Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets Of Dumbledore

 This review may contain spoilers!

 

 Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets Of Dumbledore is the third film in the Fantastic Beasts series and follows a team of heroic witches and wizards who seek to stop Grindelwald from igniting a war with the Muggles. I greatly enjoyed how this film kicked off, it made me almost instantly put my trepidations to the side. That tense back and forth between Dumbledore and Grindelwald felt like two great powers at odds with one another. I also really enjoyed seeing Newt sneak through this mystical wilderness to help deliver a baby magical creature. The ensuing scene in which Newt almost gives his life defending the baby creature after the mother is killed was the perfect intro for the film. Beyond that there isn't a lot of great story in the feature, but those moments in which magical creatures are interacted with or a sense of wonder in this wizarding world is instilled is pretty great. The cinematography throughout complements the scale of the special effects and moves fact-paced action through in a visually stunning way. The special effects are probably the strongest element of this film just as they were in the past few films; every creature, spell or unique environment is rendered with such jaw-dropping detail. While I do feel like this film utilises classic Harry Potter musical scores a little too often, I am overall very impressed by James Newton Howard's score that injects the dangerous thrills and wonder into this feature.

 

Callum Turner, who played Theseus Scamander, is brilliant as the dashing heroic foil to Redmayne's awkward zoologist; Turner and Redmayne have developed a great on-screen chemistry that genuinely marks them as brothers. Richard Coyle, who played Aberforth, was immediately recognisable as his gruff and irritable role; the heavy heart and hurt Coyle pours into his performance makes this the best portrayal of Aberforth we could have hoped for. Jessica Williams, who played Eulalie Hicks, is one of the more energetic performances out of the whole ensemble; Williams' line delivery is filled with charm and I think with a little more screen time in future instalments she promises to be a fan favourite.

However, the best performance came from Eddie Redmayne, who played Newt Scamander. There are two things I feel have been consistently great with each Fantastic Beasts feature: the visual style of each film and Eddie Redmayne's performance as Newt Scamander. From the start of the film you see the absolute love and care he holds for magical creatures, placing himself on the line and proving to be one of the most empathetic individuals in the series. I love how Redmayne shows Newt as having grown more comfortable around others over the course of these films while still holding an awkward demanour. Seeing the lengths this role will go to for other characters or even a magical baby fawn is really moving, there's a scene in the final act's climax in which Newt is brought to tears over the presumed death of a creature. I love the blind honesty Redmayne brings to his lines, and there's an earnest quality to him that makes his heroism absolutely endearing. Newt Scamander will always be one of Redmayne's greatest roles and the saving grace of Fantastic Beasts.

I remember sitting in the theatre for the first Fantastic Beasts, the first midnight screening and I was lost in a crowd of equally excited fans to see the Wizarding World once more. That film had a major plot problem too; it had a choice: to focus on Newt and his magical creatures or the anti-magic storyline that promised a form of Cold War to come. Unfortunately, the series has really doubled down on this idea of a Cold War with a focus on the conflict between Grindelwald and Dumbledore. It's like watching Harry Potter but with most of the fun and sense of wonder drawn out from it. The characters here skulk around grey-hued streets and shadowy back rooms plotting ways to defeat the rise of a tyrant, the tone is entirely sombre and nothing like the media that preceded it. I was really disappointed with Grindelwald in this film, he loses his sense of charm and instead just becomes dangerous and controlling. He's a colder figure and worse than that, he has no chemistry with Dumbledore. The pair have such extensive history that you expect them to have the weight of history between them, but that's not really there. The film spends most of the time sending our protagonists on a convoluted goose chase in an effort to foil Grindelwald's ability to see into the future, which is rather funny because Dumbledore is often hinted to be seeing into the future for no reason at all too. The storylines from previous film come across as repetitive or being shelved for the sake of this movie. Somehow Jacob and Queenie go through a very similar arc to The Crimes of Grindelwald, and Tina Goldstein is relegated to a background character inexplicably. The really glaring thing in this feature is Credence's story arc, it felt heavily rewritten in a pretty poor manner. Last film Credence was revealed to be a Dumbledore, a secret brother to Albus, but this feature very quickly back tracks on that. Now Credence is suddenly dying and an illegitimate son to Aberforth Dumbledore, yet he still fights alongside Grindelwald and betrays he extremely easily by the end of the film. Credence has never worked in these films, every time the plot has tried to use him things fall apart and fracture. But his very sudden betrayal of Grindelwald isn't the only problematic plot point, the whole final act revolves around the wizarding world choosing their leader by getting a magical foal to bow in front of them, yet Grindelwald making a zombie foal is the plotline our heroes have to foil. When the foal dies in front of the crowd by feature's end I was left wondering how Grindelwald ever really expected to pass that off in the first place. The film really takes itself too seriously almost always, but isn't afraid to stretch itself thing and create a few plot holes. A serious mark against J.K. Rowlings writing, though hardly surprise given how Fantastic Beasts has been tracking thus far.

Jude Law, who played Albus Dumbledore, feels less and less this iconic character the more screen time he has; Law gives such a mild manner to the role and the scenes in which he does push the boundaries of that often don't feel like the right choices. Mads Mikkelsen, who played Gellert Grindelwald, takes a well-crafted role and turns him into a pretty cut and dry wannabe tyrant; Mikkelsen's stoic facade falls deeply into the shadow of the man who originally made the role so compelling to watch. Katherine Waterston, who played Tina Goldstein, has never really been one of my favourite characters but I was very dissatisfied with how this film handled this role; Waterston is entwined with Fantastic Beasts and did not deserve to be shunted away into a mere two scenes. Poppy Corby-Tuech, who played Vinda Rosier, is little more than a goon for Mikkelsen in this feature; she never gets a moment to be anything more than a person shooting special effects at other cast members. Ezra Miller, who played Credence Barebone, has not once played a consistent role across all of these films; the sheer level of angst and resentment he plays to throughout were quite two-dimensional. Alison Sudol, who played Queenie Goldstein, has really gravitated away from that bright spark of light in the first film; watching Sudol play this fearful role who has somehow shaken off the mind control she went through in the last feature was underwhelming. Dan Fogler, who played Jacob Kowalski, is playing pretty much the exact same character arc as the last film; It feels an insult to Fogler's ability to keep pushing him as the comedic relief at this point. William Nadylam, who played Yusuf Kama, is this really angry belligerent role who still seems so on the outside of the protagonists; Nadylam plays yusuf with anger or a blank stare in this film which makes the role confusing to watch. Victoria Yeates, who played Bunty Broadacre, is still going far too over the top with her portrayal; Yeates really leans very over the edge with her character's infatuation for Newt and it makes some scenes lose their emotional impact. Oliver Masucci, who played Anton Vogel, is the sort of generic political bad guy this franchise really doesn't need but keeps prioritising; having Masucci play to his role's sinister characteristics with little to no subtlety was a major letdown.

The Wizarding World felt magical once, but that was long ago. I would give Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets Of Dumbledore a 4/10.