Fantastic Beasts

Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore once again overstuffs the Wizarding World with too much information. But it's a step up and provides a pretty ...

Although there are two more films of the Fantastic Beasts franchise in the works, the writing team needs to figure out a better way to incorporate Newt and his friends into this overarching story of Dumberdore and Grindelwald’s eventual legendary duel. Although The Secrets of Dumbledore does try to answer many of the holes in the last film, new questions arise as to whose story is being told. Instead of just moving forward with the narrative, the film redundantly recaps the last movie in an attempt to fill in that film’s gaps. But he too is thwarted by Credence, who takes the calf of the chilan to use in Grindelwald’s wicked plans. Due to their unbreakable vow to not harm each other—and essentially their love for one another—Dumbledore and Grindelwald must find others to do the job for them. Following the Wizarding World Universe canon seems to be a complicated thing, especially when the author of said universe is constantly changing it.

Johnny Depp is out and Mads Mikkelsen as Grindlewald in for this J.K. Rowling-penned Harry Potter prequel movie, which finds Eddie Redmayne's Newt Scamander ...

Taking a cue from the latter-day Star Wars movies’ fixation on the Skywalker lineage, J.K. Rowling and co-writer Steve Kloves connect everything to the canon their audience has already invested in, shifting Dumbledore to the fore and focusing on his fractious family tree. In the throes of love years earlier, they signed a blood oath that they’d never harm each other, but Dumbledore takes it upon himself to #stopthesteal, and he taps Newt for a crucial mission. The series’ emotional core, Jacob Kowalski (Dan Fogler, the only one enjoying himself), comes to grips with the poorly rationalized defection of his beloved Queenie (Alison Sudol), who went over to the dark side in the previous film. This undemocratic process instead falls to the judgment of a small, scaly, mutant baby deer, revered for its unerring ability to sense the purity of a person’s character. He’s now been remanded to the margins of his own franchise ( and its poster). His presence has been reduced to a handful of whimsical interludes that feel severely out of place in what’s otherwise a morose political thriller. The particulars of the magical electoral process figure more prominently in Secrets of Dumbledore than the average viewer might expect from a fun-for-the-whole-family fantasy.

Completely impenetrable to all but the biggest Harry Potter fans, The Secrets of Dumbledore is alternately overloaded and bare-cupboard empty.

The gist: Just before the start of the Second World War, magizoologist Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) is set on a journey by a young Dumbledore to stop the Hitler-like Grindelwald, who wants to start a race war between wizards and non-magic muggles. Completely impenetrable to audiences who haven’t watched all eight Harry Potter films plus the previous two Fantastic Beasts adventures (the last one which was released four long years ago), The Secrets of Dumbledore is alternately overloaded and bare-cupboard empty. This tension?” So asks supervillain wizard Grindelwald (Mads Mikkelsen) to dogooding wizard Dumbledore (Jude Law) early in the latest Fantastic Beasts go-round.

Visually impressive third adventure looks great, with an ever more Dickensian Eddie Redmayne, though there are questions about the Harry Potter timeline.

The open secret of Dumbledore’s gay identity is explored further, along with its subsequent effect on the more homophobic older generation; and his relationship with Grindelwald is established in the opening dialogue scene, albeit with a calm, blank sort of emotional restraint. Mads Mikkelsen has been brought into the series to replace the now problematic Johnny Depp in the role of Gellert Grindelwald, the evil wizard who once had a close relationship with Albus Dumbledore himself (played by Jude Law with a twinklingly donnish manner and beard). Mikkelsen gives a subtler and more insidious performance than Depp’s, and the “pale eye” effect is more restrained. The Secrets of Dumbledore is another very amiable and lovely-looking fantasy adventure with some great production design and visual effects, especially in the New York scenes.

Reviews are in for Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore, so what do the critics think of the third Harry Potter prequel?

This results in feelings of discomfort even during the most magical moments: Peter Debruge of Variety commends the way J.K. Rowling envisions her story over multiple movies, planting things that will almost certainly pay off in a movie yet to come. So, what did critics think about Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore? Will our questions about the great wizard be answered?

Even without the real-world controversies of its originators, J.K. Rowling's spinoff series continues to lack the urgency and, well, magic of Harry Potter.

Based on the headlines they’ve generated over the four years since the last film, some of its creators might want to explore those ideas a bit more closely in their real lives. The most bewildering thing about The Secrets Of Dumbledore is how superfluous each of its ideas feel in relationship to one another. Up on screen, it’s clear they were too busy digging through a mountain of their own mythology to extract the more relevant lessons underneath. While it’s surprisingly easy to accept Mads Mikkelsen in place of Depp as dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald, it serves more as proof of the franchise’s embarrassingly inconsequential nature. The familiar grounds of Hogwarts and the fairy dust of composer John Williams’ iconic Harry Potter theme only make us wish we were watching that film series instead of this humorless slog. Back in 2016, there was something welcoming and old-fashioned about Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them, the genial first installment in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter spinoff book series.

The first reviews for Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore are out, and critics are still divided about whether the Harry Potter spinoff series is ...

And after writing the screenplay for the poorly received second film in the Fantastic Beasts franchise, JK Rowling had help from long-time Potter scribe Steve Kloves on this film. The site’s consensus reads: “Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore avoids some of the pitfalls that plagued its predecessor, but lacks much of the magic that drew audiences into the wizarding world many movies ago.” The review embargo for Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore has lifted, and initial reviews praise the film as an improvement over its immediate predecessor, but are still dubious about the need for a Harry Potter spinoff series.