Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore Review

The third Fantastic Beast movie has a lot riding on it. The previous film was a disappointment to critics, one of the characters was recast because of personal controversy, and the franchise’s creator has become a diverse figure. So, the question is can it recapture the magic?

A year after the events of The Crimes of Grindelwald the Wizarding World has fallen into chaos. Gellert Grindelwald (Mads Mikkelsen) wants Wizards and Witches to go to war with Muggles and Dumbledore (Jude Law) can’t move against his former friend due to their blood bond. Complicating matters is the election for the Supreme Head of the International Confederation of Wizards which Grindelwald plans to exploit. To counter the threat Dumbledore assembles a team of wizards, witches, and a muggle and sends them to Berlin to stop the dark wizard.

The Crimes of Grindelwald was a film with a lot of issues. It was a franchise-building film that was made to enhance world-building and set up future instalments instead of telling a standalone story. It was the cinematic equivalent of treading water. The Secrets of Dumbledore learned from these mistakes.

The Secrets of Dumbledore had a lot more focus than its predecessor. The characters needed to stop Grindelwald from interfering with the magical election. If they fail then Grindelwald can start his war against the Muggles. It felt more like the Harry Potter books and films because it told an individual story within the wider conflict. Harry Potter was about the conflict between the forces of good and evil with Voldemort looking to conquer the Wizarding World, yet the books and film were still about to tell standalone stories, like the Prisoner of Azkaban which was about Sirius Black escaping prison, and the risk he placed on Harry’s life.

The Secrets of Dumbledore did have some lingering threads left for potential sequels. The plan was to make five Fantastic Beasts films and Secrets of Dumbledore does expand on the Wizarding World because of the magical election. Yet the film does stand on its own as its own story.

One of the most controversial decisions The Crimes of Grindelwald was revealing Credence Barebone (Ezra Miller) was really Dumbledore’s long-lost brother. This was a move that annoyed the fanbase and the filmmakers listened to the backlash because they retconned this retcon. It does make Credence’s identity more palatable.

The final issue The Crimes of Grindelwald had was that it felt dark for the sake of being dark. Grindelwald got one of his followers to prove their loyalty by killing a Muddle toddler. It was uncomfortable and felt more like a teenager trying to make their story edgy. The Secret of Dumbledore lightened things a bit. One of the big set-pieces in the film was when Newt (Eddie Redmayne) had to go on a rescue mission and he had to mimic the movements of a cast of crab-like creatures. This was a set piece where a giant crab ate people and spat out their half-digested remains.

Fans of the franchise will appreciate the magical action. A sequence I enjoyed was when Theseus (Callum Turner) and Lally Hicks (Jessica Williams) fought against a load of Grindelwald’s followers. It was a quick sequence yet there was invention with the spells they used to defend themselves. There were some sequences with excessive amounts of slo-mo, it looked like David Yates went to Zack Snyder for some directing tips.

In the previous Fantastic Beasts films used New York and Paris as locations. New York’s Wizarding World had an art-deco look, whilst Paris’ had classical architecture. Berlin’s Ministry of Magic was minimalistic and functional. The Germans are known for being efficient.

J.K. Rowling has been open about political views, even if it’s against her best interest. She has managed to be hated by both sides of the culture war. She was influenced by recent events because one character mentions that the Wizarding World’s system of government was based on the peaceful transfer of power. Grindelwald was painted as a Trump-like figure because he was a disrupter who was willing to do anything to get power. But the message was muddled since some characters had a debate about letting Grindelwald run in the election and the filmmakers were saying political extremists shouldn’t be allowed to stand in elections. The other two candidates were blank slates, so it was hard to care about them.

Rowling has revealed that Dumbledore and Grindelwald were in a relationship when they were younger. But the films have been too scared to actually show them being romantic. They said they used to love each other, and Dumbledore was enamoured by Grindelwald. These statements could be interpreted that their love being platonic, not romantic. There’s enough ambiguity to make the film more acceptable in socially conservative countries.

One of the big changes the third film made was the casting of Mads Mikkelsen as Grindelwald. Johnny Depp played the role in the first two films but was replaced after his legal troubles. Mikkelsen’s interpretation of the character was darker and more straightforward. But his character felt more like a generic villain who was evil for the sake of it instead of being a charismatic leader with a mass following. It was a waste of Mikkelsen’s talents.

The best characters in the film were Hicks and Jacob Kowalski (Dan Fogler). Hicks’ was an excellent addition to the franchise. She was a fun, confident character who was effective in battle. Kowalski was the character with the most agency because he had a personal mission, to save Queenie (Alison Sudol) from Grindelwald’s clutches.

The Secrets of Dumbledore was an improvement over the previous entry but that’s because the previous film set the bar so low. The Secrets of Dumbledore did offer some fantasy fun and a tighter story, but it does pale to the original Harry Potter stories.