By Kyle Lee
Berthoud Recorder

Hollywood has been in love with the sequel for a long time now. Franchises are built with the hopes of creating a series that will last for years and make a giant pile of money. But most get progressively worse with each incarnation. I present you with Harry Potter, based on the incredible works of J.K. Rowling, a series that will span eight movies (the seventh book will be split into two movies). Here we stand at the sixth chapter in the series and incredibly, they have only gotten better.
    
The child actors we have grown up with over the past eight years have matured and become fully fledged thespians, truly making their characters their own. But one actor has truly come into his own. While our heroic trio has been off on many adventures, saving the school multiple times, Draco Malfoy (Tom Felton) has merely been the school bully. His job for the first five movies was to mug at the camera. But, this is where Draco shows his full emotion, finally becoming more than a side character.

As always the adults do a masterful job of surrounding the young talent with great examples of how to create convincing characters. But do not go into this expecting a lighthearted romp. The PG rating belies itself. It’s dark, violent and intense. This was worth the price of admission, and I’d buy it on DVD. But please read the great books also!

“Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince”
Director: David Yates
Cast: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson and Tom Felton
Runtime: 2 hours, 33 minutes
MPAA rating: PG
Reviewer rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Kyle Lee is an unabashed nerd who has loved movies for a very long time.