I don’t try to insert myself into my reviews too often, but I think only necessary when talking about a franchise that has continued through six hit movies; I’m not a Harry Potter fan.  I never read the books and I never got into the movies.  I don’t hate them or have any negative feelings towards them they just never sucked me in.  I found most of the films either boring or mildly adequate and believe that the premise is far better than the actual delivery. That is until the latest installment ‘Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,’ which has a much better understanding of character, pacing, and all around story telling than any of the previous films.  For me, it was a lot of fun, for fans of the movies, it maybe the best Potter flick yet.

      The film starts out as most of the movies do with the young wizard Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) returning the magical school of Hogwarts.  The ongoing mysteries and conspiracies continue as well, as principle Dumbledore (Michael Gambon) asks Harry for his help in finding traces and weaknesses of the evil wizard Lord Voldemort.  Dumbledore uses Harry to spy on a returning professor known as Mr. Slughorn (Jim Broadbent), who Dumbledore believes holds the key for finding the destruction of the infamous wizard.  But Voldemort has helpers on his side too, like the death-eaters who seem to be kidnapping people at random, and Professor Snape (Alan Rickman) who has took it upon himself to protect and train Harry’s young rival Draco (Tom Felton).

      Harry, as always, meets all his old friends, including Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint) and Hermione Granger (Emma Watson).  All of them are involved in typical teen romances that always seem more like soap operas in film.  Harry is in love with Weasley’s sister, Weasley’s sister is in love with someone else, her brother is in love with some other girl while Hermione is in love with Ron.  A little extravagant to say the least, but still manages to hold our interest.  The main focus is on Harry of course, and how he juggles growing up in the complicated realm of being a teenager and how he survives in magical realm of wizards and witches.  The film does well to keep the two in balance though I will admit there might be a little less action and adventure than in the previous films.  It has it’s suspenseful moments, don’t get me wrong, but the drive of the film is much more on the characters’ back stories and interactions than it is on special effects and action scenes.

      I believe that’s why I like this film the most; I never cared much for the conspiracy story or mystery behind Voldemort as I always found it too slow or not very engaging.  This new installment takes its time with its characters, having many quiet moments, well written dialogues, and insightful storylines.  One of the more surprisingly complex characters that has evolved is Draco, who used to be a cardboard cutout of a bully/villain but has now become a very tortured, torn character, most of which is shown with very little dialogue.  The one element that seems to be constantly amiss in these movies is Harry himself, or rather the actor who plays him Daniel Radcliffe.  Though by no means a horrible actor, I could never seem to get into his acting style, emoting very little and expressing almost a blandness to what should be a very complex character.  Every time I look in his eyes I never think to myself he’s really in danger or really torn apart, it just always looks like a kid trying to play a role.

      That’s not the only aspect that’s less than perfect, the film often leaves out a lot of little questions and details that should be answered.  For example there’s a scene where Dumbledore and Harry must travel to a cave to retrieve an evil artifact, but they never say why it’s in the cave or how they knew it was there.  Another scene involves the identity of the actual Half-Blood Prince; that is to say it’s revealed who he is, but we never find out why he’s called the Half-Blood Prince.  Little scenes like that can become a little pestering but it doesn’t outweigh the achievement this film has put forward.  The pacing is solid, its characters developed, and the effects are still strong enough to hold little children’s attention (though granted there can be some very dark and scary scenes).

      So who’ll like it?  Potter fans should certainly love it (though having never read the book I do not know how well it compares).  Even some who aren’t fans of Harry Potter might find themselves enjoying the story structure and development of its main characters.

      Who won’t like it?  Anyone looking for a lot of action might find it a little lacking, and I suppose people who don’t enjoy fantasy won’t be able to get wrapped up in it either.  Younger kids might also be scared by some of the images near the end. 

      My thoughts?  I don’t think I can say that this is the Potter film everyone will enjoy, but it is a step closer.  The only Potter film I felt matched this was ‘Prisoner of Azkaban,’ which again focused more on Harry’s coming of age than it did with the hocus pocus.  This film is stronger though because it does also carry the suspense and epic qualities that most good tales of fantasy should have.  It was the first Potter film where I really wanted to know what was going to happen next, and didn’t just wait for the ‘to be continued’ send off to be shown at the end.  There’s a magic to ‘Half-Blood Prince’ that surpasses the other films, a magic that hopefully Harry Potter can continue to keep alive.