Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore (2022)

[Eric the Marxist]

Discuss

[Noiret Jak]

 

17 hours ago, Eric Says Trans Rights said:

Discuss

 

Secrets Of Dumbledore, right ? Because it's Crimes Of Grindelwald title..

[Eric the Marxist]

11 minutes ago, Noiret Jak said:

 

 

Secrets Of Dumbledore, right ? Because it's Crimes Of Grindelwald title..

Yes. Blame them for the similar titles

[Menor the Destroyer]

Yeah, I'm pretty disappointed with this, after liking Crimes more than most did. 

 

Pros:

 

Jacob, Newt, Dumbledore, and Grindelwald. These characters are quite engaging and the reason that even though I didn't like this much, I'll probably watch a fourth, as long as the story hook is stronger and doesn't feel like it's spinning wheels. 

 

Performances were pretty good across the board. 

 

Music continues to be a strong point of this series. 

 

The beasts continue to be really cute. The scene with the little scorpions was quite fun. 

 

Cons:

 

Jacob just accepts Queenie back with no questions at all, even after she joined Grindelwald at the end of the last film. The fact that this was barely even addressed was just awful. And the fact that she literally used a love potion to force him to marry her still hasn't been addressed, so it's just doubly bad.

 

The political plotline was unconvincing and needlessly convoluted. The fact that all the wizards just accept whatever that qilin creature says about who is gonna lead them was really unconvincing, what's the point of voting at all then? If people sincerely believed in Grindelwald's cause, wouldn't they question what was going on or think that Newt is the one who's lying? Why did nobody protest? It seemed like Grindelwald's supporters just completely folded because of that qilin incident. And why did the fake qilin conveniently die right when the Vogel was trying to defend Grindelwald?

 

Also, why did Dumbledore tell Vogel to "do the right thing, not the easy thing." Was there some context behind this, like Grindelwald had some sort of dirt on Vogel? Because it seems to me that releasing Grindelwald would actually be a "hard" decision given that he is such a polarizing figure. Unless we are meant to think that the wizarding community is unified behind Grindelwald, in which case the attitude seems like a bigger problem than the election results would be. 

 

I'm still not clear on what the purpose of the non-Bunty members being in Berlin was. The movie refers to some sort of "confusion strategy" to throw off Grindelwald's foretellings, but it's very poorly developed and seems to put a lot of them in completely senseless danger. Wtf was the point of Jacob being framed for assassinating Grindelwald? And why would anyone believe that a Muggle could create a giant storm of plates? Wouldn't that mean that he (definitionally) isn't a Muggle? 

 

The plan with the briefcases seemed to only succeed by dumb luck that Bunty wasn't caught, even though Grindelwald's people were able to track down everyone else with ease. If Grindelwald's people are only looking for briefcases, why not just hide the qilin in somewhere that isn't a briefcase? It's not like one of those big giant creatures that can only be fit into Newt's magical briefcase. You can probably carry it in any number of possible containers. 

 

Credence continues to be very undeveloped after the first film, I had this problem in Crimes and its even worse here, as at least his connection with Nagini and his quest for identity in that film made him a bit more interesting. Nagini should have been present in this film.

 

Theseus continues to be pretty much a blank slate of a character. Lally had a great intro but ultimately didn't leave much of an impression. 

 

Overall, I didn't have a bad time at the theater but it just didn't leave much of an impression at all. 

 

D. 

 

[Webslinger]

