Review of Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore (2022) by Rebecca31 — 15 Apr 2022

Fantastic Beasts & the Secret Crimes of Grindelwald & Dumbledore is back with another instalment that isn’t quite great but it’s not awful either, it’s a painfully average film that I’d only really recommend to fans of the series right now, that is if there are any left.

Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) and his suitcase full of magical creatures are back showing up in the most inconvenient times and locations during Grindelwald’s (Mads Mikkelsen) attempt to seize power and begin war with the muggles. Albus Dumbledore (Jude Law) must now assemble a team of unlikely heroes to stop his nemesis.

The Fantastic Beasts franchise has continued to suffer from the same mistakes of the previous two movies. Very much the way The Hobbit movies were stretched out into an unnecessary trilogy, The Secrets of Dumbledore has fallen into the same trap, which makes you question why this whole franchise exists in the first place. Fantastic Beasts is a few ideas dragged out into five feature length movies in which we’re only just past the half way mark, continually building you to the epic showdown between two of the world’s most powerful wizards, Dumbledore and Grindelwald, but Eddie and his suitcase are there too for some reason.

Yes Eddie is still the main character but I’d argue that the far more interesting story lies between Jude Law and Mads Mikkelsen. There are however plenty of adorable CGI creatures to look at in between all the drama. In case you’re wondering, yes the visuals are stunning but I’d expect nothing less at this stage. Sadly a few cute CGI creatures and the onscreen presence of Mads Mikkelsen isn’t enough to save the film.

I’d happily re-watch the Harry Potter movies on a loop until I die whereas with Fantastic Beasts I don’t have anywhere near the desire to ever see them again. Perhaps in the hands of a different director these could have been better movies as all the right ingredients are there, unfortunately it just doesn’t come together as well as it should. Also that’s difficult when it’s trapped in the massive shadow of Harry Potter and the sense of awe and wonder that created. Sure the magical world has been expanded yet again and it’s impressive to see the magical universe and all that comes with that but it’s still lacking.

This is a franchise that desperately tries to fill the void left when Harry Potter ended and honestly at this rate if they decided not to bother with the sequels I don’t think too many people would be upset about it. Recommended for the fans of the other Fantastic Beasts movies, just don’t expect it to be anywhere near the standard of Harry Potter.