In all fairness, there was a down year in 2003 between Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. There also was not a Harry Potter movie in 2006 between Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

But there’s some truth to the saying that “perception is reality” and it kind of feels like the Harry Potter franchise has permeated nearly every facet of my pop culture consciousness each year since Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone 8 years ago and has never really faded in that length of time.

The sixth movie, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, is hovering on the horizon and it kind of feels like a rebirth for me.

Cami and I didn’t see the fifth movie when it was in theaters. Henry had been born a few months prior and considering the downright dreadful slog that was Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, we didn’t feel compelled to find a sitter.

We ended up renting the movie and watching it maybe a month ago and I was kind of surprised by how dark it was. I’m not a fan of the books, so I can’t compare or contrast against the source material. But I found it INFINITELY more easy to follow compared to Goblet of Fire and (as I’ve been told) there was more complicated plot elements to cram into the fifth movie anyway. So, cheers for that.

With renewed interest I am looking forward to Half-Blood Prince and I think it is to the franchise’s advantage that they have settled on a director with David Yates. He directed Phoenix, Half-Blood and is in the process of filming both chapters of The Deathly Hallows.

As much as I love Alfonso Cuarón’s work in Prisoner of Azkaban (and as much as it looked like they were going to rotate directors out to keep the franchise in step with the natural aging of the actors) I believe a consistent voice is best and I eager to see where things go.

I have no other particular insights about the Harry Potter movies, so I’ll turn it over to you guys. Which one of the films is your favorite? Do you have high hopes for Half-Blood? How do you feel about them splitting the seventh book into two movies? Leave your comments below!