I had hoped to see the newest Harry Potter movie on opening night, but life events conspired to keep me away. Nevertheless, it didn't spoil by keeping for another week, and a few days ago I happily took a trip to the movie theatre to watch it.

I was surprised. While I've enjoyed all the movies so far (with the exception of "Prisoner of Azkaban"), I've found that in the attempt to cram an increasingly complex story into a movie timeslot, the quality of the story has suffered. More than once I've found myself thinking that unless each member of the audience has read the books, they'll just be confused about not only the subtleties, but some of the more blatant aspects of the story too.

Thankfully, HBP managed to avoid that problem, at least for the most part. I was quite pleased with the way the story was handled, the way the plot flowed and the pacing was good, and the way they managed to rearrange a few scenes to really make them work even when all the small details weren't the same as what happened in the book. With few exceptions, this was a good movie.

Wait! Stop! There are going to be story spoilers from here on out. If you haven't seen the movie yet and don't want to know any of the details, then click the back button now. If you don't, I refuse to take responsibility for anything you find out in advance.

Okay, now that the warning is over and done with, on to the detailed deconstruction

Dave Legeno as Fenrir Greyback... Well, what can be said about him? No, really, what? He had precious little screentime, no introduction beyond a moving Wanted poster that was onscreen for 30 seconds, and if he had any actual dialogue, I missed it. His character was sorely underdeveloped, and the movie could have actually done just as well by leaving him out. He played no part that could not have been filled by any random Death Eater.

Perhaps this is another problem that will be rectified by the deleted scenes on the DVD release, but I find that too many books-to-movies rely on the deleted scenes introduce and develop characters these days. I understand that some things need to be left on the cutting room floor, so to speak, but the introduction and development of an important character shouldn't be one of those things. If he's going to be included, include him. Don't just leave his identity, motivation, and development for the audience to guess at.

While the casting of Jim Broadbent as Professor Horace Slughorn wasn't a bad choice, he does appear very different from the way Slughorn was described in the book. For one thing, he's about 3 times too skinny! I can see why it would be incredibly difficult to make Slughorn his usual, ah, ample self, but there was that incongruity. As for his acting, though, I thought he played the part rather well. He had the right level of ambitious ladder-climbing and elitism that Slughorn is known for.

Jessie Cave did a good job as the overly enthusiastic Lavender Brown, I must admit. Obsessing over Ron, always hanging off him, and her jealousy over Hermione was just about spot-on. However, I think her name was mentioned once. During one of her very last scenes. This is a bad way to have a character in a movie. You know who she is if you read the book, but if, like many people, you're coming into the theatre only having seen the previous movies, you're going to be absolutely baffled as to who this girl is. Romilda Vane, a character who appeared for less than 60 seconds out of the whole movie, had her name said more often.

The pacing of this movie was done rather well, I think. Unlike a few of the previous movies, where some scenes felt rushed and underdone, this movie kept a fairly good balance between getting the essential plot in while avoiding the hurried feel of cramming too much information into too short a timeslot. Kudos! If only some of the other movies could have been this well done.

I was actually surprised at how short the movie actually seemed. It ran for almost 3 hours, but not once did I feel bored, rushed, or anything but entertained. I left the theatre feeling pleased with what had been done. I only hope the last movie (or movies, as I hear that the last book will be split into two separate films) are as enjoyable.

Ah, now here we get to the meat of the movie. Overall, I'd say the plot was well done. (Excuse the "meat" pun there.) The romantic subplots were well-handled, and believe me, plenty of things could have happened to botch this aspect of the movie. Harry and Ginny's first kiss was, as local newspaper reviews had stated, highly anticipated, and done very well. Not a heavy-handed makeout scene, but a single sweet kiss. Ron's cluelessness over Hermione's feelings was right out of the book! As I said, nicely handled.

The tone ranged, appropriately, from the light and not-so-serious aspects of a teenage life, to dark and disturbing in other places. Katie Bell's curse, for one, gave me shivers, and stopped audience chatter in the theatre. (I'm fairly sure I saw one parent covering their child's eyes, too.) Ron drinking the poison mead and falling over got a laugh at first, until the audience realized what was happening, and then once more the silence was palpable. Scenes that can take you from amusement to anxiety in a heartbeat, and are supposed to do so, have to be commended. This movie did not pull punches when it came to the darker and grittier aspects of the story. It shocked and horrified, exactly as it was meant to.

