Pros

Cons

Bottom Line

"Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is a very thick book, so we knew that there was no way the movie was going to be line-by-line faithful. Yet, for the most part the six movie makes some smart script decisions about what got kept and what was cut. I thought it was a good idea to downplay Harry's search for the identity of the Prince, and taking some of the mystery out of Malfoy's task actually added an air of suspense and dread that this plot thread lacked in the book. In fact, although the movie moves forward without a really clear plot to latch on to, there is an effective air of doom and gloom.

I thought the added scenes were less successful (Harry and the waitress, the new scenes at the Burrow), but they are easy enough to put behind us. I'll also give the movie credit for making the Ron/Lavender romance sickeningly annoying, just as it should be.

The book largely existed to set up the elements and characters that were going to be important in the final book, and I think the movie achieved that. It's definitely for Potter-philes though; barely a word is spent explaining any of the magic world, so if you don't know what a muggle is, stay away. Since the final book is being split into two films, let's hope for a big powerful finish."

Jason's Score:

8.0