In the film Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Harry, Ron, Hermione and Dumbledore discover how to destroy Lord Voldemort!
The story starts with a flashback to the last scene of the previous film, after the Death Eaters not only attacked the magical world of Diagon Alley but also the muggle world of London.
Harry is visited by Dumbledore who takes him to see an old friend of his. Dumbledore asks if the friend, Professor Slughorn, will come back and teach potions at Hogwarts. Slughorn agrees to come back to Hogwarts but makes some demands, which Dumbledore accepts.
Harry goes to Ron’s to spend Christmas there with the Borrows family. Hermione is there too. When they go back to school, we see that Slughorn’s return is not only so that he can teach but also to reveal a memory that would change how they would destroy Voldemort. What is this memory?
In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince you see the characters growing into mature adults; they start to date each other and we see some jealousy between some characters which is funny but sad.
The death of Dumbledore, which I shouldn’t have just told you about… is one of the sadness scenes because of his loyalty and kindness to his friends, students and enemies.
There is a scene where many of the students are competing for a potion called Felix Felicis (Liquid Luck). It is comical because you see ladles melting and Seamus, as usual, has the cauldron explode in his face. On the extras of the DVD, you can see how the special effects team make these things happen.
The special features explained on the DVD are fantastic because they give you an insight into the way things are done and made, such as the creation of all the different products in Weasley shop which show the vast possibilities of art.
There is a fabulous documentary on the DVD called ‘A Year In The Life Of J.K. Rowling’. It is interesting to see how she lives and what the story of her life has been so far. It mentions that they are building a theme park of the Harry Potter World and we get a sneak peak advert of what it would be like.
In another ‘Extra’ the actors are asked to do one-minute drills of their characters’ lives in the last six years. The actor Tom Felton creates a little quiz for the actors about what they like and dislike, for example rugby or quidditch. There are also the usual additional scenes that were cut from the film, which I always enjoy.
This film I believe has more humour in it than all the others but there are also some dark and dangerous secrets revealed.
© 2011 Emily Claire Cannings