Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore Mostly Improves on Last Movie

I grew up with the Harry Potter books before the movies even came out. And when the movies came out, it blew my young little mind that they could create this beautiful world of magic. As the Fantastic Beasts franchise has continued to grow, they seem to be able to find a way to make the world seem familiar even though it’s almost 70 years prior to the main future. I don’t know if this is the reason I sometimes forget the storyline of the Fantastic Beasts franchise movies, or helps keep me interested or a combination of both. Either way, below is a spoiler-free review of Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore.

(Ed. Note: We present this review for the fans of the Harry Potter universe so they can decide if they want to see the movie or not. In no way does this mean we condone or support the anti-trans beliefs of the creator of the franchise, J.K. Rowling.)

I spent the weekend watching the first two films to try to remind myself what happened to see how it lined up with Secrets of Dumbledore and I’m having a hard time believing there are going to be two more films (rumor is there will be two more, but I haven’t seen anything official). There are highs and lows of each film, but what is going on? I want to love Fantastic Beasts, but it just feels like a series that is there to remind you of the original series. When you get to the suitcases, count how many give a nod to the original series; I counted 4. They always seem to do the same things and I just want originality!  

In Secrets of Dumbledore we are still fighting the same battle of purebloods vs no-mags and the relationship they should have, and who should decide this relationship. I thought something with Credence was going to happen, but it wasn’t exciting. I thought the Queenie storyline with her switching sides in the second film would grow to become interesting, but it didn’t. With all these different storylines that are intertwined, you would think that more would happen. And when they tried to create a “keep you guessing” situation, I had guessed that it was going to happen about an hour earlier in the film. 

There were funny moments in the film – my favorite being when Lalie is outside on the bench waiting for Jacob. But excitement wise, there was nothing that had me on the edge of my seat.

I will say that the creatures continue to be a wonderfully magical experience, and Secrets of Dumbledore is no exception … like omg the baby qilin. There are a few new types of creatures and a few favorites from the previous films. They really live up to the name of ‘Fantastic Beasts.’ 

Cast-wise, no complaints; Eddy Redmayne, Jude Law, Ezra Miller, Victoria Yeates, Callum Turner, Katherine Waterston, Mads Mikkelsen, Alison Sudol, Dan Fogler, Fiona Glascott, Jessica Williams, and the list goes on. Go check out the IMDb page, and if you see any of those names in future films, I can almost guarantee that their acting will be spectacular. There wasn’t a single moment where I was taken out of the film because of bad acting. Although, one actor, Aleksandr Kuznetsov, who plays Helmut, looks very much like Rupert Grint and I kept thinking it was him. That did annoy me the entire movie and it was the first thing I looked up afterwards. 

It’s worth it to see in theaters as it is such a physically dark film … I mean, it’s also dark as in genre, but just like the first two, there is a lot of night, black, and dark gray happening. You aren’t going to get the same quality of contrast on your home television. 

TLDR: 

• All the creatures are magically fantastical beasts 
• The production design is amazing (I credit Stuart Craig, who has been on every single HP film, including Fantastic Beasts)
• The plot is okay – seems like we’re just doing circles around the same story, but it never actually ends 
• You are either going to love the little reminders of the original HP series or you are going to hate them
• Acting is amazing! 
• If you like the Harry Potter series and the Fantastic Beasts series, go see this one; it’s fun and magical, but be prepared it’s just like the others.

Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore will be released in theaters April 15, 2022. I recommend watching the other two again before you go. There were some bits that I completely forgot about – probably because Where to Find Them came out in 2016, and Crimes Against Grindelwald came out in 2018. Just in case you forgot, it’s 2022; that’s a bit of time in between films, pandemic or not. 

I give Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore (Warner Brothers Pictures, PG-13, 2 hrs 22 mins) a 7.5 out of 10.