, the scene makes no sense because during which they destroy something that is key to the book in the seventh volume. Not only do they cut scenes, but they change others to suit what purpose you might ask? The unfortunate answer is I don't know. Another minor point that I noticed during the movie is, although there is not as much violence as previous movies the overall film includes adult content that in my opinion warrants the pg-13 rating.

Do not misunderstand me. I recommend seeing the movie as it is enjoyable, but trying to change a masterpiece like J.K. Rowling's book is a mistake and I think this movie suffered from it. If I didn't have the book to reference I would've rated this movie an 8, but the simple fact is I do and it unfortunately falls short.

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook

Country:

UK USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

15 July 2009 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Half-Blood Prince

Filming Locations:

Wiltshire, England, UK

Box Office

Budget:

$250,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$77,835,727, 19 July 2009

Gross USA:

$302,305,431

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$934,454,096

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros., Heyday Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

153 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS DTS (DTS: X)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.39 : 1