After six films in nine years, the Harry Potter series is
getting better, which is not the way these things are supposed to work.
Why has this lengthy film series done what perhaps no other
has: build in quality rather than suffer from diminishing
returns?

There are a lot of reasons. The most obvious is the Potter
films are rooted in a preexisting narrative supplied by author J.K.
Rowling; rather than invent more story than necessary to capitalize on
a successful model, the story already is shaped. Similarly, as one long
coming-of-age tale, Rowling’s work is designed to pick up more depth
and characterization as her young characters grow into adults.

But the series also has found cinematic footing after an uncertain
early stretch: Nondescript Hollywood helmer Chris Columbus did
workmanlike but uninspired adaptations with the first two films;
British vet Mike Newell presided over a series of set pieces in the
underwhelming fourth installment. Sandwiched between these directorial
guardians was the brilliant Alfonso Cuaron, who turned 2004’s
Prisoner of Azkaban into real cinema with sun-dappled outdoor
scenes and an organic sense of life.

Cuaron’s installment is still the most visually impressive
Potter entry, but it also stands apart from the series. With
television-schooled Brit David Yates, who came aboard for 2007’s
Order of the Phoenix, returning for the new Half-Blood
Prince, and presiding over the series’ two-part finale, the
Potter series seems to have finally found its man. Yates isn’t
intimidated by the material but also doesn’t impose a personal style on
it. He tells a beloved story — well.

For this non-fanatic, however, the key may be the experiential heft
the viewer now brings to the film: not just the history of having seen
these characters develop over the course of six long films (15 hours
total screen time), but the experience of watching these particular
actors — Daniel Radcliffe (Harry), Rupert Grint (Ron
Weasley), and especially Emma Watson (Hermione Granger), whose
post-Potter career most intrigues — grow up in these
roles.

The Half-Blood Prince is the most character- and story-driven
entry yet. There are fewer action/effects set pieces, though the ones
here — Harry and emerging love interest Ginny Weasley
(Bonnie Wright) battling back-to-back in a swampy field, Harry and
mentor Dumbledore (Michael Gambon) fending off the watery dead
— are more genuinely creepy and danger-laden than before.
But the real drama comes from the gathering story of Harry’s “chosen”
confrontation with “dark lord” Voldemort and his minions and the
concomitant emotional upheaval of teendom, as the trio of old friends
negotiate new romantic longings that are no less perilous.

As with all the Potter films, the young stars are ably
assisted by a vibrant mini-universe of veteran British actors, with
Alan Rickman’s Professor Snape stepping to the fore as double agent in
the battle of good and evil whose true allegiances are a mystery. New
to the cast this time is always-great Mike Leigh vet Jim Broadbent
(Topsy-Turvy, Vera Drake) as Horace Slughorn, a returning
professor at Harry’s Hogwart’s School with a crucial secret.

But the young stars — even more than the still-fun
hocus-pocus — are the real show. Harry Potter & the
Half-Blood Prince is not just an excellent fantasy film. It’s a
terrific high school movie. That Harry’s life-and-death confrontation
with true evil seems no more or less important than Hermione’s
conflicted attraction to a too-oblivious Ron is a reason why
Half-Blood Prince is likely the most full-blooded blockbuster
we’ll see this summer.