Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince A-

In Theatres, PG, 153 minutes

At the point when most film series are running on fumes, the sixth in the Potter series slams into high with Half-Blood Prince. Director David Yates’ second turn at the helm (2007’s Order of the Phoenix was his first) finds him more comfortable trusting the characters and story and less interested in dazzling with CGI. That’s all to the best since the three leads—Daniel Radcliffe as Harry, Rupert Grint as Ron, and Emma Watson as Hermione—have grown into actors that can hold their own with the stellar cast of English stage actors which have hitherto done the bulk of the heavy lifting. Grint shows his chops at physical humor and the year or two on the stage have really paid off for Radcliffe who seems for the first time fully in charge of his character. Emily Watson has meanwhile developed into a stunning young women who still seems to be the best and smartest wizard of the bunch. Of the supporting cast Alan Rickman as Snape continues to be a standout. His droll line delivery has never been better. Helena Bonham Carter is also spectacular fun as the evil/destructive Beatrix Lestrange. Finally, the addition of Jim Broadbent as the name-dropping potions professor Horace Slughorn is providential. He brings significant emotional depth to the film and works to round out our understanding of Harry’s mother, Lily.

In the three months that have passed since Voldemort’s re-emergence at the end of The Order of the Phoenix, his death-eaters have become more brazen, openly attacking non-wizard muggles in London. Hogwart’s re-convening is filled with fear and talk of open warfare between the dark and white wizards. With violence on the rise, Dumbledore has taken to leaving for long periods searching for clues to Voldemort’s past and potential weakness. If that doesn’t seem like much of a plot, it isn’t. The film serves primarily to bridge the first five with the final, decisive battle of the last two (based on one book).

The magic in this film is that, for the first time, this film manages to catch one of my favorite aspects of the books: life at Hogwarts. The pace this time is decidedly slower, with all extraneous sub-plots removed, leaving time for meetings in the library, discussions about snogging, moments of heartbreak, dinner parties, and consultations with professors. The real terrain of the film is relationships, especially those of the romantic nature between the young cast as Hermione pines for Ron while he’s exploring other options and Ginny Weasley dates around waiting for Harry to make his move.

The weaknesses of the film include Bonnie Wright as Ginny Weasley who is simply too young to fit in with Harry and his crew and lacks anything near the dynamic spark we assume would be necessary to woo The Chosen One. Furthermore, there isn’t any indication that awful things are going on outside Hogwart’s or that it would be particularly difficult to wage an assault on her, making the final scene a little difficult to comprehend. But these are small trifles in a sly film that is the most comic and most poignant in the series. A-