Is there too much time spent on young love in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince? That’s something we’ve discussed before, but now Entertainment Weekly’s film critics, Lisa Schwarzbaum and Owen Gleiberman, have weighed in. Watch their chat below, and you find out that Owen, who still ranks the film among the Harry Potter series best, believes the hormones hurt the movie. “The actors are appealing, but I think it really bogs the movie down because all the little romantic plots, and seeing these characters develop crushes, isn’t really wound into the story. It’s just kind of there.” Lisa counters: “But it makes you feel that they are people that you could really understand. That actually inside, internally, there’s a magic going on in a teenager’s life, which, to each teenager, is almost as big as dealing with good and evil.”
It’s been jokingly suggested that women will like Half-Blood Prince more than men. Does it come down to a gender issue when you’re talking romance at Hogwarts? Let’s find out. Vote in the EW.com poll below.
More ‘Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince’:
‘Harry Potter’ geeks: Vent your frustrations about the movie changes here!
Read Lisa Schwarzbaum’s full review
Dalton Ross and Josh Wolk talk ‘Half-Blood Prince’ romance on Must List Live!
‘Half-Blood Prince’: 8 exclusive pics from EW’s photo shoot
Comments (1-30) of 48 Add your comment
It looks like it is something of a gender thing after all. Personally, I think this is the first movie in the series where I felt they were actually teens in school going through things that normal teens go through, and not just people that expect to get into precarious situations all the time.
i thought it was definitely too bogged down with romantic plots. the half blood prince story line was completely ignored. they just happened to allude to it in at the end. okay???? could have sworn that the title of the book and movie was Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince and not Harry Potter and The Raging Hormones
@Vanessa, I’m assuming you read the book but the book has a lot of romamnce in it too. I thought they did capture the plot of the book. We found o9ut about the hocruxes and who the Half Blood Prince was.
Did Owen miss his 9th grade class on archetypes? Star Wars was so very not the first with these character types.
This is the first time I was unhappy with a Harry Potter movie, they had missed soooo many parts from the book it was rediculous.. They missd out on the parts about Tom Riddles mother and father and also the head masters funeral.. I think I waited in excitement for the movie to come out for nothing because I didnt like it at all.. This being the 6th movie i would hav expected it to go off with a bang and have people wanting more…”NOT HAPPY HARRY POTTER!!”
I agree fully with Lisa’s argument. Also, I’m probably alone on this, but after HBP, I really wanted Harry and Hermione together.
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince was the biggest disappointment I have ever endured. Tom Riddle’s family, which plays a large part of who he becomes, is never even mentioned, the “half blood prince” is just breezed over, there is no dramatic fight scene at Hogwart’s at the end, and Dumbledore’s funeral is non-existent. The only reason so much time was spent on the romantic aspect of the story was to keep their targeted 13-18 years old audience.
I must say that if you read the books, as i have done, you understand all the romanticism envolved in the film, you have to look at all the movies together (just like the book series) to understand the character’s behaviors.
I thought that the Half-Blood Prince wasn’t a really good movie. They took out many important things that was on the book. The movie could have been better.
I was also hoping that Harry and Hermione would get together. But Ginny and Harry are a pretty cute couple. But Hermione and Ron?! She can do better, I think.
I was shocked when I saw HBP. First off, the story line with Snape being the prince was TOTALLY ignored. BOOM Dumbledor is dead and there’s no funeral, everybody is just ready to go hunting horcruxes! Ok…what about tom riddle’s family. My sister had never read the book, and when it was over, she said “WTF is a half blood prince?” Serious it made no sense. The teenage romance bogged it down so much it was painful to watch at times. I was so excited because this was my absolute favorite and it was a complete bomb. Also, They made up so many little side plots that weren’t in the book it didn’t even make sense. For instance, the fish bowl thing Lily gave to Slughorn? HUH!? I understand that movies are never exactly like the book, but they BARELY kept with the actual story line. And the weird little “Harry riding around on trains in little whinging and meeting up with cafe waitresses?” WHAT IS GOING ON HERE!?!!? This is really depressing. Visually it was stunning but thats about it
Half-Blood Prince was actually a disappointing movie. They missed so many important things from the book, that would make everyone understand the movie better.
