Film Review: Fantastic Beasts - The Secrets of Dumbledore
Images courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures Australia.
The Fantastic Beasts series has had a rocky history. The first film suffered from comparisons to the Harry Potter films before it, many considering it an unnecessary cash-grab. Crimes of Grindelwald, the second entry, featured a convoluted story and much darker tone, making matters worse by contradicting already established lore as well as the ending of the film that came before. The newest entry, Secrets of Dumbledore, ends up taking the narrative in a new direction yet again, albeit still lacking the magic that made even the first Fantastic Beasts enjoyable.
Instead we get a film not quite as dark as Crimes, nor filled with quite as much whimsy as one would hope. This approach to the series' overarching plotline reminds me a little too much of the recent Star Wars sequel trilogy, where there doesn't seem to be much more than a loose plan to make X amount of movies, and each entry unfortunately ending up being a reaction to criticisms the last film received. To make matters worse, it seems to be getting increasingly more difficult to detach the universe of the films from writer J.K. Rowling as a person. Without the wondrous filmmaking or production design of the original series, her direct involvement with the storytelling looms like a Dementor, sucking the joy out of the experience.
The production value isn't outright awful, it just feels distinctly amateur compared to what we've seen in media aimed at streaming services, which is rather disheartening coming from what used to be a tentpole franchise. We shouldn't be looking at what's meant to be magic and seeing an obvious greenscreen, in a Hogwarts severely lacking in life. Even the titular Beasts have been reduced to mere plot devices.
Likewise, there's little chemistry between characters outside of Newt and "no-maj" Jacob. With Queenie on Grindelwald's side and Tina only making a cameo appearance at the end of the film, likely thanks to actress Katherine Waterston's vocal disapproval of Rowling, this leaves them without their respective romantic counterparts to play off, rendering their interactions fairly one-note. No matter how many times Dumbledore says he loved Grindelwald, we're rarely shown any interactions that would genuinely lead us to believe this, even with the aid of prior knowledge from the books. Noteworthy mention to Mads Mikkelsen as Gellert Grindelwald who is, unsurprisingly, miles ahead of Johnny Depp before him, and delivers a nuanced antagonist that would truly shine in a different story.
Culminating in an emotional confrontation that seemed to be the highlight of the film for most audience members, the plot still accomplishes very little for how long it goes on, a worrying sign for what is the middle entry in a supposed 5 film series. Some viewers may find Secrets of Dumbledore to be exactly what they want, after all it does offer a fair amount of fan service and proves there is still some fun to be had with this universe, but I can only speak from my personal experience, which was woefully unmoving.
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Fantastic Beasts - The Secrets of Dumbledore is screening in cinemas across Australia from Thursday the 7th of April. For tickets and more info, click here.