After a costly misstep with 2018’s The Crimes of Grindelwald, the Fantastic Beasts franchise sadly does not get back on track with its latest installment, The Secrets of Dumbledore. Much like the preceding film, Secrets of Dumbledore is an underwhelming affair that gets bogged down by such an overly crowded and complicated plot that neither its characters nor their experiences really resonate. Throughout the 142-minute running time, there is a clear sense that the filmmakers assume the audience’s connection with the broader universe this franchise occupies will be enough to carry it; however, there is so little new depth added to the returning characters and such a sense of desperation in the nods to characters and items that will be more significant in the Harry Potter timeline that nostalgia cannot redeem the perfunctory nature of the narrative. Rather than adding compelling new material to the Wizarding World, this film plods along from one plot beat to another without building the characters or themes in a truly meaningful way, ultimately leading to a third act that will likely elicit more snickers and groans than gasps and cheers. One of the consequences of the script’s strictly plot-oriented approach is that none of the characters – nor the performances from their actors – really pop. The returning players strangely have even less to do, to the point where whenever Eddie Redmayne appears on screen, it takes conscious effort to remember that he’s supposed to be the protagonist of this franchise. And that’s to say nothing of his co-stars from the 2016 film, who are either grossly underused (Dan Fogler as a muggle sidekick), relegated to ill-fitting minor roles (Alison Studel as the sidekick’s love interest), or effectively written out of the movie (Katherine Waterston, who gets just two scenes and a few photograph glimpses despite being the protagonist’s love interest in the preceding films). Even Jude Law, who was one of the bright spots of the previous film as a younger Dumbledore, feels strangely sidelined in a film where he plays the titular character – and with the humanity and gravitas he brings to the part, it’s hard not to think that he should have gotten far more screen time. In taking on the thankless task of replacing disgraced (and woefully miscast in the first place) Johnny Depp as the villainous Grindelwald, Mads Mikkelsen does his best but fails to leave much of a mark since he is joining midstream; his mannered approach is at odds with Depp’s over-the-top nonsense, and since the part is clearly written with Depp’s mannerisms in mind, Mikkelsen’s more calculating techniques don’t really gel with the script. There’s some fun work from Daily Show alum Jessica Williams as an American professor, but like Crimes of Grindelwald cast highlight Zoe Kravitz, she isn’t given enough to do. There are some scenes that are fun enough in isolation, but the narrative is so committed to building toward a less intriguing plot that the enjoyable little moments are overshadowed by uninvolving exposition and “big” moments that underwhelm because they haven’t had nearly as much time to brew as the big moments of the Potter saga. As someone who grew up loving Harry Potter and then really enjoyed the 2016 leadoff for this franchise, I really wanted to see this part of the universe succeed. However, after seeing this film double down on the problems of the preceding film, it’s hard to see a path forward for this iteration of the Wizarding World unless major changes are employed. 

 

C

[Taruseth]

Overall the movie was better than the previous one.

The usage of music through out the movie was done quite well and Mads Mikkelsen plays a compelling Grindelwald but his performance is hurt by being completely different to Depp's who played Grindelwald very over the top while Mikkelsen chooses a more calculating approach - which I think is more like Grindelwald should be played.

I wish they would have focused more on the foretelling with the Qilin - felt like that could have made the overall story more interesting.

The movie made it even more obvious that a series about fantastic beasts just shouldn't be and thankfully focuses more on the story of Dumbeldore and Grindelwald, which should have been the focus point of the franchise (and in three movies at most the complete story should have been told).

Newt despite being sidelined stays an interesting character and the lack of a love interest does him good overall - the scenes with here weren't a strong point of the previous movies.

Jacob must be under a spell again - there is no other explanation, none the less he is one of the stronger characters.

Theseus is a character - I don't know - why? Probably could do without him.

 

It was the least Harry Pottery film in the wizarding world and I think in this case it was good, the previous movies felt to much like trying to in a way recreate the feeling of them - but that won't work in the time its set and it shouldn't be the purpose - SW and the likes have shown that while it works for the first movie it tends to lead to rapidly declining revenue and overall poorly written movies.

 

Visually the film was well done and I really would like to see a dramatic final duel between Grindelwald and Dumbeldore - although I doubt it will happen unless WB decides to make a fourth movie and jump towards the final of the war.

 

When I voted I said B. But after sleeping about it and starting to write about it it's a C.

[clockwork]

The biggest issue here, just like in the last movie, is that once again the plot and the characters are all over the place. It seems that adding Steve Kloves into the mix did little to help, as Rowling's ideas still feel out of control here and and they were barely able to scrape to together a semi-comprehensible narrative. The characters from the previous movie are back and at this point I just feel sorry for the actors, maybe they're just happy to be involved in this franchise but they barely get any decent character work here.

 

I like Eddie Redmayne and I really wish Newt had been given some actual character development, three movies in and we barely know anything about him other than he has a brother and take care of magical creatures. It feels like he got his franchise hijacked from under him because these last two films have not done a good job explaining his personal stake in Dumbledore and Grindelwalds conflict. It's the same with Dan Foglers character Jacob, I know he's a fan favorite but from a story standpoint there's very little reason for him to be in this movie and contributes very little.

 

All the other characters new and returning barely get anything worthwhile to do here either because there's more concern over political commentary and special effects than crafting a story with some heart and depth. There is a considerable lack on fun in these movies which is disappointing, especially when you look at a title "Fantastic Beasts" you'd think things would be a little more...fantastical? 

 

But no, instead we have a plot revolving around a magical election; how exciting. Maybe in the hands of a better screenwriter and director it could have been improved but as it stands it's a barely passable movie even for the most die hard and or forgiving fans. I really wish that a Fantastic Beasts movie could just be a magical indiana Jones adventure for once, because I guarantee that would be a whole lot better than what we've gotten thus far.  C-

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 2, 2022 by clockwork