Fantastic Beasts the Secrets of Dumbledore (2022)

Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore is pretty far from ideal both from the view of Harry Potter’s franchise that heavily fall into the innocent side of good vs evil or from Fantastic Beasts early story that focused on the enchanting discovery of… Fantastic Beasts.

Fantastic Beasts is back with its third installment of the movie. Bringing some helps from the old OG Albus Dumbledore (Jude Law) who is now younger to bring more entanglement to the beloved Harry Potter franchise and to give more depth into the story as Fantastic Beasts so far has become a sweet and fun popcorn franchise.

The Secrets of Dumbledore tells the story of younger Dumbledore who was betrayed by his former partner Grindelwald (Mads Mikkelsen) who wanted to destroy the world of Muggles and bring supremacy to the wizard and witch race.

Being a good person as well as a super talented wizard, Dumbledore decided to trust someone he loved, offering his power to augment a risky incantation to Grindelwald. Tragically, his trust was ill-placed. Grindelwald is advocating for his egotistical ends, and now threatens to use the powerful magic to destroy all Muggles.

It is a straight up of good vs evil. A classic protagonist vs antagonist. Dumbledore vs Grindelwald with their pasts. The core of the story is easy to follow and to grasp and it is still easy until the end.

The opening sequence shows the main character of the film Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) is helping a Qillin, a legendary animal who can see through people’s heart, through its process of giving birth to unexpected twins new Qillins. Despite the main character of the Fantastic Beasts franchise is Newt, but in this movie he looks like a sidekick who appear a lot in the screen.

The opening scene bring us the staple of how the story will revolve until the end of the film. Also the opening sequence is the only part where we can see a literal fantastic beast. We need more as it is how the franchise is about as it is written on its name.

There are not many important plots that brings different to the story. Most of them are quite flat and the plot looks quite tiring. So does the character development, instead of focusing on the actual beasts that can melt viewers heart and being an eye-candy or give support to a strong story, this film is like a melodramatic story in the wizarding world. Newt and Dumbledore are too sympathetic.

On the other hand, just like two previous Fantastic Beasts films, the third film also beautifully done. The effect and the CGI are remarkable and on-point. With this quality, the film might not be able to attract new fans or invites positive critics.

But, despite its flaws, The Secrets of Dumbledore still can be considered as a fun popcorn movie especially for the fans who are absorbed in the world of J.K Rowlings and for those who enjoy the world of wizardy.

Our Score (6.5/10)

Title : Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore
Production : Warner Bros. Pictures, and Heyday Films
Director : David Yates
Screenwriter : J.K Rowling, Steves Kloves
Casts : Eddie Redmayne, Jude Law, Mads Mikkelsen, Ezra Miller, Dan Fogler, Alison Sudol