Luke McWilliams gives his review of the 2022 fantasy film, Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore, starring Eddie Redmayne and Jude Law.

In the 1930s, Albus Dumbledore (Jude Law) and evil wizard Gellert Grindelwald (Mads Mikkelson) establish that they are in a magical stalemate. In China, Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) helps a magical creature called a qilin give birth. Soon however, followers of Grindelwald, led by Credence Barebone (Ezra Miller), appear to take the newborn for themselves.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016) was a Harry Potter franchise spin-off, introducing the adult Newt Scamander; a gentle naturalist English ‘magizoologist’ wizard out of his element on the streets of New York in 1926. Decades and many miles away from the story of Harry Potter, the sequel Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald solidified the enterprise as a back-door direct prequel. This entry further concentrates setting up the Harry Potter mythology, relegating Newt further down the ranking, with Dumbledore and Grindelwald taking the main stage.

The writing failings of Harry Potter are on full display here: an important element is introduced only to return at the movie’s end, with the intervening story serving as waffling filler. Despite the large cast of characters, few are needed. With characters’ development being continuously backtracked, it is clear there is no overarching plot for the series.

Verdict: A beautiful production with great actors, the nonsensical script treads water, offering no real conclusion nor advancement as there are two more entries on the way (the scripts yet to be written)! 2.5 stars.

Viewed at Palace Electric cinemas.

• Luke McWilliams | themovieclub.net

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