Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets Of Dumbledore review - Even Dumbledore can't make this average third installment of the franchise 'fantastic'

A new Fantastic Beasts movie is out, and irony prevails again as there’s hardly anything fantastic or beastly about it. The film franchise which has been spiralling since the second instalment after an awe-inspiring debut, has finally managed to cast aside its own protagonist by desperately attempting to bring back the Harry Potter nostalgia to pack cinemas hall with fans with the third film Secrets of Dumbledore.

Jude Law is introduced as the young Albus Dumbledore who barely manages to remind you of the old and wise Hogwarts headmaster we have known and loved. The film is a peek into Dumbledore’s past as he prepares to stand up against his old flame Gellert Grindelwald to save the wizarding world from a catastrophic battle against the muggles. Magizoologist Newt Scamander, the supposed lead of the franchise, meanwhile is handed odd jobs to carry out for Dumbledore, the most important being banding together a group of misfit aurors to stop Grindelwald as the Hogwarts headmaster is bound by a magical pact – a Blood Troth, which prevents him from harming his dangerous ex himself.

The film takes this OG Dumbledore’s Army , led by the magizoologist, his meticulous assistant Bunty (Victoria Yeates), Professor Hicks (Jessica Williams), Newt’s muggle friend Jacob Kowalski (Dan Fogler) and Newt’s brother Theseus (Callum Turner) across the globe from Berlin to Bhutan in an attempt to thwat Grindelwald’s plans but ultimately the entire endeavour seems purposeless and distracting. You can literally feel the markers holding back from giving you the satisfaction you seek by saving the better parts of the plot in order to have something to serve you in the remaining two films in the franchise.

What complicates matters for Secrets of Dumbledore is the overstuffed sub-plots in the film like wizarding world elections, the politics of which lacks both depth and explanation. The whole grand affair is simply set-up to shine a light on Grindelwald’s power and growing following which is also something that the movie grandly fails in depicting. While Mads Mikkelsen, who has replaced Johnny Depp in the franchise as Grindelwald, attempts to make you feel the depth of his menacing plans with his performance, there’s simply not enough material in the story to believe that the world at the brink of a big war.

Secrets of Dumbledore seems more like a course correcting presentation after a disappointing second instalment than an engaging plot driven film, mercifully it works in favour of the franchise to give previously withheld answers, but it is not in favour of the film.

The movie switches between the narratives of individual characters, simply because they are in the film, which barely seem to be related at all when put in a sequence. From a fantasy and magical aspect to, the film seems dull and has nothing of note to spark excitement. There are some standalone noteworthy moments which you can count as highlight but they far and few and also short, like Dumbledore and Grindelwald’s meeting in the opening seen which opens things at a high note only to leave you high and dry when you are finally getting into it.

Speaking of performances, Eddie Redmayne who plays Newt Scamander really bites into his character and delivers to the best of his potential his character’s passion for magi-zoology and devotion to Dumbledore. There’s a particularly entertaining scene featuring him where he attempts to rescue his brother Theseus from a dark underground prison while keeping three eyed crab like magical creatures from attacking them. But apart from this mid-point scene, his moments to shine hardly find room in the cluttered plot of the film.

Jacob Kowalski, Newt’s muggle friend from the past two instalments, played by the wonderful Dan Fogler, is also included as a crucial member of this dangerous magical adventure (not sure why). However, despite his lack of magical abilities he is a show stealer and is the one character who manages to entertain without even making an effort. It is the lighter moments featuring Kowalski and the awe that magical world inspires in him that are worth anything at all really. In the larger scheme of things though, they are not enough moments to save a stretched-out plot which you know by the mid-way point, isn’t going anywhere.

Jessica Williams and her sassy professor avatar is right up there among the noteworthy performers in the film but ultimately her character is given no depth to be able to form a connection. What she is given though, she plays out perfectly.

The other characters suffer with similar afflictions including Newt’s brother Theseus and the ‘secret Dumbledore’ Credence Barebone played by Ezra Miller. Ultimately, besides the final few moments of the film there’s nothing worth holding your attention.

Where Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore fails is in meshing the two distinct plot lines like its title suggests – the Newt story of magical creatures which involve the protagonist in fascinating adventures and the battle of the two most powerful wizards in the world - which simply don’t complement each other in one storyline.

The biggest disappointment of all, however, is how the four-time Harry Potter director David Yates fails to make Rowling’s magical world fascinating again. This magical world was simply never so dull even in its low moments as it is even during the peaks of this film.

However, if there is anything that Secrets of Dumbledore deserves credit for is saving the face of the franchise after its predecessor almost extinguished hopes of any good ever coming out of this needlessly stretched out five film franchise. It does so simply by managing to invoke interest again by bringing Dumbledore centre stage (despite the average affair it turned out to be) when it couldn’t do conjure up more exciting adventures for its beast loving protagonist Newt Scamander.