Story
As Lord Voldemort’s power increases, Professor Dumbledore (Michael Gambon) transports Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) to a small village. Here they visit the hideout of Professor Horace Slughorn (Jim Broadbent), an old potions teacher whom Dumbledore wants to lure back to Hogwarts. Apparently Slughorn, who once taught Tom Riddle/Voldemort, has hidden memories that Dumbledore desperately needs.
Dumbledore asks Harry to befriend Professor Slughorn in the hope that Harry can entice Slughorn into revealing his hidden memories. During a potions class, Harry discovers an old text book belonging to the ‘Half-Blood Prince’. With the assistance of the book, Harry soon becomes Professor Slughorn’s star pupil. Meanwhile Draco Malfoy (Tom Felton) has been charged with a special task by Voldemort. He spends all of his spare time experimenting with a vanishing cabinet.
Romance is blossoming between Harry and Ginny Weasley (Bonny Wright), and Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint) and Hermione Granger (Emma Watson) – but not without some typical teenage dramas. Harry spends his Christmas break with the Weasleys. While there, he is lured into a field and attacked by several Death Eaters including Bellatrix Lestrange (Helena Bonham Carter). He manages to escape, but not before Bellatrix sets fire to the Weasleys’ house, burning it to the ground.
Back at Hogwarts, Harry’s struggles continue. Professor Snape (Alan Rickman) has been enlisted to help Draco do Voldemort’s evil work. Slughorn is persuaded to reveal his hidden memory. Harry and Dumbledore learn that Voldemort uncovered dark magic that enabled him to split his soul into seven parts, with each part hidden in a magical device called a Horcrux. Harry’s quest is now to find all seven Horcruxes.
Themes
Magic and the supernatural; death and grief; teenage relationships
Violence
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince contains some violence, but there is minimal blood and gore. For example:
Sexual references
This movie contains occasional low-level sexual innuendoes and references. For example:
- A Hogwarts boy asks Harry if he would mind introducing him to Hermione. The boy tells Harry that he wouldn’t mind being on a first-name basis with Hermione, ‘If you know what I mean’. Later, Harry tells Hermione that the boy ‘has a bit of a thing for you’.
- A boy sucks his finger in a suggestive manner while looking at Hermione.
- On one occasion, Hermione refers to one Hogwarts boy who was pursuing her as ‘having more tentacles than …’. The same boy refers to Hermione as a ‘slippery little minx’.
- In relation to his girlfriend Lavender Brown, Ron Weasley tells Harry that ‘all she wants to do is snog me … my lips are getting chapped’.
- A student asks Harry, ‘Did you and Ginny do it then?’
Alcohol, drugs and other substances
This movie contains some use of substances. For example:
- Harry, Ron and Hermione sit in a tavern drinking.
- Professor Slughorn holds a party. We see Hogwarts students dressed as waiters serving wine glasses filled with an undefined liquid.
- Ron eats a box of chocolates laced with a strong love potion and acts as if he is high on love.
- Professor Slughorn gives Ron a ‘pick-me-up’, which turns out to be laced with poison.
- Hagrid and Professor Slughorn drink alcohol from large mugs, singing and behaving in a drunken rowdy manner. Hagrid passes out, leaning back in his seat with his mouth open and snoring.
Nudity and sexual activity
This movie contains some nudity and sexual activity. For example:
- Hermione often stares longingly at Ron when no-one else is looking.
- Ginny Weasley kisses Harry tenderly on the lips.
- Ron passionately kisses a girl on the mouth.
- Hermione wears a low-cut top that reveals cleavage.
Product placement
None of concern
Coarse language
This movie contains occasional low-level coarse language and minor putdowns.
Ideas to discuss with your children
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is the sixth fantasy in the Harry Potter series. It is solid entertainment and contains some genuinely funny and clever humour and stunning special effects. Although it is milder in terms of scary images and violence than other Harry Potter movies, this movie is a little darker and has higher levels of emotion and romance than its predecessors. It also has more mature themes. It reflects the increasing age of Harry and his friends.
The movie’s main messages are that:
- Trust in each other is all important, and doubting one another will lead to defeat.
- To overcome insurmountable odds, you must be able to rely on your friends for friendship, help and support.
Values in this movie that you might wish to reinforce with your children include courage and selflessness.