Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince review

The summer movie season is almost over. The new GI Joe is coming out next month but due to the preview I can't say that one is going to be any good. After the disappointment that was Transgenders 2, I was salivating for a good movie. Enter the 6th Harry Potter movie.

Six movies...wow! No other film series has gone on this long, well, except for the Saw movies (6 this year), and the Land Before Time (13 so far). Funny that all these are kids movies. For those who love the Harry Potter series, don't worry, for some reason the last book is being split up into two movies. Actually, it's a pretty good idea. Hmmm, make one movie that will make half a billion dollars or make two that will make a billion. Yeah, makes sense.

So this movie is titled the Half Blood Prince but actually has little to do with the title at all. The main fault of the movie is that there is really little to no story at all. The movie is so laden with teenage romance angst that it instead should be called Harry Potter and the Hormonal Puberty Stage. Now I'm not complaining that the movie is so filled with awkward romance. It actually makes the movie very entertaining. This is the first Potter movie that I laughed out loud. (lol, for the texting folk, btw) Ron "Ginger" Weasely actually steals every scene he's in and is great comic relief. I'm a sucker for teenage awkwardness and this movie actually made me feel very reminiscent of high school. Bet you guys never knew I went to Hogwarts. Well I never finished but I eventually got my wizardry GED.

I know that "the big twist" was already given in the book and most people know about it, but did they really have to start the movie by saying "_____ is the bad guy, you know it, we know it." If I hadn't read the book I would have wanted a little twist in the movie at least.

I'm not the most sensitive person in the world. Sure, I cry in corners daily but I am pretty desensitized. But I was pretty surprised this movie got a PG rating. Actually the rating turned me off before I saw the movie. But I would say it deserves an easy PG-13. This was easily the darkest of the movies. It had plenty of blood, sexual references, and some pretty scary scenes that I'm not sure kids could handle. I know I couldn't (see also crying in the corner).

I have kind of hated on this movie a little bit but funny enough I ended up enjoying it. It was my second favorite Potter movie after the Prisoner of Azkaban. Though that's kind of like saying the Meatball sub is my second favorite sandwich at Subway. Average food, average movies. The Potter movies have all been good, but never achieved the level of greatness of say, Lord of the Rings.

Harry Potter and the discovery of new body hair lacks a story and sadly that keeps it away from 4 stars, but still stands out in a summer of mediocre movies. It gets 3 lightning scars.