Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Widescreen Edition)

"Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" never disappoints! It's one of those movies that you can't stop once you start. The story, the characters, the emotions—it all hits differently in this one. The perfect mix of adventure, mystery, and emotion. Absolutely love it!

The magical world finally stands united now that the Dark Lord has made his presence known. Now no one is safe except for those to choose his side. Be it a wizard or muggle Voldemort has his sights set one finally completing his mission, but he must eliminate the chosen one. Harry Potter, is about to enter his sixth year at Hogwarts. This time, besides being closely watched over by the watchful and caring Albus Dumbledore Harry must face a new challenge, being a normal teenaged boy with his thoughts fixated on girls. Friendships and dating is swimming all throughout the corridors at Hogwarts and it's much more complicated than any Quidditch match. Still, Harry must stay focused because he can sense that there is a plot afoot to penetrate the walls of Hogwarts and turn the haven of wizarding youth into a spawning ground for Death Eaters. The questions that need to be answered are who is plotting it, whom are they after and who is working with them on the inside. There are many secrets revealed about Voldemorts past in this chapter, but most importantly this is the point in time when Harry Potter finally makes the choice on what he must do to finally take down his nemesis.There were many mixed reviews about this film, but as a fan who read this book when it was first released this was my favorite installment (Meaning it surpases 'Chamber of Secrets'). What grabbed me the most was this book made things a little lighter after two extremely dark novels. It was a much more human story showing that while there is a classic story of good versus evil in an imaginative world these young witches and wizards are still just ordinary teenagers with ordinary problems. Bringing David Yates back to direct this film was the best choice because in 'Order Of The Phoenix' he brought realism to the characters and deep development within themselves and with one another. Tackling love and heartbreak is a very hard thing to do in a Sci-Fi fantasy film, but Yates nailed it. The story was also very funny as the book was. The characters show fears in the areas on popularity or just manning up to tell a girl how he felt. Tom Felton who has played Draco was finally given a chance to show his acting potential. While there was minimal dialogue until the very end his body language showed true emotional that really worked the crowd. The fact that a boy who has always boasted about being a proud dark wizard can shed tears when he faces his true self was made so believable by Felton. I sure hope that once these films have concluded he is given a chance for more work and many stellar performances.If you agree with this review then like me this will be a Harry Potter film you will enjoy. We now look forward to the final chapter going Hoarcrux on us to bring us the entire final book page by page. It looks as though they want to do the finale correctly so expect nothing less than a PG-13 rating.

Once I get over all the things left out between the book and the movie (always a wrench), I can enjoy this movie a great deal. It's darker, although perhaps not darker than the Order of the Phoenix. It's also more involved with the personal lives of our main characters. Oddly, though, the kids have grown up so much that I can't be sure which ones are or are not being played by different actors. Not the main characters, certainly: but is Lavender Brown the same? Neville and Luna may or may not be: they are seen so briefly.Anyway, the basic story is that the Death Eaters are causing a lot of trouble, even in the muggle world, and Dumbledore seems to have a plan to fight back, although the nature of the fight takes some time to develop. Even for him.He has asked Horace Slughorn to come out of retirement and be the Potions master, while Severus Snape finally gets the position he has wanted all along: Defense Against the Dark Arts. Why? It turns out Tom Riddle was a favorite of Slughorn's when he was at Hogwarts, and Dumbledore is convinced he has vital information about Riddle. You see, Slughorn is a sort of name-dropping groupie of famous witches and wizards and their children. As Dumbledore puts it, he likes to "collect" names for his Slug Club. Of course he wants to collect Harry, and Dumbledore asks Harry to get close to him in the hopes of getting the necessary information. Dumbledore has a bottled memory of Slughorn talking to Tom Riddle, but it has been altered. (You know about the bottled memories; they are put into the pensieve in order to be experienced.) It is Harry's mission to get the truth from Slughorn.Harry succeeds. It turns out Slughorn told Riddle about horcruxes, very dark magic that allows a magician to divide part of his soul and hide it in an object. So if he is killed, it's just that body that dies; he can still recover the hidden part of his soul from the horcrux. Making just one is bad enough, but apparently Voldemort made seven of them. Potter destroyed one, Riddle's diary, in the Chamber of Secrets. Dumbledore found and destroyed a ring which had been in the family of Riddle's mother for some time, and it blackened his hand in the process.Now he believes he knows where another is hidden: in a cave by the ocean where he takes Harry with him, first extracting a promise from Harry that he will do as Dumbledore asks, no matter what. Harry promises, but it turns out to be pretty horrible to live up to. And even more horrible is what they confront when they return to Hogwarts.I've told you too much already, especially if you haven't read the books. But believe me, there's a great deal more. For example, just what is Draco Malfoy up to?

Great gift idea for someone

Love them all!

Mysterious, fun, and exciting all in one, as usual, this story has a fantastic twist near the end! Always well acted and entertaining, My family and I have enjoyed watching this DVD over and over...

I KNEW it!