Film Review: FANTASTIC BEASTS: THE SECRETS OF DUMBLEDORE (2022): Third Entry in Popular Franchise is Light on Plot with So-So Beasts

Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore Review

Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore (2022) Film Review, a movie directed by David Yates and written by J.K. Rowling and Steve Kloves and starring Eddie Redmayne, Jude Law, Ezra Miller, Dan Fogler, Cara Mahoney, Mads Mikkelsen, Katherine Waterston, Poppy Corby-Tuech, Paul Low-Hang, Alison Sudol, Callum Turner, Richard Coyle, Jessica Williams, Wilf Scolding, Noor Dillan-Night and William Nadylam.

Director David Yates brings the magic of the Fantastic Beasts franchise to a bit of a halt with the unusually mediocre new third film in the series, Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore. While I thoroughly enjoyed the first two pictures in this set of movies, it felt as if there was something missing in the new picture, namely an intriguing story line. Though the beasts are, at times, fascinating to behold in this sequel, there are too little of them to warrant the movie a significant place in the franchise other than as the lesser of the three pictures. With that said, Mads Mikkelsen plays a fine villain and Dan Fogler is in top form here playing a key heroic character in the movie. Given the quality of those two performances in the film, this picture could still find a significant fan base.

The film opens with Albus Dumbledore (Jude Law) and Gellert Grindelwald (the always terrific Mads Mikkelsen) having tea and realizing that they are on opposite sides of the fence in terms of where they stand regarding certain issues. Though that’s hardly the start of the real story featured in the movie which revolves around a creature known as a Qilin which gives birth to twins. Only one of the creatures survives after Grindelwald get involved and its mother is killed by Credence Barebone (Ezra Miller). Our heroic lead, Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne lacking a bit of his usual on-screen charisma) manages to rescue the other Qilin setting the sequence of events to follow into motion.

Soon Yusuf Kama (William Nadylam) goes undercover to infiltrate Grindelwald’s operation as the wicked Grindelwald seeks to become Supreme Mugwump. There are other characters on board as well such as Theseus Scamander (Callam Turner), Newt’s brother, and Hogwarts professor Eulalie “Lally” Hicks (Jessica Williams) but the really interesting character in all this is a baker named Jacob Kowalski (Dan Fogler) who carries a torch for the love of his life, Queenie Goldstein (Alison Sudol).

This movie’s story is OK but it lacks emotional depth. It is basically an excuse for the characters to get together all in the name of good vs. evil. Mikkelsen’s Grindelwald is power hungry and will do whatever it takes to get to the top. Meanwhile, Fogler’s character, Jacob, does what he can to help out and win back Queenie under the guidance of Hicks who is terrifically played by the very charismatic Williams. The centerpiece of the movie is a sequence where Redmayne’s Newt is forced to emulate scorpion type creatures by putting his hands up and doing an odd sort of dancing movement that makes for a hysterical scene within the picture.

Of the film’s many flaws is the absence for much of the movie of Katherine Waterston’s character, Tina Goldstein. She is an important part of the series but is, for the most part, left out of the action this time out. Some of the other flaws include the snail-like pacing of the picture and the tone of the picture which is inconsistent. It sometimes feels weightier than it needs to be and, at others, comes across as too light. This film needed to find a happy medium in terms of setting a consistent tone.

Let’s talk about those beasts. The Qilin comes across as a super cool creature but is given too little screen time, unfortunately. Tiny bug Pickett also gets too few moments in the movie as well, leaving the less interesting humans as the center of the audience’s attention for the most part and with the exception of Fogler’s Jacob (who proudly hails from Queens), some of the characters lack creative energy in their performances. Some of the action is confusing at best with too many people jam packed into the movie some of whom are not really relevant to advancing the plot.

With that said, when the good characters all go out into the world with similar suitcases to trick the evil folks in the movie, there is genuine suspense and the movie does manage to come together for a nice, albeit hardly surprising, finish.

Redmayne is decent at given intervals in the new sequel but is ultimately underused here. This film’s strength lies mostly in the portrayal of the evil, would-be wizard world leader, Grindelwald. Mikkelsen commands the audience’s attention at all times and proves worthy to play a role that could have fallen short in lesser hands. Fogler, as the hero we love to admire, shines as the most valuable player in the picture and steals the show whenever he comes on screen.

Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore doesn’t succeed well in its portrayal of Credence Barebone either but that is hardly Ezra Miller’s fault. Miller is a fine actor but the character just gets lost in the shuffle. Law is simply going through the motions here and comes up with a less than stellar performance. Another problem is that I don’t really think the picture works as a stand alone movie requiring viewers to have seen the other films to follow the action and that will hold back viewers who are fresh to the series from becoming newly appointed fans.

In the end, director David Yates had fashioned an interesting picture that could have found the center of its story in the editing room and probably should have been trimmed about 20 minutes. That doesn’t mean the beasts aren’t noteworthy, just a little less prominent to the story than they could have been. Devoted fans of the series may be more forgiving of the movie’s flaws and could enjoy it a bit more.

Rating: 6/10

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