Draco's emotional breakdown was done beautifully. He moved from being the annoying jerk to something more human, a young man who cracks under pressure and, while far from being one of the good guys, still has his emotional side and still has his limits.

But true to form, he's still an annoying jerk. Some things never change.

I confess myself somewhat disappointed that we didn't get to see the flashback memory of Tom Riddle's parents. I was looking forward to that, and it was one of the scenes that was left out. I can appreciate the reason for leaving it out, at least. While it does add details of character motivation and history, it was not essential for the movie itself. Revealing the truth behind Voldemort's conception wouldn't have been feasible, given the movie's time constraints. If they had to leave out any memory, that was the one to leave, I think.

That's mostly my opinions for the majority of scenes that got cut in the book-to-movie transition. They did a remarkable job of leaving in what was necessary and trimming what could be trimmed while still leaving an intelligent and intelligible plot. Some of the previous movies have certainly done worse jobs with that, let me tell you!

The question of Snape's questionable loyalty wasn't as ambiguous in the movie as in the book, I think. Onscreen, he is clearly uncomfortable at being made to swear the Unbreakable Vow, and his expression is pained as he casts Avada Kadavra at Dumbledore. Rather than in the book, where his loyalties are much more unclear and suspect, the way these scenes were handled in the movie leaves very little doubt as to his motivations, and which side he clearly prefers in the fight between good and evil.

I do have a complaint about Harry's actions, or rather his inaction, when Draco is facing down Dumbledore and other Death Eaters show up. Harry is down the stairs, immediately below them, and watching through wide cracks in the floor. But from all we've learned about Harry's impulsiveness, it's very hard for me to believe that when he sees not only Draco but half a dozen Death Eaters showing up to attack Dumbledore, he still stays quiet and obedient rather than shooting off a couple of "petrificus totalus" curses through the floorboards. In the book, he was paralyzed, a valid reason why he did nothing to stop what happened to Dumbledore. In the movie, he had no such restrictions.

And before somebody suggests that he was merely obeying Dumbledore's orders, I will point out that he has, in the past, disobeyed orders in order to indulge personal vendettas, ones that are much less important than the issue at hand. There was a reason given for his inaction, but I don't feel it was a good one, and I don't feel that it was particularly in character for Harry.

The biggest curiosity for me, upon going to see this movie, was how they would handle Dumbledore's death scene. The biggest spoiler in the Harry Potter fandom was coming up, and I wanted to know whether or not they were going to do it justice.

I wasn't disappointed. The moment itself was emotional, and I know I wasn't the only one in the theatre who shed a few tears in the final moment, and again when the students and faculty gather round the body one last time.

If anything, the death itself was downplayed. It was still an emotional scene, and well done, but I had expected something more to it. A scene of his funeral, perhaps, or more grief expressed. Harry was positively distraught when Cedric died, and I had expected something of the same reaction here. If not from Harry, then from one of the students or the teachers. But it wasn't melodramatic, and was tastefully done. In some ways, the fact that it was somewhat understated made it all the more powerful.

I pitied the people who went into this movie without having read the book, or at least without having been told a good amount of the plot, because unless they knew what came before, the whole "Snape is the Half-Blood Prince" things comes so far out of left field that it makes no sense.

Consider. Harry gets the Potions text with additional notes added. A scene or two is shown with Hermione trying to convince him to turn it in. Harry uses a spell he read in it, and badly wounds Draco. When Harry, in his rage, tries to use that same spell on Snape at the end, Snape turns around and tells Harry not to use his own spells on him, and yes, he is the Half-Blood Prince.

That's all that's shown. Nothing about Hermione's efforts to uncover who the Prince was. Nothing about Snape's past. Nothing about Snape even knowing how Harry knew about the sectumsempra spell in the first place, let alone how and why Harry might know the term "Half-Blood Prince." It comes out of nowhere, leaves no real explanation, and without knowing all of the details in advance, it's easy to see how people could be left scratching their heads and wondering if the next movie is going to show more about Snape's regal past.

Considering the title of the movie, it isn't very well handled.

Though this movie does have its problems, I think it's one of the better Harry Potter movies so far, and it was very enjoyable to watch. As with all the movies, I find that they make much more sense if one has read the books beforehand, though this movie has far less "between the lines" scenes as others, which was a nice change of pace. Still, I recommend reading the books before seeing the movies. The characters and plot are so much more robust when you're aware of the subtleties that the films don't have time to include.

Still, a good movie, and I look forward to buying it when it's released on DVD.