Voldemort is tightening his grip on both the Muggle and wizarding worlds and Hogwarts is no longer the safe haven it once was. Harry suspects that dangers may even lie within the castle, but Dumbledore is more intent upon preparing him for the final battle that he knows is fast approaching. Together they work to find the key to unlock Voldemort's defenses and, to this end, Dumbledore recruits his old friend and colleague, the well-connected and unsuspecting bon vivant Professor Horace Slughorn, whom he believes holds crucial information. Meanwhile, the students are under attack from a very different adversary as teenage hormones rage across the ramparts. Harry finds himself more and more drawn to Ginny, but so is Dean Thomas. And Lavender Brown has decided that Ron is the one for her, only she hadn't counted on Romilda Vane's chocolates! And then there's Hermione, simmering with jealousy but determined not to show her feelings. As romance blossoms, one student remains aloof. He is determined to make his mark, albeit a dark one. Love is in the air, but tragedy lies ahead and Hogwarts may never be the same again.

One of the sad things about the Harry Potter series is how uneven it has become if you watch them in concession. But that was bound to be a problem for a series that has seen four directors for six films. Sorcerer’s stone and Chamber of Secrets followed the books almost religiously while Prisoner of Azkaban and Goblet of Fire still stayed true to the source material while omitting large portions of the books that gave the films a hollowed out feel. Order of the Phoenix and the Half Blood Prince easily my favorite films of the series took a different approach still keeping the basic elements of the novels but taking liberties with the story to make a more perfected film and visual version. Books don’t translate perfectly to film and Yates the director of the last two installments realizes that and takes liberties to make the films a lot more of a spectacle. But it does leave for a very uneven feeling series overall.

Their might be quite a few purists of the books who might take offense to the changes that Yates infects the Half Blood Prince with. The sixth film varies from the books by leaps and bounds at times not only changing the order of events that they happened in the source material but also by adding new events and changing others. Some of the changes were great and added a little suspense to the film like the attack at the Burrow during Christmas others just made you scratch your head on how they will effect the seventh movie like the hiding of the Potions book by Ginny instead of Harry. For those who had never read the books I do think though that all the changes made were to improve the flow of the story and help those who hadn’t read the books which is a good thing.

I would have called the Half Blood Prince my favorite film of the series except for I am not sure how some of the changes will effect the series overall including the Deathly Hollows still yet to come. Also I wasn’t a fan of every change they made as some of them seemed unnecessary and just so the director could put his stamp on the series and I felt the source material is strong enough that the film didn’t need to be altered so much. But the film delivers everything that you would want or expect from a Harry Potter series with lots of actions, magic and special effects and characters that people have come to love and idolize.

The casting of the Harry Potter series has almost always been great with the few exceptions. When reading the books now it is almost impossible to not imagine Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint as Harry, Hermione and Ron. And actors like Alan Rickman have also become characters like Snape in our mind’s eye. But I do believe that the casting of Slughorn is one of those few misses the films have had in casting. Jim Broadbent never at any moment feels like Slughorn or even looks like how you would imagine him from the books. But as the movies have progressed so have the acting talents of it’s leads and Daniel, Emma and Rupert all do a fantastic job once more. The Half Blood Prince is right up there with the Order of the Phoenix as the best movies in the Harry Potter series.

Grade: A-