Will 'Half Blood Prince' kill the Harry Potter franchise?

Posted Friday, January 9, 2009 at 12:47 PM Central

by John Couture

Now before I get the oncoming onslaught from Harry Potter fans, let me set the record straight from the get go. I am a huge Potter. I saw the first movie and it introduced me to the world and I quickly read all of the books. My personal favorite was Goblet of Fire, it's like the franchise's Empire Strikes Back for me.

But all of that being said, I got some news this week that is bothering me to say the least. The last two Harry Potter films (Goblet of Fire and Order of the Phoenix) were both rated PG-13 as they should have been. The children are growing up and dealing with more adult issues and the evil Lord Voldemort is rising back to power.

As the crawl from The Empire Strikes Back says, "It is a dark time for the Rebellion."

So, with all of that as the backdrop, it was surprising this week to get notification from the MPAA that Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is rated PG "for scary images, some violence, language and mild sensuality."

I mean this is the movie that sets up the very bloody last book (last two movies). The Half-Blood Prince itself, while maybe not as graphic as its predecessor, certainly deals with a lot of mature themes such as love, death, loss and sensuality. These are late teenagers thrust into an adult world of rife with war.

There are casualties. There are moments of intense passion. There is the birth of pure evil incarnate.

The book is definitely PG-13 material and the fact that the movie isn't makes me pause. It's bad enough that the release date got pushed back angering a lot of fans in the process. Now, to deliver a movie that might not live up to our expectations, or *gasp* completely change the ending to suit a PG rating would be devastating.

I don't want to give away any particular details, but there is a very pivotal scene in the book, nay the entire series. It's not a PG scene and to portray it as such may ultimately lead to a failure of the series as a whole.

To be fair, it's wrong to judge the movie sight unseen and I will hold out my final judgment until this Summer and you know The Empire Strikes Back was PG rated as well. Of course, back then, the PG-13 rating did not exist.

What do you think about the lower rating for the latest Harry Potter movie? Will it affect the product on the screen too much?