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*Warning: This review contains spoilers*

On one hand, with Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince David Yates does manage to create a darker Harry Potter that's coming of age and maybe gaining a fuller understanding of his role in the grand scheme of things. On the other hand Yates also creates one of the most boring, drawn out Harry Potter movie of the entire series. The film shows nothing of Harry actually progressing in terms of his powers and usage of magic, and for the most part he just seems sort of tossed along in the excruciatingly slow pace of the movie.

With The Half Blood Prince, you are given a glimpse into the magnitude of Voldermort's growth in power and support. The fear among the people, both wizards and "muggles", is supposed circle around Hogwarts, establishing the picture of an old and dangerous school that continues to operate despite the ominous happenings that swirl around it. While this atmosphere is trying to be cultivated we are continually reminded of Harry Potter, Hermione Granger and Ron Weasly's collective growth, both physically and very much emotionally. The darker side to Potter is shown through the introduction of a new character and through the enhanced character development of Draco Malfoy.

The Ups
Yates spends a huge amount of time in this movie trying to show you just how much all the young wizards are developing emotionally. Although this isn't completely a good thing, it's because of this you do get a good look into some of the main characters and a couple minor characters as well. The depth of friendship between the three wizards, Harry, Hermione and Ron is not only emphasized but strengthened. You see how much Hermione truly cares for Ron and how long Harry has cared about Ron's sister, Ginny, who we really haven't seen too much of since The Chamber of Secrets.

Along the same line but on the opposite end of the spectrum, you also see just how much pressure, how frustrated and isolated Draco Malfoy feels in trying to carry out his task for Voldemort. A task which really gives Draco to chance to expand a bit on his own for the first time. All through the Harry Potter movies Draco has been the nemesis to Harry however, prior to this movie you really only see that in small, limited actions. For instance, on the Quidditch field or siding with Dolores Umbridge in the previous, Order of the Phoenix movie. This movie has him finally taking a darker, deeper step in opposing Harry, albeit a step he's not completely sure of, it is a decisive one nonetheless.

Another bond that is brought to the forefront is the bond between Harry and Albus Dumbledore. Michael Gambon does an excellent job as Dumbledore as always. Throughout the film Dumbledore relies heavily on Harry to assist him in trying to understand exactly what he is dealing with. Additionally, when Harry finally tells Dumbledore what he is up against, you see how much he fully trusts Harry. Especially in a particularly moving scene in Voldemort's cave where Dumbledore essentially entrusts Harry with his life. This makes the ending where Dumbledore dies a bit more felt by you at the end.

The Downs
Everything other than the character growth and development mentioned above. Ok, Ok, I'm kidding....kinda. Seriously though, the movie spent so much time trying to show you the emotional side and the growth for the characters it's like Yates forgot to develop anything else. The plot was so very predictable it was almost painful, and much of the middle seemed woefully overinflated with a collection of unimportant scenes.

Even the identity of "The Half Blood Prince" seemed jumbled and unclear for a big portion of the movie. It's only until pretty late in the film that Harry uses a spell from a book belonging to "The Half Blood Prince" and nearly kills Draco unintentionally do we even remember it's significance.

The special effects department in this movie seemed a bit neglected also. Really there were only three sequences of interest. That really about it. So I have to wade through about two and a half hours of movie to get three scenes of special effects? One of which lasted about two seconds. Visually this film was pretty and had some nice shots, but not special effects.

Which brings me to another point that seemed to especially bother me in this movie. Is it me or did anyone else notice that Harry seemed like a complete weakling in this movie? First he gets beat up by Draco on the train, then he does a whole lot of nothing when the Weasly's house is attacked, and finally when Dumbledore really could have used some help in Voldemort's cave, Harry fails to provide it. Then in the only other fighting scene that involves spells, he again gets his ass kicked again, this time by Professor Snape.

Now I understand Harry is still young but it's getting harder and harder to believe that he is going to defeat Voldermort, when he can't even protect himself from the things Voldermort uses to guard his caves. I thought the scene in the cave when all those things come up from the water might be where we're given a glimpse at what Harry can really do now, similar to when we were first introduced to Expecto Patronum. Instead it turned out to be yet another scene where Harry's wizardry fell short. Rather than demonstrating some kind of progression in his abilities he needed to be rescued by a half dead Dumbledore, which is pretty horrible. It really irks me that Harry is still using the same spells he learned about 3 years ago. In my opinion "Stupefy" and "Expelliarmus" are getting old. I wanted this movie to show me he's progressed somehow in his magic in addition to his emotional growth, and in the end I felt completely underwhelmed with his abilities.

The Wrap Up
In trying to develop the characters so completely you are given a picture of all the emotional, and hormonal, ups and downs they are feeling as adolescents. Unfortunately, so much time is spent on that the movie almost feels like a teenager coming of age movie instead of the deep, darker Harry Potter film it wants to be. There was hardly any other kind of development with regards to the very predictable plot that seemed to drag on for quite a bit in the middle. I'm sure there was a fully developed film in there somewhere. It just seemed buried in between the many, many romances going on, references to love potions and "snogging".

The Final Score

6.0 out of 10.0