Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore Review | The best Harry Potter film since 2011 by a wide margin

The latest film in the Harry Potter prequel series, The Secrets of Dumbledore is easily the best of the Fantastic Beasts films. The Secrets of Dumbledore maintains the dark tone that director David Yates established all the way back in The Order of the Pheonix. Yates does a fantastic job directing and the cinematography by Philippe Rousselot is gorgeous.

J.K. Rowling and Steve Kloves, who wrote all of the Harry Potter films with the exception of Order of the Pheonix, pen the screenplay. They do a solid job of cleaning up some of the messes from The Crimes of Grindewald, which had way too many characters, plots, and not nearly enough Dumbledore-Grindelwald interaction. A few of these issues remain, but the relationship between Dumbledore and Grindelwald rises above.

Dumbledore and Grindelwald’s relationship is front-and-center in The Secrets of Dumbledore. Jude Law is given far more screentime as Dumbledore and he shines. Law’s interpretation of Dumbledore brilliantly balances whimsy and tragedy. You can sense Dumbledore’s enduring love for Gridelewald in every scene. Yet, due to Grindelwald’s actions, he’s resolute in trying to stop him. Mads Mikkelsen takes over the role of Gellert Grindelwald from Johnny Depp. Mikkelson is sensational as a less showy more magnetic version of Grindelwald as he attempts to unite the wizarding world around his vision.

Dan Fogler as Jacob Kowalski continues to be the moral center of this series. However, the role of scene-stealer in The Secrets of Dumbledore goes to Jessica Williams as Professor Hicks. A charms professor in the United States who is enamored with Newt Scamander’s prowess as a Magizoologist. Scamander is equally enamored by her experience. I was worried their relationship might turn romantic, but the story sidesteps around that and keeps their appreciation professional.

The reason for worry is Tina Goldstein played by Katherine Waterston is barely in the film. She’s mostly relegated to the film’s closing. Waterston is a terrific actress and it’s a shame she wasn’t featured more. However, cutting out the relationship between Newt and Tina allows the stronger, more strained relationship between Dumbledore and Grindelwald as well as Jacob and Queenie’s room to grow.

There are a few other problems with The Secrets of Dumbledore. The script is much better than the other Fantastic Beasts films. However, the script by Rowling and Kloves has a tendency to over-explain in certain scenes, cut-off interesting plot points at the knees and deliver plot conveniences that don’t measure up. Ezra Miller is a talented actor, but he has no screen presence in this film.

In spite of the script issues, Waterston’s absence and Miller’s nondescript performance, The Secrets of Dumbledore is a pretty good entry in the franchise. A large share of the credit has to go to James Newton Howard‘s fantastic score. Howard includes themes that haven’t been used since John Wiliams‘s original scores. The performances, Yates’s direction and Howard’s score cast enough of an illuminating spell to warrant another film or series ender.

With the overview out of the way, let’s dive deeper into the elements that stood out in Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore. There may be some minor spoilers.

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The Secrets of Dumbledore and it’s many secrets

The far more interesting development is the reveal of what happened to Ariana, Albus and Aberforth’s sister. Albus recaps his family’s tragic history, which includes the event that ended the relationship between Grindewald and Albus. It’s a wonderfully acted scene by Law and Eddie Redmayne. If any other actor was playing Dumbledore, this scene could have come across as villainous. In Law’s hands, it presents Dumbledore as tragic. You immediately understand Dumbeldore’s actions were based on love with tragic consequences.

Albus isn’t the only Dumbledore with secrets. Credence, a Dumbledore, starts the film working for Grindelwald. The dark wizard convinced Credence of Albus’s abandonment. Unfortunately, Credence as a character is the least interesting character in the film.

Credence has almost no arc in the film. His search for the Qilin, a deer-like creature that can see a person’s innate goodness, is half-hearted. There’s a confrontation between Credence and Dumbledore, which is completely carried by Law. There’s no more use for this character after this film.

Unbreakable Vow

The Secrets of Dumbledore tackles the Dumbledore and Grindelwald relationship in a straightforward manner. Dumbledore and Grindelwald were in love with each other. In fact, Dumbledore loved Grindelwald so much that he made a blood oath with Grindelwald.

The oath is a similar, but more potent oath than Severus Snape made in The Half-Blood Prince. Basically, if Dumbledore even thinks of trying to act against Grindewald, then dire consequences to him and others around Dumbledore could occur.

The film dances around this plot point quite often as a way to involve the other characters. The Secrets of Dumbledore undoes the plot device in the film’s otherwise great climax.

Rowling and Kloves have a tendency to deliver unnecessary dialogue. Mikkelsen and Law can do wonders with facial expressions and body language. There’s a scene involving Dumbledore and Grindelwald, which illustrates this issue that happens more often than it should.

Albus and Gellert are having tea. A muggle waitress approaches with tea. A look of pure revulsion comes across Gellert’s face. Instead of letting the facial expression speak volumes, Gellert immediately asks Albus if he can smell the stench. It may seem like a small nitpick, but this same problem happens with other characters as well.

With Newt’s nerve-filled style of speech, he eventually finished his thoughts, where the stronger choice would be for him not to finish his stammering. This robs the scene of emotion instead of enhancing it and slows down the film’s already languid pacing.

Mikkelson gives a much more magnetic, less boisterous performance as Grindelwald than Depp.

Dumbledore’s Army

Due to the blood oath, Dumbledore can’t be seen coming straight at Grindewald. The dark wizard can see somewhat into the future, which means he can see any conventional strategy coming.

Dumbledore drafts an army. There’s Newt and his brother Theseus. Newt has quirky sensibilities, while Theseus is more of a straight shooter. Albus sends Professor Hicks to recruit Jacob. Hicks is charming, confident and unfazed when things go awry. Jacob’s presence on the team is mostly used to soften Queenie. Rounding out the crew is Yusuf who works as a spy for the group and Newt’s assistant Bunty Broadacre.

There’s not a lot of time spent on this team as a unit. They come together and quickly pair off on separate missions. There’s an election to thwart, a prison escape and more standing in the way.

The election is far more interesting than the prison escape storyline. The latter is mostly a comedic story with some cool creatures.

The Secrets of Dumbledore Final Thoughts

The Secrets of Dumbledore has the same problems as the previous entries, just fewer of them. When the script lets the terrific actors loose, the film soars to new heights.

The previous two films in the series felt emotionally inert. Everything looked good, but it was simply hard to care about the characters. Focusing on Dumbledore’s story provides The Secrets of Dumbledore with an emotional toll that’s just as tragic as Harry’s.