DVD Corner's blog

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Blu-Ray

The sixth installment of the Harry Potter film series is the darkest Harry Potter yet.Without giving away essential plot secrets, as has been done on Amazon, I’ll simply state that this film varies a lot from the very long book and leaves out a number of details covered in the book but what film adaption of a book doesn’t? The whiners who state that this film leaves out too much are comparing too closely to the books.  You can be a fan of both mediums, but you can not expect the film to cover all aspects of the Harry Potter character and his world.

There have also been a lot of people criticizing the film for its dark picture and they state the blu-ray picture is bad.  Hogwash-I saw this film in the theater and the blu-ray picture is a fine representation of what I saw in the theater; the story and film are meant to be dark people!

That being said, the cast once again fit well into their characters and the addition of Jim Broadbent as their latest teacher of potions is a good choice for the role.  Broadbent brings all the acting skill necessary to carry out his role perfectly.

Without spoilers plot-Harry and friends return to Hogwarts with deep suspicions about Harry’s nemesis, Malfoy and gets private lessons from Dumbledore over the origins of Voldemort.  These are to prepare Harry for the final battle against him, which will occur in the next two films.  Also, alliances between good and evil become much clearer in this film but there are no real big surprises if you’ve followed the other films.

The blu-ray package includes a standard dvd and digital copy , which is a limited time offer.  The extras are more interactive than ever before, with Warner implementing a new mode to watch the film, called “Maximum Movie Mode”, which basically turns on all interactive features, including commentary from director David Yates, and cast members, pop-ups, picture in picture featurettes, Focus Points and photo galleries.  It is a great way to watch the film more than once for a more immersive experience.  The BD-Live features are also new and allow you to comment with connected friends over the internet while watching and also hook up to Facebook.  As Blu-Ray matures, the studios are getting on board more than basic extras from dvd and it can only get better.  Kudos to Warner for finally getting on board with some really interesting extras.

“Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” Blu-Ray is the darkest Harry Potter to date and its production and lighting emphasize that on this disc.  Those looking for a book on film will be disappointed but I was not. I recommend this title to add to your Potter Collection.

December 19, 2009 - Posted by nicklyons1 | Blu-Ray review | Daniel Radcliff, David Yates, Emma Watson, Half Blood Prince, Harry Potter