Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Movie Review

We're nearing the end of the summer movie craze, and only a select few movies this summer were actually great. Star Trek and Up were really the only BIG summer movies that have garnered universal praise. I, with my new job at a movie theater, have seen every mainstream release since May 29th (except for Imagine That, missed that one). So it was a breath of fresh air to see that the sixth Harry Potter lived up to the hype.

I grew up watching the Harry Potter movies, and I have watched them evolve from happy and lighthearded to dark and depressing. Daniel Radcliffe's, Rupert Grint's, and Emma Watson's acting has vastly improved since the first movie. The switch from happy to dark themes in the series hasn't affected their acting at all. Tom Felton also puts on his best performance in the series, now that Draco Malfoy has a bigger role. However, I wish I could say the same for Bonnie Wright, who plays Ginny. Not only did I think her character was poorly written, she felt so flat while delivering her lines.

The visual effects in this movie are amazing. The Quidditch sequences are better, the attack on the bridge looks fantastic, and in one of my favorite sequences in the film, Dumbledore creates an ocean of fire... and it looks GREAT!!!!!!

The pacing, I thought, wasn't that bad. I was never bored, and I was never looking at my watch thinking, "Jeez, this movie's LONG!!" Granted, there are some slow moments, but they shouldn't interfere with your enjoyment of the movie.

One complaint about the movie I heard was that there was too much romance in the film. I was fine with the amount of teen romance in the film, but the only problem is that it meant that there wouldn't be enough scenes dealing with Malfoy and his problems. In the end, there weren't and I really wanted more.

---- = Romance in movie
Malfoy = scenes dealing with malfoy

Malfoy----------Malfoy---------------------------------------Malfoy-------------Malfoy

Another complaint I heard was that it felt more like a set-up than an actual chapter in the series. I didn't agree with this until the end. It had a "Golden Compass" feel to it. It basically said, "This is what we're gonna do... It's gonna be exciting...... let's wait for the next movie."

If someone tells you that this movie was bad or was disappointing, don't listen to them because they're clearly the bias book-readers. This is one of the best summer movies so far with great performances and amazing effects.

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