This Year at Hogwarts Produces More Teasin’ Than Pleasin’

harry_potter_and_the_half_blood_prince_potter-_poster2When you’ve produced as many high quality films as the “Harry Potter” series has over the past decade, it’s only fair to expect some type of decline over time. While the newest incarnation of the series, “The Half-Blood Prince,” is still an excellent film, it ends up serving as a tease for the next film, rather than a full-fledged feature that provides a sense of completeness.

The first two acts of the film show us quite a different Hogwarts, one that is infested with couples making out and lonely hearts trying to find love, making the ancient school of witchcraft and wizardry feel more like a British version of “Saved by the Bell.” It is here where we see how much the characters have grown up and for many hardcore fans, it’s a fun and engaging experience and one that alone makes the movie enjoyable.

For instance, the love card is one heavily played in the film, as every main character that is still in their teens has some sort of relationship with the opposite sex they must deal with. The connection between Ron [Rupert Grint] and Hermoine [Emma Watson] alone is worth the price of admission for many fans, as it is as charming as it is funny. However, it’ll provide a different feeling for those who have followed the series over the years and will take some getting used to, but lets face it, these aren’t the same kids we feel in love with. They’re all grown up now and because of that, there’s more drama than intrigue and less waxing of poetics and more serious matters to attend to, the biggest being the rising forces of Voldemort and his minions.

This battle between good and evil also produces several other key developments, as many of the older characters have also been undergoing changes that haven’t been explained. Simply put, the battle lines have been drawn and finding out where some of these characters stand is shocking. However, most of the developments aren’t as drawn out as much as you’d like, leaving you to wait for the next film to find out the real juicy stuff.

On a positive note, you will see the beginning of the battle being prepared for, with Harry [played by the ever-growing Daniel Radcliffe] joining forces with Albus Dumbledore [Michael Gambon] once they find out another piece to the Voldemort puzzle that has the potential to destroy both the magical and muggle world. Seeing these two join forces outside the castle is a blast, but unfortunately, it doesn’t last for long. By the time the real action begins, the film is over and the big battle is being planned out, producing more sighs of frustration than anything else.

Call it a clever plot device, but in the end, it’s fair to say that it isn’t fair to create a 153-minute film that leaves more questions unanswered than answered. With the next film not being released until 2011, fans will either have to wait around or buy the final book in the series to get their fix. Again, call it clever marketing, but the end result of this film is one that leaves viewers wanting much more than ever before.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 14230 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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