Harry Potter and the 0.5 Blood prince

Okay, if you are an avid JK Rowling fan, skip this entry now.

I make a practive of reading the HP book about 1 week before I go to see the film. So a week ago I settled down and read the book.

I felt her writing style had deteriorated and the book itself seemed to go nowhere. The only interesting part was the big battle scene at the end encompassing Dumbledore's death.

I thought there is no way you can make a film of this, so awaited seeing the film with interest.

Firstly, the film is very good. As with the last film, the writers have stripped away the (incredibly large) amount of unnecessary detail in the book and managed to actually produce a coherent story from it. I was surprised that the battle scene was removed, but on reflection, I can see that it would have been out of charcter with the rest of the film. No Dudley and his parents, no silly ghosts or talking pictures and all those tedious vists to the Pensieve reduced to the only 3 important ones. Good story writing. The only bit left, which needs removing, but I can't see how to do it, is all reference to the half blood prince. At least we were spared all the various theories as to who he might be, touted in the book. But actually, it doesn't seem to me to matter. Still then you would need a new title!

Actually, someone should write a book of the film, that would be so much better than JKR's sloppy version!