Kids in London - Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

Having received great scores in her SATs, I couldn’t refuse my 11 year old daughter’s constant pleas to go along and see the new Harry Potter film as soon as tickets were available (we booked on Monday and only just got tickets for this evening).

Having read all the previous Harry Potter stories to my son when he was small (he’s now a strapping 17 year old) and having watched the previous DVDs on numerous occasions I am familiar with the characters and story lines – although it was a while since I had read this story.

The opening scenes were a surprise. Young Harry has grown and bulked up and thus stretched his credibility as a 16 year old. Ron, whilst retaining some of his comic silliness, has bulked up too. Everyone has matured. And so has the cinematic experience. The initial fast flights across the London skyline were visually stunning – and the destruction scenes of the Millennium Bridge excellent. As were some of the later scenes and scenery. But all so much darker.

The story unfolded slowly. Very slowly. It was more a detective movie than a film of magic. The importance of Dumbledore and Harry’s expeditions and adventures meant that the fearless threesome of Harry, Ron and Hermione was something of a sideshow. The teenage angst of unrequited love (Harry for Ginny, Hermione for Ron) was a nod to the fact that the original Potter fans are in their teens now – but the lack of texting and Facebook reduced its authenticity. Yet Malfoy has developed some depth and now comes across as an almost genuine villain – even though, at the 11th hour, he bottled it. I really missed the lightness, fun and creatures of the earlier films – and a dead spider and the Lord of the Rings Precious-like creatures towards the end don’t count. I missed the banter of the Hogwart’s lessons. But maybe I was in a minority.

The film is a 12A. Whilst I have no doubts that young children will want to see it, I think that those under nine or so will find it a little too slow in the main and the final parts way too scary (my daughter jumped out of her skin at the water scene – even though she knew what was coming) – so parents with sensitive kids please take care.

Personally, I felt Hermione, Ginny and the other young females were way too thin or way too stupid – not great role models for the young girls watching the film. Helena Bonham-Carter was perfectly cast as Bellatrix – shame there wasn’t more of her in the film. Jim Broadbent was a fabulous Horace Slughorn too. As a Mum I found the film entertaining but long and rather slow to get to the action, but I must admit that the lovely Alan Rickman (as the ultra cool and super-controlled goody-turned-baddy – why are we women such suckers for treacherous bad guys?) kept my attention as usual.

Having not kept up with the media reports of films in the pipeline, I was pleased to see the trailer for “The Time Travellers Wife” – not one for the kids though. Will Ferrell in “The Land of the Lost” looks like being a hot ticket for those with young dinosaur fans. “Band Slam” will suit those who have just graduated from “High School Musical” and “Sherlock Holmes” looks like one for the Dads – appearing to be all action adventure and scantily dressed girls. And am I happy to see that John Cusack will take the lead in disaster movie “2012” – can’t wait for that one – as long as he doesn’t disappoint the same way as my other former-fave Keanu Reeves in “The Day the Earth Stood Still” (which could have been called “The Day Keanu Stood Still”).