Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Ultimate Edition review

            The Harry Potter franchise found a solid hand to guide the series when it found David Yates, who aptly handled year 5-7. This was the first film he too a hold of, and it quickly became clear that there was a more serious tone to the films. The films were now solidly in PG-13 rather than PG, and the storyline of the fifth film has great loss and death. 

            For the first time in the series, things are really bad for Harry. For some reason much of the school has started to believe that his exploits with Lord Voldemort are a hoax, and the school itself becomes overrun by the corrupt ministry of magic. Cornelius Fudge assigns Dolores Umbridge as the professor for the Dark Arts, and Harry becomes concerned that they will learn nothing to help protect them from an impeding battle.

There is a rebellious twist to the fifth in the series, as Harry Potter and a few of his closest friends become the resistance against the corruption within Hogwarts. Building his own army, Harry plans to resist at any cost.

            Though this is Blu-ray, it is not a package to be bought as a space saver. The box set is massive, including two additional discs of special features, a digital copy, two character cards and a 44-page booklet. The book does not focus on this one film, but instead includes photos from the entire series thus far. Each collectible book that is inserted in the other Ultimate Edition box sets is different from this one. There are also unique character cards found in each, as well as a collectible lenticular card.

There is also a new special feature in part. It is a new documentary, “Creating the World of Harry Potter,” and this set includes part 5, which covers the characters in the film and behind-the-scenes footage in the examination of Potter’s hero journey. This is will be an 8-hour, 8-part documentary by the time all of the films are released on Ultimate Edition Blu-ray. The Ultimate Edition Blu-ray release also includes over four-hours of previously released special features on the two discs.