The maturation of the _Harry Potter_ franchise is finally complete in this, the sixth go-round for Harry, Ron, Hermione and friends. Gone (or greatly reduced) are the Hogwarts Academy's whimsical little accents - jovial ghosts, talking paintings, animated plants, hidden chambers - replaced by a quivering mass of moody sentiment, rampaging emotions and stormy romances. It's sensible. The colorful decor we see in kindergarten doesn't usually match what's on the walls in high school.

That's been helped along by progressively better filmmaking, as we've slowly shed the flimsy special effects and inconsistent tones first introduced by Chris Columbus back in _The Sorcerer's Stone_. The series has struggled with long growing pains ever since, trying to bridge that tricky gap between childish wonder and adolescent gloom, and it's a relief to see the metamorphosis finally come to fruition. _The Half-Blood Prince_ is a genuinely slick, professional presentation, well-realized as a fitting companion to the equally dark, funereal source material. It doesn't really stand alone, though, leaning on an expectant knowledge of novel-only details and events to fill in the plot's many, sizeable gaps. Too much going on in the printed page, I expect, as many well-remembered scenes and important bits of lore hit the cutting room floor. At least quidditch games are back on the agenda this time around; a much-needed (and exceptionally well-realized) break from all the death and doom that's been gathering.