Now which room has the poker table again?
Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore (2022) is the third part of a prequel sequence to the popular Harry Potter series and its universe of a hidden world of wizards and magical creatures, and the inherent tensions between wizards and Muggles, the non-magical humans of our world. This movie is the climax of a conflict between Albus Dumbledore, later a dominant character and wizard in the main series, and his former gay lover Grindewald.
Sounds like fun.
But it’s not. I think it suffers from a malady endemic to fantasy: Got a problem? Slap some magic over it, and if there’s a cost, minimize it. Makes for a flashy movie, but it’s hard to see the consequences and side effects of decisions made – and that is often the real heart of a story, regardless of genre.
Add characters appearing and disappearing with little clue as to their significance, a lack of chemistry between the Muggle Jacob and his wizard love, Queenie, the repetitiveness of the lead character, Newt Scamander, a real difficulty in detecting an organic theme or two to stir debate and discussion, and this story devolves into just another money-maker by-blow. And that’s too bad, as there’s a lot of good performers present.
I fear the storytellers just don’t pull it off this time. Unless you’re a completist for Potter, or for any of the actors in this movie, don’t bother with this one.
