It is very apparent to all very quick that Voldemort is gaining strength and getting ready for a showdown. Harry, Ron , Hermione and Draco are all grown up. Rupert Grint as Ron Weasley is looking a bit too buffed and grown up to be believable as a teenager. I'm surprised the producers didn't make him trim down. We welcome a new major player at Hogwarts, Jim Broadbent as Professor Horace Slughorn. It seems he has trained many wizards in the past including Harry's parents and Voldermort. He is suspected to hold some secrets that will aid Harry as well.

Outside of the new surprises in the plot line, the Quidditch game in this episode is a beauty to watch and believable. At this point in the franchise, if not sooner, the watcher can believe this parallel world exists right along side of us. It is rich and imaginative as have been the past episodes. The art, set decorations and CG all work together to create this magic world.

Harry and all of the usual suspects except Draco all have some adolescence heart throbs and in fact more than one have love triangles starting where A likes B but B likes C, or A like B and C like C also. I'm sure these will mature. In fact I hope they take this plot line further in the final episode in two parts, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows". The time passes quickly ( 153 minutes) and of course there is a shown down of sorts with Voldermort again and in the process we're learning why he is such a difficult foe to permanently vanquish.

There "aha" moments when I have to flash back to parallels in characters when Harry finally acknowledges he is the chosen one. Remember Neo in the Matrix or Frodo in Lord of the Rings. Another parallel might be Voldermort and Sauron of Lord of the Rings and his powers.

In any event if you've seen the previous ones you'll want to watch this one. I have to also say if you have not watched the previous ones it might be a good Idea to catch up with the DVD's first. Although I think you can watch this one alone there are to many character development moments in the past , not included in this that you'll miss.

Al