We’ve waited an extra seven long months, but Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is finally in theaters today.  No more character posters.  No more re-cut trailers.  No more TV spots.  Just the movie.  Finally.

I directed you to a few early reviews last week, but now that the floodgates have opened, we have a better idea of what the critical reaction is: in a word, great.  On Rotten Tomatoes, the flick is currently hovering at 90% positive, with 123 positive reviews versus 13 negative reviews.

Some negative reviews make concessions.  For example, Manohla Dargis’s pissy review for the New York Times (”Are we there yet?” is the opening sentence) admits that the franchise is “remarkably sturdy.”

However, other negative reviews just come across as ignorant.  For example, Victoria Alexander from FilmsinReview says, “Does J.K. Rowling ever explain why wizards have unkempt too long, bushy beards? What’s up with that?”  Even some critics that are actually reputable and not merely attention-seeking fall into this trap.  For example, Rex Reed for the New York Observer wrote this gem: “The kids at Hogwarts no longer have any relevance. They have never heard of iPods, cell phones or the Internet.”

Heh.  The old “relevance” argument.  Critics, and I am one, so God bless ‘em, are always trying to peg things as “relevant” or “irrelevant”.  So the common line of thinking would be that, in this post-Twilight world, there’s no place for the slightly more chaste Harry Potter.  But that narrative, which I’ve heard from at least three or four major critics now, is simply untrue.  The box office is going to be huge for Half-Blood Prince — probably about double what it was for Twilight — so instead of sounding “relevant”, critics that claim otherwise will just look misinformed.

But as always, I’m dwelling too much on the bad reviews.  On the good side, Roger Ebert gave the film a thumbs up with three stars.  Order of the Phoenix actually got his lowest review, with two and a half stars, so apparently the series is back on the upswing for him.  He also lays out the entire film quite reasonably in his last paragraph:

I admired this Harry Potter. It opens and closes well, and has wondrous art design and cinematography as always, only more so. “I’m just beginning to realize how beautiful this place is,” Harry sighs from a high turret. The middle passages spin their wheels somewhat, hurrying about to establish events and places not absolutely essential. But those scenes may be especially valued by devoted students of the Potter saga.

I haven’t seen it yet, but I already have tickets for a 7:30 showing tonight.  I hope to see you there.