Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets Of Dumbledore

A review of the new Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets Of Dumbledore, by Rita Skeeter.

Not sure if you could deem this film an adaptation of my far superior book The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore; but it certainly seems like that’s the suggestion the Wizarding World team want to make with this third entry in what must now be getting close to being deemed one of the most disappointing franchises in recent memory.

Telling the story of Newt Scamander was an intriguing step in the first film but it seems that many muggle’s intrinsic ties to Harry Potter meant that future instalments were always going to revolve around characters more commonly known.

As you’ll know from my book, Dumbledore’s past is indeed secretive and laden with dramatic material but you wouldn’t know after watching this latest two and a half hour exercise in tedium. How the doomed love affair between the two greatest wizards of their age and their struggle for political balance in a time of great divide can only muster glances at the watch is quite shocking given how most muggles find the magical world so interesting.

Like its predecessors, this film just doesn’t feel like it has any magic to it at all and you’ll struggle to explain the key points of its plot only moments after the credits roll. It’s a franchise treading water rather than delving into more interesting parts of history such as the youth of Tom Riddle or the founding of Hogwarts.

The muggle actors portraying the wizards in question, in fairness, do a very good job. Jude Law embodies the mystery of Dumbledore, Eddie Redmayne still remains the series’ MVP (particularly in a laugh-out-loud rescue scene which is easily the best thing here) and Mads Mikkelsen steps into the shoes of Grindelwald brilliantly; suitably menacing and fascinating in equal measure.

It’s just let down, once again, by a plot riddled with holes, poorly explained decision making, a tendency to shroud the more interesting moments in impenetrable darkness and just not being very interesting. Sure, it may look pretty and the music (as you would expect) is excellent but there’s not much here to sink into.

The cursory nods to the Harry Potter films continue, and it’s nice that they’re fairly subtle rather than being loudly signposted (a tiny cameo for Minerva McGonagall being one good example) but the magical elements introduced that the muggles won’t have seen before feel extremely shoehorned in, even to me. The Qilin, a magical creature able to tell the pure of heart for those uninitiated, ends up becoming one of the worst MacGuffins in movie history.

Another woeful attempt to recapture the magic of Harry Potter and a franchise, like its creator, doing all it can to ruin a previously untouchable legacy.

2 stars **