Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince

[ Trailer ]

Rating: 3/4 (Harry Potter fans will not be disappointed)

Love and danger lurk large in Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince. The movie is based on the 6th book in the Harry Potter series. It is the antepenultimate movie, now that the studio has decided to split the last book into 2 movies! This movie is the darkest in the series yet and rightly so since the evil forces of Voldemort are gathering strength for a final showdown. Draco Malfoy is enrolled by He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, who also recruits Severus Snape to protect Draco and help him in this mission. Meanwhile, Dumbledore cajoles his old friend Horace Slughorn to come back and teach his potions class at Hogwarts. This move is not without a plan, as Dumbledore reveals to Harry that Voldemort was Slughorn’s favorite student, known back then as Tom Riddle.

But, even Voldemort cannot stop the harmones, which are raging like fire this year at Hogwarts. Every one is tripping, falling and sinking deep in love, Harry, Ginny, Hermione, Ron, all of them! Sparks fly as smitten students fight to gain the hearts of their lovers. Charms aside, Harry cleverly manipulates Slughorn and learns how Tom (Voldemort) had split his soul and hidden it in several places. Dumbledore and Harry travel to one of these places to grab it, where after much effort they are duped. On their return, the dark forces finally converge on Hogwarts, as Snape and Draco move in for their final assault.

Though extremely long at ~2.5 hours, I walked out quite satisfied with this movie. The first half is full of teen romance. There is an overload of infatuations and kissing (or snogging as it is termed in British English in the movie). Thankfully, most of the romance is peppered with sarcasm and pun. The relationships that the principal characters finally fall into feel very comfortable and that is a compliment to Rowling. While the characters in the initial Harry Potter movies were too young, I finally felt that I could connect with them here in their teen years. The movie is also loaded with some great acting. While Alan Rickman (as Snape) is always a delight to watch, Jim Broadbent (as Slughorn) is pure fun. His facial antics and slippery words make every one of his scenes enthralling. The darker half of the movie is engaging and intense, though similarities to Lord Of The Rings cannot be missed. The graphics are lovingly done, I especially liked all the non-action scenes composed in and around Hogwarts. Maybe the romantic fluff should have been tightly edited, but other than that this is a great package of a Harry Potter movie. I cannot wait for the final installments now! 😊