Also, I would have thought that Hermione and Harry would end up together, but Harry and Ginny are still a veryy cute couple. But Hermione and Ron?! I think she could do better.
Do you all feel duped? This movie (and the book) prove that a single mother with a few characters blowing in the wind can NEVER compare to literary genius of Tolkien- Alan Rickman is the only shining light of plot development in this money making excuse of a movie.I feel used and abused after seeing this movie.Still in shock.TWO movies to finish off this extortion!! Surely i can not be the only one who sees through this charade to make money.
Once again, I am dissapointed in the current HP movie. It’s the same thing that happened with Order Of The Phoenix. It wasn’t bad, but not great either. And yes, like everyones been saying, they did focus more on the love situations than the actual book. Even though they attempted to at least make us remember we’re watching a HP movie, it’s just not the same. If Deathly Hallows P1 doesn bring back that ol HP feeling, I give up. Though I could seem them just for Hermione and Ginny…..:P.
I was Harry’s age when I first read this book and I found all the romantic stuff completely unconvincing and unrelatable. I just think J. K. Rowling is really really bad at depicting teen romance, compared with other young adult writers. It just sounds contrived, as if she puts it in because she thinks the age of the characters demands it. She writes about it in a v. cringe-worthy way. I HATED THOSE PARTS OF HARRY POTTER 6. THEY WERE COMPLETELY UNNECESSARY. I don’t buy that Harry would like Ginny. And Hermione should have ended up with Krum. And Ron’s annoying.
Huge of the series. Harry would just stand there and watch Dumbledore die, yeah right when has he ever listened to other people. To over the top movie production, when you have a good thing put it in film don’t change it and think you can do better. Too much romance, too few key plot points, so much for learning about Voldemort which is what the book emphasized. And good luck on the Horcrux since you don’t know what any of them are, I guess not knowing riddle’s background is going to help so much when you have to track them down. This movie is almost as bad as Battlefield Earth compared to the book of the same title. Decided to rent the rest of the series why waste good money on people who are far more interested in making trash movies then keeping to key plot points from the book. Have a nice day
I thought this movie was absolutely brilliant! but i have to agree, the whole Ginny and Harry relationship just didn’t work and Bonnie Wright wasn’t really…appealing and performed poorly. Harry and Hermoine were more ‘lovey dovey’ than Harry and Ginny and the whole added romantic scenes that weren’t in the books were hard to watch without having a feeling of nausea (Hint hint; pie anyone?).Seriously, the producers need to stick to the books with romantic scenes in the future…
Uhh excuse me people Ron and Hermione are the all time BEST couple ever. If you can’t see that then you’re pretty stupid.
It wa sgood to insert the growing relationship between ro/hermione but it could have been less of a focus and amke way for the actual plotline.
i’m a reader and although i rea dthe books i felt that the plot didn’t make sense i cant iamgien hwo non readers felt, probably didnt even know what was goign on and just giggled to the lighter parts…
and i agree: Romance is not Jo’s thing and at some point in the storyline i felt like someone wa snagging me all the time saying ‘HEY HEY THERE IS ROMANCE LOOK…i mean…and it was fine until the directors tried to shove it ridiculously up our faces…i wnat harry potter not the OC, thank god i nread the books i bloody cnat iamgien how non readers will ahve any idea whats goign on in deathly hallows if tehy dont know ajkc about Voldemort or Horcruxes fro taht amtter..and oh yeah What the hell was Malfoy doin anyway all the time? that’s probably how they felt…NO SENSE AT ALL
David Yeates shoud resign as director. Give it to Alfonso Cuaron or Mike Newell because he hasn’t dont a good job with the last one (OOTP) and now we have to endure HBP? What a disappointment this movie is. So many key sequences gone? Scrimgeour the new Ministry of Magic Minister gone. No Dumbledore funeral and no battleat the end? And what’s with the burning of the Weasley home? For people who haven’t read the book, this film will make no sense. And for people who have, this is a shoddy edited piece of work. If this is what we can expect in HBP, lord knows what the next two are going to be like. [sigh] I’ll stick to the book, thanks!
