I saw the IMAX3D version of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince last night, and I'm not on board with the "best in the series" reviews I saw up near its time of release. Before I get into what I thought of the movie (which I waited to see until now), I should mention a couple things about the IMAX presentation. The trailers start in 3D and the 3D portion of the movie is completely front-loaded, and probably composes a fair portion of the first half hour. Once you take the glasses off, you never put them back on again. The sequences not in 3D that you'd expect to be in 3D? Quidditch, battles, and other action-filled stuff that makes you wonder why you have space goggles sitting in your lap.

I haven't read the books at all, so apologies to those whom that offends. The pace was glacial, mostly owing to only being able to cut so much from the book and the movie still serve the purpose it needed to: bridge the gap from Order of the Phoenix and set up dramatic conflict for both halves of Potter 7. There were plenty of enjoyable bits, but it didn't knock my socks off like Harry Potter and The Magic Touch of Cuaron did. Half-Blood Prince was well-directed and pitch dark compared to the previous ones, which I liked. I kept waiting for it to stop feeling like an adaptation as much as a movie.