At midnight, people will linw up to catch the latest film installation in the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Lucky for me, I won’t have to subject myself to screaming tweens the way I did for Twilight, because I was fortunate enough to catch a special screening of the film last night.

The Harry Potter core three amigos, Harry, Hermione, and Ron are back at Hogwarts for their 6th year but there are, as usual, evil forces at work. Not surprisingly, Voldemort is behind the evil plot enlisting the ever creepy Draco Malfoy.

I’m not gonna give too much away pero if you want to read more, read after the jump.

In every Harry Potter movie, Harry finds a mysterious object that helps his personal growth and development as a wizard. In this film, that object belongs to a mysterious half-blood prince, whose identity is revealed late in the film.

Another sub-plot is the raging hormones of the 6th years at Hogwarts, with the students resorting to using love potions, sometimes with dangerous results.

Early in the film there was a hint that Harry might hook up with a muggle (non-magical human) who happened to be a woman of color. That got me excited for all of five minutes, when Professor Dumbledore squashed that from happening.

I found that the plot moved slower compared to other chapters in the Harry Potter film series and I didn’t find the film as dark or scary in tone as people were making it out to be. There were two scenes that were creepy as hell but I wasn’t on the edge of my seat or anything. The film is visually stunning, with really interesting camera angles and breathtaking scenery.

I admit that I’ve read the books in the Harry Potter series in pieces, as opposed to my older daughter who has read them all and I think that I was at a disadvantage watching Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince without the text knowledge to fill in what I felt were big gaps.

Pero all in all I enjoyed the film and if you even a moderate Harry Potter fan you will too.