Random Movie Review - Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore

 

A lot has happened since the last film, particularly around the negativity of J.K. Rowling's comments towards transgender people. Desperately trying to keep people invested in the Wizarding World, and she wasn't even invited to the 20th anniversary Harry Potter film (though Warner Brothers did confirm that they had enough archive footage of her to work with and her not being invited to do new interviews, had nothing to do with her comments). Meanwhile, Johnny Depp goes up against his former partner Amber Heard in court for some reason (really don't get why because any credibility he has will maintain whatever happens I feel) which, as a result, had him leave the Wizarding World with Mads Mikkelsen taking his place. So 2022 better be the year where the Wizarding World makes a big comeback, and that all starts with this third Fantastic Beasts film. Of course, we are also getting the ambitious triple A game Hogwarts Legacy and further expansions to current exhibits and attractions too (along with some new ones too). So let's see if this third film was worth it (and I'll be honest, I had low expectations going into this one):

In 1932, Newt Schamander (reprised by Eddie Redmayne) travels to Kweilin in China to help a soul and future seeing Qilin, give birth. But things get a bit out of hand when a group of Grindelwald acolytes led by Credence Barebone (reprised by Ezra Miller) kill the Qilin and kidnap its baby. Little do they know that the Qilin gave birth to twins, and Newt decides to keep the other one in his briefcase of creatures. Albus Dumbledore (reprised by Jude Law) assembles a group of non-Grindelwald following witches, wizards and the No-Maj Jacob Kowalski (reprised by Dan Fogler) in an attempt to thwart his plans for world domination (and also due to them sharing a blood pact which makes the pair unable to harm each other). Meanwhile, Gellert Grindelwald himself (this time played by Mads Mikkelsen), kills the baby Qilin that Credence gives him to harness the ability of precognition and sets in motion a chain of events that would aid in his war against the Muggle world unless Dumbledore's assembled army (pre-Potter I might add) stops him.

So apart from a short scene near the beginning, there aren't many Fantastic Beasts in this one, which makes me wonder if maybe they should have called the trilogy something else (maybe Honest Trailers has some ideas). It's also very political, with a few short bursts of visual flair and magic, and not much in the way of the things that drew us to the Wizarding World all those years ago. Also, not to be harsh to Depp, but they should have gone with Mikkelsen from the start rather than him. He's a good actor, don't get me wrong, but Mikkelsen is a powerhouse compared to him. I did chuckle a few times too, and it's honestly an OK film for the franchise. Definitely weak in comparison to the other films, but a slight improvement over its predecessor. 6/10