Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore casts a largely entertaining spell but struggles to find consistency in its simplistic yet overly-long story.
Overall Score: 6/10
Image: Warner Bros. Pictures
Six years ago, in 2016, audiences across the globe were reintroduced to the world of Harry Potter. This time, however, instead of a traditional sequel, we were presented with a prequel/spin-off that aimed to expand the overall Wizarding World. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them was its title, seemingly signaling a new direction for the franchise. And while the film certainly did deliver on the promise of its namesake, it also offered a lot more in terms of its larger in-universe mythology and lore.
Therefore, it’s rather unfortunate to have to admit that I — or rather, all of us — should’ve seen that this would give rise to complications further down along the road. By the time the next installment, The Crimes of Grindelwald, arrived, it became clear that the Fantastic Beasts series was suffering from a bad case of identity crisis. Did it want to be a more family-friendly adventure about Newt discovering and capturing magical creatures? Or did it want to be a darker and more operatic exploration of the epic battle between Dumbledore and Grindelwald?
Luckily, The Secrets of Dumbledore manages to correct much of its immediate predecessor’s wrongs. In other words, while the last movie caused the series to become indecisive regarding its preferred plot and tone, this one takes everything that was previously established and strikes a balance of sorts between them all.
Now, I say “of sorts” because even though the film does somewhat find that sweet spot it was so desperately in need of, it’s impossible to sit through it without noticing the all too blatant inconsistencies in its overall tone. One moment there may be a few lighthearted jokes being thrown around, another with some fun and exciting action, and another with terrifying horror-inspired sequences. The funny thing, however, is that separately they all work really well. The only problem is that they’re edited together in a way that isn’t even remotely organic, meaning every time a tonal shift occurs the average viewer may find the experience jarring.
Another bad thing about the movie is how it, much like its predecessor, fails to explain — let alone justify — exactly why these particular characters are involved with the plot in the first place. Sure, on the one hand, it works because most of them were, after all, the protagonists of the original film. On the other, however, when you really think about it, it doesn’t. It simply doesn’t make any sense that the likes of a magizoologist and a muggle would be the people that Dumbledore turns to in order to stop Grindelwald.
The last negative thing I have to say is that although each of the characters insist that they’re on a tight schedule, the film itself — at least, not until it reaches its third act — is almost completely devoid of a sense of urgency. In fact, had they cut out around half an hour of its runtime, the movie would’ve probably felt a little tenser and more consequential.
That being said, The Secrets of Dumbledore does get a number of things right. For instance, it has a much more streamlined narrative, allowing it to tell its story with more focus and without too many distractions. Also, it features a lot more action than the previous film (which I felt was far too dialogue-heavy). Furthermore, it cleverly reutilizes the Fantastic Beasts part of its title by having a magical animal at the core of its story and placing it at the center of its conflict.
As for the acting, everyone’s mostly fine. No one really stands out as impressive aside from Mads Mikkelsen, whose version of Grindelwald feels more believable in comparison with Johnny Depp’s and just plays off of everyone else — in particular, Jude Law’s Dumbledore — better.
All in all, The Secrets of Dumbledore has its fair share of problems, and although it never quite reaches the heights of the original, it’s still an undeniably significant improvement over The Crimes of Grindelwald. The plot is much simpler and far more straightforward, it’s heavier on the action and the cool visuals, and once more it has a magical creature at the center of its story. And while it may be tonally inconsistent and about thirty or so minutes too long, for the most part, it manages to both entertain and put the Fantastic Beasts series back on the right track.
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