Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is my favorite movie so far this year, and my favorite of all of the Harry Potter films thus far. That's saying a lot, because our family are big fans of the Harry Potter series of books and movies. This movie just seemed to have everything that you would want in a movie: a great story, exciting action, uproarious humor, emotional music, a touch of romance, and tugs at the heart strings.
 
In this sixth installment, Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) really seems to come of age. At the beginning of the film, he is whisked around (disapparated, to be exact) from place to place at the arm of the mysterious, grandfatherly Albus Dumbledore (Michael Gambon). Yet by the end of the film he seems to have outgrown his school of Witchcraft and Wizardry and is prepared to chart his own course. The goal, as foreshadowed by even the first book and film, has always been to put an end to the evil Voldemort (yeah, that's right, I said it), but how this could ever be accomplished has always been a mystery. This mystery is finally unraveled through Harry's visits into the memories of Dumbledore and others as captured in the magical pensieve where we see Tom Riddle as a young boy and teenager. Young Master Riddle learns at an early age how to manipulate, and it is his manipulation of an egotistical Professor Slughorn where he learns of a very dark magic called a horcrux which could be his key to immortality. The movie skips over a lot of Tom Riddle's past that was described so vividly in the book, however as a movie audience, we get the gist of it.
 
While this movie's primary plot line and its downer ending (to which I will not become a spoiler) leave one with a sense of dread, we are able to make it through the film because of some purely engaging side stories including the hilarious love triangle between Hermione (Emma Watson), Ron (Rupert Grint), and Lavender Brown (Jessie Cave). I particularly enjoyed the awkward clumsiness of Ron, especially a scene where he falls backwards over a couch. The young actors and actresses really seemed to broaden their abilities in this film contrasting with the simplicities of the original.

I was also surprisingly impressed by Tom Felton's portrayal of Draco Malfoy, who in the past always seemed to be a one-dimensional character. In this movie, we begin to understand him a bit better and even pity him.

The overall tone of this movie is pretty dark, yet a wide range of emotions are felt. The film's exciting high point is Dumbledore's revival and rescue of Harry Potter from the dark cave full of Voldemort's evil and his army of inferi. The low point of the film encourages one to cry; I had trouble keeping my manly eyes completely dry when the children and professors of Hogwarts raise their lighted wands in solidarity towards the heavens. However, there is hope yet. It leaves one thankful that another day will come in the world of Harry Potter.
 
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