Superman07

I think I have settled on that too. I finally caught this on a morning show today and was pleasantly surprised. I had heard that those who really enjoyed the book were disappointed since it strayed so much. However, it's been so long since I read the book I didn't really know how to take that comment. Not only did I enjoy it, but it brought back my enjoyment of the series. The last film I really didn't enjoy and I found that odd since I liked all of the others.

My only minor complaints are:

1) There was no huge showdown in the castle. I recall reading through that chapter and thinking, "This is going to be great on screen!". It didn't happen.

2) The ending felt rushed. Not super bad, it could have used an extra 5 minutes I think.

All in all I felt it was very good, but I think I still put it behind Azkaban and Phoenix since those felt the most enveloping.

I'd really love to see directors cuts of these one day, but unfortunately I have a feeling there is not a lot of extra footage, nor was that ever the intent.

mraw

Now the commercial for the movie says "be sure to experience the explosive opening sequence in IMAX 3D". They probably received all kinds of complaints about that movie. I was going to complain, but the line for the box office was from here to forever when I left the theater.

Steve Phillips

I wasn't impressed with the IMAX 3-D opening either. It was no big deal, and far less impressively converted than the climax of the last one. It seemed a bit out of place in this instance, and I'm a big fan of 3-D. I'd say anyone who saw it flat only didn't miss much.

B.A.

My brother-in-law and I took my niece to see this yesterday. She liked it a lot. It was good, but I was underwhelmed quite a bit. *** out of five. I have never read the books and I felt like the movie was missing quite a lot in parts - and they spent too much time on certain romantic subplots. I really wish I would have refreshed my memory by watching Order of the Phoenix again as I haven't seen it since it was released theatrically and certain plot points were fuzzy.

Likes:

The casting of Jim Broadbent.
The returns, albeit brief, of Luna and Beatrix.
Michael Gambon and Alan Rickman, as always.
Harry and Ginny's burgeoning romance.
The limited screen-time given to the Weasley twins.

Dislikes:

It was too long and slow at times - I fell asleep at least once.
Lavender and the dude chasing after Hermione were a waste of time.
The lack of back-story on the Half-Blood Prince.
Harry's lack of presence or fortitude - he seemed to be more of a badass in the previous two or three films.
The limited inter-action w/ the supporting cast at school.
The limited inter-action w/ the Order of the Phoenix - this really annoyed me.

Daytripper

"The Half Blood Prince" just crossed the 300M mark in the U.S. First HP movie to do so since the first. Before inflation that is.

Boba Fett

Coming late to the party on this one, but I finally got around to seeing it yesterday.

It didn't set that well with me. I'd give it a 3/5.

I did feel the same way about Order of the Phoenix, but when I revisited it on DVD, I found I liked it a little better.

I'd rank the films from favorite on down as follows:

Prisoner of Azkaban
Goblet of Fire
Chamber of Secrets
Order of the Phoenix
Half Blood Prince
Philosopher's Stone

pinata242

Pretention alert!

Boba Fett

Ha.

I honestly wrote Philosopher because I couldn't remember off hand how to spell Sorcerer (which I just had to look up.)