"I can make things move without touching them. I can make bad things happen to people who are mean to me. I can speak to snakes, too." This quote by Voldemort when he was still young Tom Riddle sets a darker tone for the movie as we learn about his past. Even though it is PG, it felt as dark, if not darker, than its PG-13 counterparts. But I still found the latest Harry Potter installment to be very entertaining.

Dumbledore whisks Harry back to Hogwarts for his sixth year at the school. But some parents are beginning to get anxious. After all, the ancient halls have seen plenty of adventure since Harry arrived so long ago. The familiar faces return, anyway, including Draco, who is trying to be more sinister than ever.

And he may have some help. Severus Snape finally becomes the Dark Arts professor, but is he trustworthy? Dumbledore convinces another professor to return to Hogwarts, a professor who might have helped Tom Riddle unknowingly and could hold the key to destroying Voldemort.

Violence and magic abound in The Half-Blood Prince, but not more than is to be expected. There is a character death, a very heart-wrenching scene. Most of the violence is bloodless since it's through magic, but there are some frightening sequences-mainly some sort of zombie monsters rising from a lake. Profanities are far and few in between. Sexual content consists of several kisses.

The one really cool thing about the Harry Potter movies is the fact it's almost always the same cast. Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Michael Gambon, Alan Rickman, Jim Broadbent, Tom Felton, Maggie Smith, Robbie Coltrane and Helena Bonham Carter play the major characters. It is directed by David Yates, who also directed Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

The acting is good, as usual. Radcliffe, Grint and Watson have great chemistry on screen as Harry, Ron and Hermione. Rickman did a good job portraying Professor Snape, my personal favorite of the Hogwarts professors. The special effects are topnotch, too.

I've never been much of a Harry Potter fan, but I did find Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince to be a captivating movie. Though if you haven't seen the previous Harry Potter movies or read the books, I'd recommend you at least see the movies beforehand. I give it seven and a half out of ten stars.

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