Dumbledore’s Army

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Caution: MAJOR SPOILER WARNING: Read at your own
risk!  Please highlight the contain to read the spoiler.

Today I got to see the test screening of Harry
Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. It took place in

Chicago

at the AMC
River East. It was a secret screening, no one in the audience was supposed to
know before hand what they were seeing. I was one of only a small handful who
already knew what we would be seeing, but I was sworn to secrecy. It was truly
the hardest secret I ever had to keep.

It was not entirely complete, however aside from a
few blue screens in the background, and one or two special effects missing, it
was barely noticeable.

I am a huge fan of Ginny and Harry so I will start
with them. There is a lot more Ginny than ever before. She nearly equaled Ron
for screen time. We first see her at the Burrow when Harry arrives outside and
the first thing he sees is her reading through the window. Harry Just stands
there for a moment, gazing up at her. Although she is dating Dean Thomas she
never looks happy with him, except when she is snogging him at The Three
Broomsticks. She was on the Gryffindor Quidditch team. But the only game we saw
was from the Felix Felicis chapter when Ron believes Harry has slipped him the
potion. During Christmas at the Burrow, Ginny and Harry wind up on the stairs
alone and start to lean into each other to kiss, when the attack on the Burrow
interrupts them.

The Burrow does not burn down, but it is surrounded
by a ring of fire conjured by Bellatrix. Harry, seeing Bellatrix, runs after
her, and Ginny runs after him, right into Greyback. But Harry comes to the
rescue and the two of them stand in a very high growing cornfield fending off
attacks from the deatheaters. Lupin and Tonks come to the rescue, but that is I
believe the last we see of them. There is no Tonks and Lupin relationship and
although Tonks’ hair is brown there is no notice taken or any explanation
given.

Tom Felton did a fantastic job in this film. Draco
character remains true to the book, he even stamps on Harry’s nose. But, sadly,
we never get the pleasure of seeing Crabb and Goyle disguised as girls. In
fact, they are hardly in this movie. The Sectumsempra scene was really good,
even without moaning Myrtle. As Harry and Draco throw spells at each other poor
Nigel sits frozen on one of the toilets. Snape runs in shortly and McGonagall
is in the doorway after Harry cast the spell (Draco never yells Crucio) and he
does do a cure his wounds with a spell that sounds almost like song. But he
does not use legilimency on Harry, who runs straight out of the bathroom to
McGonagall. In the next scene Hermione and Ginny band together and tell Harry
to hide the potions book so not even Harry can find it. Ginny takes Harry to
the room of Requirement, and makes him close his eyes while she hides the book.
Then she kisses him briefly. By the time he opens his eyes she has vanished.

There was definitely tension between Ron and
Hermione. In the very beginning at the Burrow, Ron cleans off a bit of toothpaste
from Hermione’s cheek. Later in Slughorn’s class she describes what she smells
in the love potion and trails off with “spearmint toothpaste…” Lavender is
quite nauseating and although she never gives Ron a necklace she does something
equally as vomit worthy, steaming up a window on the Hogwarts Express with her
breath and drawing a heart with “R + L” inside it. His relationship ends when
he is unconscious and moaning Hermione’s name after being poisoned. He remains
confused about why it ended but very relieved.

The kid who played young Tom Riddle was Brilliant.
His voice and demeanor raised the hairs on the back of my neck. There is no
mention of the Gaunts, but the scene in Slughorn’s office is there. Dumbledore
however is truly surprised to learn that Riddle made 7 Horcruxes. It is in that
scene that he realizes the ring is a Horcrux. He realizes what it was because
when harry handles it briefly he moved his head like Voldemort.

We do get to hear Hagrid and Slughorn singing about
Odo the Hero, and Harry is funny and a few lines where true to the book while
under the influence of Felix Felicis. There is no Professor Trelawney, or the
Dursleys. No Kreacher (no mention of inheriting

Grimmauld Place

whatsoever) or Dobby, or
Bill and Fleur. There are no scenes with the Minister of Magic, and I don’t
believe they even mentioned Fudge was sacked (though I may have missed it).

Oh and most sadly of all, no description from Luna
about the dangers of the Rotfang Conspiracy. Nor does she commentate the
Quidditch match. Luna’s role was very small, but she does have the lion hat and
she is the one to find Harry on the train under the invisibility cloak with the
help of her Spectrespecs.

Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes was awesome!!! I only wish
it were a real store. Unfortunately no U-No-Poo sign, but it was still a sight
to see.

The scene with Harry and Snape at the end was the
least finished of the movie; the background was mostly screens and lights and
occasionally a sound persons head. It was very close to the book, though I
thought Snape could have been stronger and angrier, when Harry called him a
coward. His some of his last words to Harry are “You may have your mother’s
eyes but you are as dim as your father!”

As a huge fan of the books I have found myself
getting more and more disappointed by all the changes in the movies and
especially in Michael Gambon’s portrayal of Dumbledore who is my favorite
character. That being said I was really pleasantly surprised by this movie.
Many of the changes were actually entertaining and Gambon has improved enough
to be tolerable. It was so much better than Order of the

Phoenix

. Overall I really enjoyed this movie
and can not wait to see it again.