Harry Potter fans are no doubt thrilled with the December 8th Blu-ray release of the most recent movie in the series - Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince from Warner Home Video.

Perhaps needless to say, this movie is based on the 6th book in the incredibly popular series authored by J.K. Rowling.

In this latest movie edition, Harry finds a potion text book with additions and enhancements for the potions from its owner, the Half-Blood Prince.

The text book helps Harry top the potions class, winning him a luck potion.

Meanwhile Dumbledore works with Harry to track down the splintered soul of Voldemort and Draco Malfoy becomes the tool of the evil wizards.

The main criticism I have of the movie is that it does not play well as a stand alone film, leaning heavily on what came before and setting up circumstances for what is to follow.

I am sure however than fans of the series will very much enjoy seeing yet another installment from Harry Potter’s wizard world brought to life on home video.

In addition to the core players Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson, the cast includes Tom Felton, Michael Gambon, Jim Broadbent, Helena Bonham-Carter, Robbie Coltrane and Alan Rickman.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was directed by David Yates, who also directed Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and will direct the two remaining films in the Harry Potter series.

The movie was well received by critics, garnering a Rotten Tomatoes score of 83% and an IMDb score of 7.4/10.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was a huge hit in the cinema, earning an amazing $301.9M at the US box office.

The video on the disc is a VC-1 1080p encode at 18 Mbps, and is presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.40:1.

The film definitely has a bit of a strange look about it, though it is not clear if this is due to the original elements or the encoding for the disc.

You can see for yourself at the details page for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, which features full resolution PNG screen captures taken directly from the disc.

The main audio is lossless Dolby True HD with 5.1 channels - 16 bits resolution at 48 kHz.

The title comes with two discs, and the main disc is a dual layer BD50, with 31.1 GB used and is coded for All Regions.

Special features are numerous and include Bonus View Picture in Picture streams, BD Live Network features and a Digital Copy for both Windows and iTunes for download.

The package also contains a DVD version for legacy DVD players.

The movie disc features Maximum Movie Mode, which inter cuts segments with Daniel Radcliffe with the main feature.

The disc also contains picture in picture focus featurettes.

The BD Live features included a Live Community Screening where Blu-ray owners all over the planet tuned in last weekend to watch Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince simultaneously, synchronized with actor Daniel Radcliffe and producer David Barron in England.

With an audience from as far afield as Yemen, this live chat also differed in that it was more of a cast chat, with no director involvement (though David Yates was originally planning to attend).

Perhaps as a result the discussion was lot less technical than the chats in the past - you can see most of what transpired at the Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince Live Community Screening Gallery page.

The second disc contains only extras, including a selection of eight additional/deleted scenes.

There is a half hour behind the scenes featurette where the cast takes the audience behind the scenes for a number of aspects of the film production.

The J.K. Rowling: A Year In The Life feature studies the life of the Harry Potter author over the last year of writing the final book in the series.

Tom Felton leads the What’s On Your Mind? segment where he asks the young cast of Harry Potter a bunch of questions, for the first answer that comes into their head.

Glad to see a few of the cast would most like to visit New Zealand!

In the One-Minute Drills: Cast Members Sum Up Their Characters feature, the cast sums up their characters’ adventures in 60 seconds each.

The disc also contains a sneak peek at ‘The Wizarding World Of Harry Potter’ at Universal Orlando Resort, a theme park adventure based on the Harry Potter stories.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince release from Warner Home Video is nice addition to the Harry Potter Blu-ray library and a must own for fans of the franchise.

The retail price is $35.99, though it is a great deal right now at Amazon for $16.99, saving 53%!

Extras:

• Maximum Movie Mode
• J.K. Rowling: A Year In The Life
• What’s On Your Mind
• Additional Scenes Not Shown In Theaters
• One-Minute Drills: Cast Members Sum Up Their Characters
• Sneak Peek At The Wizarding World Of Harry Potter At Universal Orlando Resort

Synopsis:

Voldemort is tightening his grip on both the Muggle and wizarding worlds and Hogwarts is no longer the safe haven it once was. Harry suspects that dangers may even lie within the castle, but Dumbledore is more intent upon preparing him for the final battle that he knows is fast approaching. Together they work to find the key to unlock Voldemort’s defenses and, to this end, Dumbledore recruits his old friend and colleague, Professor Horace Slughorn, whom he believes holds crucial information. Even as the decisive showdown looms, romance blossoms for Harry, Ron, Hermione and their classmates. Love is in the air, but danger lies ahead and Hogwarts may never be the same.

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