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Rating: Country: UK and USA Release Date: July 15, 2009 Distributor: Warner Brothers Pictures Director: · David Yates Cast: · Daniel Radcliffe · Rupert Grint · Emma Watson · Jim Broadbent · Helena Bonham Carter · Robbie Coltrane · Warwick Davis · Michael Gambon · Maggie Smith · Timothy Spall · David Thewlis · Julie Walters · Tom Felton Related Sites: · Official Site · IMDB: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince · Official J.K. Rowling website · SirLinksalot: Harry Potter Links Grade: A

This review is spoiler-free, but geared more towards those fans who have passed their OWLs in all things Harry Potter. If you're new to the series or haven't read the books, my colleague at The Trades, Jeff Ritter, has penned a review for ordinary Muggle types that you might prefer. Check it out here. I say read both! You can never have too much of the Chosen One.

This year, our intrepid boy wizard is hitting on a fine Muggle waitress when Dumbledore pops up in full wizard regalia and spirits him away. The two visit former Hogwarts professor Horace Slughorn (Jim Broadbent), who seems to be a bit of a boozer, and manage to convince him to return to teaching. However, it's not just a Potions professor that the cagey Dumbledore needs -- it's answers. For it was Slughorn who was closest to Boy Voldemort, Tom Riddle, during his time at Hogwarts. Harry's job will be to get close to the tippling old professor and retrieve a specific buried memory involving the student who grew up to become He Who Must Not Be Named. A mysterious textbook that once belonged to the "Half-Blood Prince" vaults Harry to the head of the class in Potions, cementing his place as Slughorn's favorite.

Unfortunately, Harry isn't really thinking about Voldemort as the semester begins. Hormones are a-raging and the whole school seems to care more about snogging than they do about the Dark Lord. Ron, Harry, and Hermione all juggle multiple romantic entanglements, which make for some really funny moments. Noticeably absent from the love triangles and general frivolity is Draco Malfoy. Poor Malfoy seems to have aged ten years since we last saw him. He spends all his time moping about deserted castle corridors and working on a project in the Room of Requirement. Is he a Death Eater or just a tormented soul?

As the year progresses, terrible things begin happening to Harry's classmates, forcing him to recognize the dire necessity of obtaining Slughorn's memory. With a little luck and a lot of finely matured mead, he gets what he's after -- just in time to take off on a dangerous mission with Dumbledore to destroy a piece of Voldemort's soul. Soul-destroying, unfortunately, is difficult work. Dumbledore returns to the castle, weakened and ill. As the final minutes bring about the movie's inevitable conclusion, all of Hogwarts is forever changed as Severus Snape finally shows his true allegiance...or does he?

Screenwriter Steve Kloves did an excellent job adapting the 652 page novel. Gone is all of the drama with Bill, Fleur, Tonks and Lupin. Gone are the house elves, Apparition lessons, and several of the memories involving Tom Riddle. While that might mean the casual moviegoer will never have the same appreciation for some of the minor characters as those who have read the novels, most of the cuts did not detract from the overall story. The one element I did feel was lacking from the screenplay was a bit more exposition as to the origin of the moniker "Half-Blood Prince."

Rupert Grint is laugh-aloud funny as Ron Weasley, and Alan Rickman as Professor Severus Snape is brilliant as always. Helena Bonham Carter's portrayal of Bellatrix Lestrange is a bit out of control, but for the most part the acting is beyond reproach. Several new faces join the cast this time around, including Jessie Cave as Ron's girlfriend Lavender Brown, and Hero Fiennes-Tiffin as a young Tom Riddle. Fiennes-Tiffin has an intriguing malevolence about him, but it is a bit disconcerting how much younger he appears than the previous Boy Voldemort. Are we really supposed to believe Riddle was contemplating splitting his soul at the tender age of eleven? My understanding has always been that Riddle's interest in the Dark Arts developed over time, not during his first year at Hogwarts.

David Yates, director of "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" returns for this sixth installment. Like "Phoenix," "Half-Blood Prince" is chock full of breathtaking special effects. A few gorgeous scenes with fire are particularly memorable. Unlike "Phoenix," this time Yates manages to punctuate the growing darkness with lighthearted moments. This, for me, is the crucial difference. Even as the forces of evil threaten to engulf Hogwarts, "Half-Blood Prince" manages to remain fun. It is both a continuation along the path to the ultimate battle of good and evil, and a return to the sheer merriment of the earlier movies.