I thought that putting the spotlight on romance and the relationships between the characters was a good idea. It is a key thing in the book, seeing as the characters are 16, and creates a good bridge between the 5th and final movies, which are both focused mainly on what’s going on in the wizarding world. Though there were a couple so-so Harry/Ginny moments, I thought overall, that all the romance worked quite well
I agree that not much happened in the movie — because not that much happened in the 6th book either! I remember reading the book and feeling underwhelmed, but I didn’t feel the same way watching this movie – because they filled the ‘placeholder’ movie with all of these comedic romantic subplots that kept things interesting – the actors were all great, as usual, especially the Trio – they’re getting better and better. It’s only when you take a step back and say, ‘Wait a minute, what actually happened in the past 3 hours?’ that the movie’s plot strikes you as underwhelming also.
I thought the romantic aspect was nicely balanced with the serious. I’m a female and I like the mix between the both. It gave the movie a different touch than the other films had.
I thought the romance factor in HP6 was perfectly fine. It wasn’t over the top at all! If you look from book to movie, they didn’t even have as much as their was in the book. They didn’t even show half of harry and ginnys relationship, so i don’t understand what people are so angry at. There is not to much romance at all!!
The romance in the movie was fine. It followed the book. They were normal teens for the first time. I found the movie disappointing, however. A lot of the meat from the (book) story was left out. Tonks and Lupin were not a couple from the beginning, the destroying of the bridge at the beginning was an unnecessary add-in while the battle scene on the tower was left out at the end, Dumbledore was supposed to ride a broom, the kids were supposed to learn apparation, a lot of Draco’s story was left out, the funniest scene could have been harry imagining Ron slugging him over Jenny, Greyback should have had the role from the book, Bill & Fleur’s story was left out, oh I could go on and on and on. Very disappointing movie. Now I know why they put releasing the movie on hold. There was too much to compete with last year!
Can I just say that I really hated the video of Owen and Lisa discussing the movie and they reference Harry being too much like Star Wars? C’mon! Every freaking epic is like that and the only reason they remember Star Wars is because that’s their cultural touchstone rather than remembering that George Lucas even admitted he used Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey to write his movie- so the elements will essentially be the same in most movies based on a mythology.
I do not think they overdid the romance. There was a lot more in the book. Did the movie writers and directors even read the book? Seriously!!! So much was left out. Dumbledore’s death was not even sad because of the way they left it, no funeral like the book and no pleading with Snape to do it. Just a “please, Snape” and that was it. So much of Tom’s family life was left out and that was a VERY important factor to the book and who Tom/Voldie is and just how dangerous he is. This movie is one of the worst book to movie films I have ever seen, even worse than Pet Cemetery – - I WILL NOT be purchasing this on DVD. My chronicles for the movies stop at #5.
Get a new job Yates – your career is over.
There was actually MORE romance in the book…it was just counterbalanced with even MORE darkness. They did a great job of balancing that in the movie and most of the lighter stuff wasn’t even Romance it was just Comedy! I thought it was brilliant! Just the right amount!
There’s not too much romance in the movie. The BOOK (remember it?) was very romance-minded as well. Prince, like the book, won’t be fully appreciated until Hallows is out. It all comes together there.
The romance was entertaining, but they sacrificed a lot for it. There was so much more to the book than Ginny tying Harry’s shoe.