Is the Wizarding World Running Out of Magic?
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MOVIE REVIEW
Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore
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Genre: Adventure, Family, Fantasy
Year Released: 2022
Runtime: 2h 22m
Director(s): Steve Kloves
Writer(s): Pat Casey, Josh Miller, John Whittington
Cast: Eddie Redmayne, Jude Law, Ezra Miller, Dan Fogler, Mads Mikkelsen, Jessica Williams, Callum Turner, William Nadylam
Where To Watch: In theaters nationwide now
Where to start? I admit that I wasn’t a fan of the idea of the FANTASTIC BEASTS spinoff. I do like Eddie Redmayne in several other roles, but it’s taken me three films to get comfortable with him in this. He’s not the film's main focus, which makes it even stranger; the “Fantastic Beasts” subhead has been relegated to something they’re shoehorning into the movie instead of being the focus. I don’t remember the second film that much, which made jumping into this one more challenging. The casting decisions are an entire article themselves; replacing Johnny Depp with Mads Mikkelsen (for what is probably turning out to be the wrong reasons) was an odd choice. Mads did a stellar job but felt awkward because of the character's history; maybe if I followed the franchise closer, it would make more sense. Then, of course, we have the troubled actor Ezra Miller who is going through a tough time in their personal life with some problematic mental health issues.
As a whole, I wouldn’t say that I didn’t like the film; once it got going, it was pretty enjoyable but nothing that I would ever feel obligated to revisit. It seemed odd that everything was so nicely “finished” at the end of this one. The forced aspect of the “Beast” mentioned earlier felt overdone and to have an almost two-and-a-half-hour-long film revolve mainly around its importance was weird. I get it Warner Brothers was sad that their bankroll, aka the HARRY POTTER franchise, has gone into the archives and wanted to continue that but choosing to branch off from a book that we only momentarily see in the original franchise was an odd choice. Originally the series creator (who I won’t mention here) said that there would be five films in total, with this being the third and easily the least popular entry and the lowest ratings. I don’t know what the future holds. That could just be Warner Brothers' safety net, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see them move in a different direction now.
My favorite part of the film was Jude Law and Mads Mikkelsen falling in line with these characters. I felt like I bought into their roles; previously, I had only accepted Law as Dumbledore because they were making me. Grindelwald (Mikkelsen/Depp) had always felt like a forced villain to me, but that could be me nitpicking. I will be shocked if even the most diehard Harry Potter fans are clamoring for more of this spin-off. I know the Wizarding World won’t go away anytime soon, but it’ll be interesting to see what form it takes in the future.
The real standout for me was Jessica Williams (Eulalie 'Lally' Hicks); her more prominent role in the third film was well deserved, and she got to show off her powers in what I would consider some of the best scenes of the film. Almost akin to HARRY POTTER, meets THE MATRIX in some of the best magical battles I’ve seen.
A few moments got a chuckle or two out of me, but at the same time, there were many more dark-lit rooms with nothing but sorrow on the table, which made you feel the runtime as a whole.
SPOILERS:
I had a love/hate moment with the film's ending; having Dumbledore walk off as he did seems so out of place to me. A character who usually is always there to save the day felt like he wouldn’t just shut the book like that. The selection of Vicência Santos (Maria Fernanda Cândido) as Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards seemed like it could lead somewhere, so I’m intrigued about where we’ll see her again.
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OMG I love Jude law playing Dumbledore. I wish there could be more like Easter eggs towards Harry Potter. Like his parents, Voldemort, and more of that part of the story.