Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Warner Bros. Pictures

Rated PG

Running time: 153 minutes



Warner Bros. Pictures Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is one of the best Harry Potter movies. From the first shot of Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter, you can see how the actors, like Emma Watson and Rupert Grint, as well as the movies have grown up. Instead of a children's magical film with dramatic elements, as the first few films were, the Half-Blood Prince is an adult dramatic film with magical elements. As a result of which, I was more focused on the film than comparing it with the book by J.K. Rowling as I did with the other movies. This is also one of the few films where you do not have to know the books to understand what is happening. This is an acting and story driven film instead of a digitally enhanced driven film like Transformers 2.

While a student at Hogwart's, a school for wizardry, Harry Potter is entrusted by the school's headmaster Dumbledore to learn about a secret memory from the potions teacher Jim Broadbent who taught former student Tom Riddle, now the dark wizard Lord Voldermart. While there are some light-hearted moments with the students all falling in love with each other, the focus of the movie is on discovering the dark secret behind Tom Riddle/Voldermart. The film is rated PG, but there are a couple of intense scenes which I think is much closer to a PG-13 rating. The ending is a shocker - except for those who have read the book. I read the book, and the ending still made me teary-eyed. These child stars have grown up in their roles as actors and as a result their maturity has made the film very dramatic.

At the end of the movie, as I watched the end credits and listened to the music, there were groups of the audience still in their seats discussing the film. That is the result of how much the film has had an affect on the audience. The general consensus was that they enjoyed the film as much as I did.

Rated PG for violence. Running time: 153 minutes.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

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