Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince dispels the gloom found in the latest Potter movies by focusing on how much the three main characters have grown since the series began. Harry, Ron and Hermione (Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson, respectively) are not little kids anymore, and director Davis Yates wants the audience to know it.

All grown up: The main characters on the verge of adulthood appears to be the main plot point of the Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince.

Life at Hogwarts takes center stage in this installment as teen romances

develop between the famous wizard and Ginny Weasley (Bonnie Wright, who really comes into her own), as well as the hinted relationship between Ron and Hermione, who does a good job at playing a rejected lover while it’s necessary.

 The midnight premiere audience in Birmingham howled with laughter when Ron consumed a box of Harry’s chocolates laced with a love potion and obsession followed.

 Yates tries to serve two masters in this film: fans of the books and fans of the movies. And yet, in trying to please both failed, he failed to really please either one.

Screenwriter Steve Kloves is so absorbed in allowing the kids to grow up he forgets about most of the plot. There are few scenes important to the overall seres, and the ones that do appear are not explained for people who have not read the books. Still, The Half-Blood Prince is worth seeing — it’s just good fun, and audience members spent more than half the movie laughing. Then again, my philosophy on movies is that they should make me laugh.

   While Radcliffe remains flat with his delivery of non-comedic lines, Draco Malfoy (Tom Felton) gives his best performance to date. He believably appears as a guy who might lose his life if he fails, tears and all.

   Also noteworthy is the class act of Severus Snape (Alan Rickman), who captures the audience with dramatically drawn out lines people have learned to expect over the years.

A scary scene at the end earned the movie a PG rating, unlike the previous Potter films. For comic entertainment, I give it a seven out of 10.

Check out this interview with Avrah and her fellow Hogwarts friends from the Rave Theater in Hoover.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Opening Night Review