I Make Movie Review-"Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince"

They may not fly as high as Carl and co. did in Up, but Harry Potter and his fellow wizards return triumphant in a movie that casts a spell so potent that even the most magic-averse viewer won't be able to resist. First things first: Potterphiles (and Oscar voters) everywhere oughta kiss David Yates's feet. He's found the perfect balance of otherwordly magic and down-to-Earth feeling with which to take the series into its darker final chapters. There's not much plot in the sixth installment of JK Rowling's modern epic-Harry's hunt to collect an old memory from dawdy Professor Slughorn (Jim Broadbent) exists merely to mask the fact that all we're doing here is being set up for the series brilliant, complex final installment (being split into two films). Yates and screenwriter Steve Kloves whittle the Slughorn story down to a subplot, pushing the blossoming teen romances of the tale to the fore. It's a smart move-making what's basically 672 pages of superbly written exposition both fast-paced and personable. It's also a risky move, but then again, these actors can handle it. Props to Radcliffe, whose clever, deeply conflicted Harry will enter the pantheon of Immortal Movie Characters. Rupert Grint's Ron, Evanna Lynch's loopy Luna, Emma Watson's sharp Hermione, Bonnie Wright's fiery Ginny-brilliant, incisive performances all around. Old hands Maggie Smith and Robbie Coltrane still know how to surprise us. Newcomers Broadbent and Jessie Cave-as Ron's squeeze-craft fully realized characters with minimal amounts of screentime. Alan Rickman still makes a fascinating Snape, and Helena Bonham Carter injects her sadistic Bellatrix Lestrange with a shot of kinky malice and a surprising dash of humanity. But the true standout here is Tom Felton, whose Draco Malfoy more than comes into his own this time 'round. It doesn't hurt that the effects, as usual, are stunning; that Nicholas Hooper's score is sensational; or that lenser Bruno Delbonnel gives Hogwarts shadings and darkness and claustrophobia that have never before been implied. But gives "Prince" such punch is its glorious heart. We've watched these characters grow up on film, age and gain and lose and love. The first few films were the set-up-we're inching towards the pay-off now, that place where everything counts double; every hope, every action, every death-yes, death rears its head here, and the effect is wrenching and staggering in ways you don't expect from any film, much less a kid's flick. Is it the best Potter yet? No. Order of the Phoenix is such a flat-out perfect picture that it's likely to remain the crowning jewel in the Potter series. This is not a perfect film. Some of the final scenes seem strangely underheated and sloppy, and Michael Gambon's Dumbledore never hits that perfect note of wizened whimsy that the late Richard Harris had down pat. But this is a damned good film-the kind we need in this day and age. A-