Culminating more than 600 pages of suspenseful witchcraft and wizardry into a two-and-a-half hour movie is no small feat, but Warner Brothers’ “Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince” gave it their best effort

But that also stands out as the major flaw in “The Half Blood Prince.”

Major parts and explanations are sacrificed due to time constraints. The audience never finds out how Voldemort really acted as a child and delved into his evil ways, something that is explained in depth in the book. With the seventh and final novel being broken down into two movies, we can only hope major parts of the plot will not be sacrificed as in the “Half Blood Prince.”

The sixth movie in the series of eight returns with the same cast we met in the first. This time around, Daniel Radcliffe lends Harry a growing sense of skilled maturity. Rupert Grint leads a soul searching Ron Weasly through his first romance. Emma Watson brings an overdue strong feminine side to the scholarly Hermione Granger.

The plot picks up as the evil wizard Voldemort and his “Death Eaters” are wreaking havoc on both the “muggle” and wizard worlds. Headmaster of Harry’s school, Hogwarts, the great wizard Dumbledore has taken on the responsibility of putting a stop to Lord Voldemort and his evil schemes. Dumbledore employs Harry to be his right hand man throughout the conquest, as Harry boasts the undeniable connection to Voldemort as well as some of the physical qualities the aging Dumbledore has lost.

Through the use of flashbacks, Harry and Dumbledore follow Voldemort as a young boy all the way up to his present, dark state. They discover Voldemort has found a way to obtain immortality- making their ultimate goal of destroying him that much more difficult. He has severed bits of his soul, which are called horcruxs, and has hidden them over vast parts of the Earth.

Once the seven horcruxs are found and destroyed, Voldemort can be killed once and for all, and the wizard world can carry on in magical harmony.

Dumbledore has found one horcrux by the time Harry enters the scene. The two go on dangerous journeys in search of the rest while Dumbledore imparts his wisdom to Harry to finish out the battle because old age is getting to the headmaster.

Dumbledore ultimately is killed by Severus Snape who has been straddling the line between good and evil since the first movie. The movie ends in what seems like the middle of the plot. Half the horcruxs are found, Hogwarts is left without a headmaster and one of the greatest wizards that ever lived, and Voldemort is still thriving and plotting his domination.

Among all the dark action and twisted flashbacks, the sixth film introduces the theme of young love for the first time. Each character has matured and becomes victim to expressing his or her true feelings of love, butterflies, and crushes. Revealing a personal side to the characters we have only seen casting spells and warding off danger is a refreshing change. Their personas take on new relatable qualities that make the audience feel closer to each character.