I was worried when I heard that director David Yates who brought us Harry Potter and The Order Of The Phoenix would tackle both the 6th and 7th installments of the hugely popular Harry Potter franchise. While both casting and his work with actors was first rate on "Order of the Phoenix" I couldn’t help but be somewhat underwhelmed by the film. I felt that Yates failed to infuse the magic into Hogwarts that made it, well, magical.

While his new film “Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince” is vastly superior it’s still not without flaws. Once again Yates shows his strength in handling actors: the blooming relationships between the growing teens are portrayed admirably. The film builds a nice suspense and the plot is a lot more cohesive than that of “Phoenix”.  The only major flaw that’s irked me about Yates from day one is his lack of establishing shots. Throughout the Potter films we’ve been shown magnificent vistas of Hogwarts Castles and its immediate surroundings, awesome visual effects shots that helped stitch scenes together and served to remind us of the magical realm we were privileged to visit.  Do not expect any such shots in Half Blood Prince because they’re not there. Sure you’ll see a few gates and towers but as for sweeping, majestic Hogwarts views – none whatsoever which I personally deeply regret.

Fans, however, will be pleased to hear that for the better part of the film Yates stuck pretty close to the book, save for some minor departures, the ending seemed a little rushed in my opinion, too many details have been omitted there. For the first time we’re actually being treated to a Quidditch practice session which is quite hilarious and did like the fantasy look they’ve designed for the film.

Overall Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince is a good film that given a few extra effects shots could have been great. Let’s hope David Yates improves even further when Parts 1 & 2 of the seventh film hit theaters in November 2010 and summer 2011, respectively.