Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009)

All Critics (257) | Top Critics (47) | Fresh (220) | Rotten (42) | DVD (11)

I think it's the best of the series, fairly easily, and a testament to why occasionally throwing a massive budget at an endeavor of this scope can be considered a reasonable decision.

May 6, 2011 Full Review | Comment (1)

Laremy Legel

Film.com

Top Critic

All in all, despite the verve that drives the grander set pieces, it's hard to avoid the sensation of a film toiling overtime to convince itself of its own solemnity.

July 20, 2009 Full Review | Comments (11)

Anthony Lane

New Yorker

Top Critic

Director David Yates presides over some gorgeous CGI set pieces, but all the real magic comes from the scrum of ace British character actors.

July 17, 2009 Full Review | Comment (1)

Cliff Doerksen

Chicago Reader

Top Critic

With its deft handling of teen yearning and affection, Half-Blood Prince maneuvers mysteries of heart and hankering that resound in worlds magic and Muggle.

July 17, 2009 Full Review

Lisa Kennedy

Denver Post

Top Critic

It's a more mature magic. ... Now subject to the same raging hormones as any other 16-year-olds, our spell-casting heroes are learning to brew love potions this year, with results mostly played for laughs.

July 17, 2009 Full Review

Bob Mondello

NPR

Top Critic

Potions play a pivotal part in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, and I wish I'd been able to find one for patience.

July 16, 2009 Full Review | Comments (17)

Joe Morgenstern

Wall Street Journal

Top Critic

If you're a fan, you're sure to find something to grumble about; ditto if you're a critic; but for the dwindling amount of people who just want to go to the movies to watch a fun and interesting movie, you could do a lot worse.

September 29, 2012 Full Review

Ali Gray

TheShiznit.co.uk

For Potter-ites, there are plenty of satisfactions to be had, but the fun mostly comes from recognizing plot points from the novel merely suggested onscreen.

August 13, 2012 Full Review

Hank Sartin

Time Out Chicago

Okay, so it's a placeholder. But it's a really good placeholder.

April 4, 2011 Full Review

Dave White

Movies.com

Half-Blood Prince only really shines when the film's darker and lighter sides manage to meet together, usually when Slughorn is around.

March 22, 2011 Full Review

Joshua Starnes

ComingSoon.net

Yates & his technical team ... are the film's true magicians, taking the viewer's breath away ... with their cinematic craft, illusionistic skill and ... spellbinding wizardry

November 18, 2010 Full Review

Jason Best

Movie Talk

[Harry Potter] is now the lone beacon of despair for children in an increasingly pandering and brainless cinematic landscape; a Grimm tale that should satisfy the darker whims of imaginative children.

October 27, 2010 Full Review

Simon Miraudo

Quickflix

Running an obscene 2 1/2 hours, presenting a story which could have made a halfway decent half-hour episode of a half-assed TV series, this Potter has no focus, a comprehensive plot, any semblance of cohesion, purpose, meaning.

April 13, 2010 Full Review | Comments (35)

Janos Gereben

Entertainment Insiders

A pesar de su extensa duración, 153 minutos, la cinta mantiene un buen ritmo a pesar de su falta de acción. Brillante fotografía.

March 11, 2010 Full Review | Comment (1)

Luis Martinez

Cinenganos

Those previously in the dark about the story from books or films will remain so, for the 153 minutes make little clear aside from a Be-Sure-To-See-The-Sequel conclusion.

January 18, 2010 Full Review | Comments (4)

Donald J. Levit

ReelTalk Movie Reviews

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince is an icily grave and somber affair, with few moments of relief amid the mounting turmoil and a finale that blackens an already charcoal gray sky.

January 6, 2010 Full Review

Jordan Hiller

Bangitout.com

For all its focus on teen romantic entanglements, it sure has very little to do with the Half-Blood Prince.

December 12, 2009 Full Review

Wesley Lovell

Cinema Sight

While previous entries in the franchise spun their wheels a bit, The Half-Blood Prince has much clearer priorities.

December 11, 2009 Full Review

Rob Vaux

Sci-Fi Movie Page

...a deliberately paced, measured view of the characters, their motivations, and their relationships. (Blu-ray Ultimate Edition)

December 11, 2009 Full Review

John J. Puccio

Movie Metropolis

Vagabonding through time, Potter joins up again with his telepathic posse in this coming of agelessness new adventure, while dark forces penetrate the premises and the students experiment with various vials of wishful thinking pharmaceuticals.

December 5, 2009 Full Review

Prairie Miller

NewsBlaze

Potter hits puberty!

December 3, 2009 Full Review

Kam Williams

NewsBlaze

Visually appetizing sixth installment in the Harry Potter series.

December 1, 2009 Full Review

Dennis Schwartz

Ozus' World Movie Reviews

...one of the longest yet most-delightfully entertaining installments in the series.

November 30, 2009 Full Review

John J. Puccio

Movie Metropolis

Radcliffe, Grint and Watson are great as always, but director David Yates' adherence to realism stifles J.K. Rowling's trickster-storytelling wiles. Yates' horrifically bad botching of big-ticket moments bodes poorly for the "Deathly Hallows" films.

September 20, 2009 Full Review | Comments (10)

Nick Rogers

Suite101.com

• 1. Horace Slughorn: The student who gave me Francis... A spring afternoon I discovered a bowl on my desk, just a few inches of clear water in it. Floating on the surface was a flower petal... as I watched, it sank... just before it reached the bottom, it was transformed, into a wee fish. It was beautiful magic, wondrous to behold. The flower petal had come from a lily... your mother. The day I came downstairs, the day the bowl was empty, was the day your mother... I know why you're here. But I can't help you. It will ruin me.
  2. Harry Potter: Do you know why I survived, Professor, the night I got this? Because of her. Because she sacrificed herself. Because she refused to step aside. Because her love was more powerful than Voldemort.
  3. Horace Slughorn: Don't say his name.
  4. Harry Potter: I'm not afraid of the name, Professor. I'm going to tell you something, something others have only guessed at. It's true. I am the Chosen One. Only I can destroy him. But in order to do so, I need to know what Tom Riddle asked you that night in your office all those years ago. And I need to know what you told him. Be brave, Professor, be brave like my mother. Otherwise, you disgrace her. Otherwise, she died for nothing. Otherwise, the bowl will remain empty forever.
  5. Horace Slughorn: Please... don't think badly of me when you see it. You've no idea how he was like, even then...
  – Submitted by Typhon Q (8 months ago)
• 1. Professor Minerva McGonagall: Potter, take Weasley with you. He looks far too happy over there.
  – Submitted by Typhon Q (8 months ago)
• 1. Hermione Granger: My parents are Dentists...They tend to peoples teeth.
  2. Horace Slughorn: Fascinating, and is that considered a dangerous profession?
  3. Hermione Granger: No. Although, one boy, Robbie Fenwick, did bite my father once. He needed 10 stitches.
  – Submitted by Daniel R (8 months ago)
• 1. Professor Albus Dumbledore: Draco, years ago, I knew a boy who made all the wrong choices... please, let me help you.
  – Submitted by Typhon Q (9 months ago)
• 1. Draco Malfoy: Hogwarts! What a pathetic excuse for a school...
  – Submitted by Nina R (10 months ago)
• 1. Draco Malfoy: Don't you understand? I have to do this. I have to kill you... or he's gonna kill me.
  – Submitted by Nina R (10 months ago)

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