Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore came out on April 15 as the third installment of the Fantastic Beasts franchise by J.K. Rowling. After the controversial casting change of Gellert Grindelwald from Johnny Depp to Mads Mikkelsen, fans suspected this movie would be the worst in the series. To some people’s chagrin, the fans would be right.

The movie starts with Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) finding and helping the newest “fantastic beast”, the Qilin. This creature can see what future scenarios could look like and someone’s true soul. Whether that be good or bad, the Qilin will know. Grindelwald got hold of one of these.

Dumbledore (Jude Law) has a plan to hopefully defeat Grindelwald after avoiding it for a while. He entrusts a team of wizards plus Jacob Kowalski played by Dan Fogler. They all split up doing different actions and carrying out different plans to confuse Grindelwald or make him think that what he thinks is coming, is not. In terms of the actual movie, this means that they try to confuse us as well.

All throughout the rest of the movie you get different perspectives of what is going on. You get Newt and his brother Theseus (Callum Turner), Queenie (Alison Sudol), Credence played by Ezra Miller, and even characters we have not formally met before this point. Some secrets Dumbledore has hidden also come out during the film. Literally and figuratively.

Overall, was this movie meant to be more of a transition piece? Yes, I think so. The plot line was very predictable especially towards the end. I do think that if you are a fan of the franchise in general and would like to see future movies, you need to watch this one. While it was mediocre, it was also important.

My final rating is about 2/5 stars, but it is a must watch movie.

Rating: 2/5 Stars

(Credit: Wizarding World)