Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore Review – Could’ve Been Better!

The Secrets of Dumbledore Review India: I was and still am a huge Harry Potter fan. It was the book of my childhood. I’ve read it countless times so back when Fantastic Beasts came out I was excited. Sadly, it never quite lived up to my expectations as a Harry Potter film and I’m afraid the sequels aren’t any better.

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Honestly, I feel like they could’ve started with the Cursed Child or something. To really bring back that childhood feel. The Secrets of Dumbledore doesn’t quite achieve this with it’s all adult cast. In this instalment, Dumbledore (Jude Law), along with a team of witches and wizards (and one Muggle) attempt to stop the notorious Gellert Grindelwald (Mads Mikkelsen) from seizing control of the wizarding world. This leads to a clash between Dumbledore’s followers and Grindelwald’s loyalists.

Law does a wonderful job of portraying Dumbledore. And I’ve always liked Eddie Redmayne as Newt Scamander. It’s a shame that the role of Grindelwald was recast…though Mikkelsen was a great choice. He always makes a great villain. The acting in general I felt was very good. I was invested in every single character. The cast really brought each one to life.

J. K. Rowling had always hinted that Dumbledore was gay and that the relationship between him and Grindelwald was a bit more than friendly, if only one sided. It could not be a film about Dumbledore without featuring Hogwarts, for that I’m really glad they featured Hogwarts castle. I also liked that they included wizards and witches with notable names from the book series.

The set design was beautiful and the entire production was very visually appealing even though I felt like the CGI for the creatures could’ve been better. The pacing could’ve also been a lot better honestly given it was a two-hour film. I would’ve probably enjoyed it more had I viewed it in theatres.

What’s interesting is that there are parallels to a pre World War II era. A lot of political shifts were happening in the muggle world as they were in the wizarding world. A specific group of wizards (Grindelwald’s followers) believed in the purity of magical blood and their right as the “superior” race.

Not unlike the Nazis… If Grindelwald had been working with Nazis, or rather, have Nazis work for him, it would’ve been an interesting spin. It’s not the first time we’ve seen Muggle and Wizard politics collide after all. There will definitely be a follow up film. If I’m being completely honest… I expected a more from this film being a part of Dumbledore’s story and all. The plot wasn’t as inventive as it could have been. It did have its merits here and there it just couldn’t deliver on what it promised.