I must admit to not being a “Harry Potter” expert. At the screening I saw, there were a few scenes which included certain looks from characters, or dialog, which caused the audience to erupt into laughter and I didn’t know why. I didn’t get the “inside” jokes. But I was able to follow the story pretty easily. This film is well made with very nice special effects and the acting was fine. In one humorous scene in which I did get, a certain female character admitted to sleepwalking at night and says, “That’s why I always wear shoes to bed!”

However, there are dark themes explored in the film, as with previous installments of the “Potter” series, which includes a witch in full costume along with a black hat, characters riding on broomsticks, potions being used and wands used as weapons. Along with the magic, there is the death of a major character and there was grief in the story as the characters tried to come to grips with the fateful death. Due to the dark themes and magic, we are unable to award our Dove Seal to this film.