Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore film review
Third movie in the Harry Potter spin-off series mostly delivers
I loved Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, the first film in this Harry Potter spin-off series, but found its 2018 follow-up, The Crimes of Grindelwald, “devoid of magic”, said Brian Viner in the Daily Mail. Now a third film (of the five planned) is here, and though it’s “overlong”, it marks a “return to form” for the franchise.
With the “excellent” Mads Mikkelsen replacing a disgraced Johnny Depp as the dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald, the movie confirms what was merely hinted at before: that he and his arch-enemy, Albus Dumbledore (Jude Law), were once lovers. The action, meanwhile, has moved from 1920s Paris to 1930s Berlin, where Grindelwald has become a “charismatic demagogue”. It is up to Dumbledore and his “magizoologist” protégé Newt (Eddie Redmayne, “a study in tousle-haired, lip-biting diffidence”) to thwart Grindelwald’s plans. The film has energy and wit in spades, but “you’ll need to have seen the first two” to keep up.
This is quietly radical stuff, said Kevin Maher in The Times: a studio blockbuster that “revolves around the emotional lives of two lovelorn gay men” (albeit without “hot snogs”). It hits all the right notes: there are lots of action set pieces, chases and some “thrilling wand-offs”; performances from the supporting cast are “tip-top”.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
I’m afraid I found it “less than wizard”, said Robbie Collin in The Daily Telegraph. It’s completely incoherent. Many sequences feel like “free-floating trailer fodder: surplus to plot requirements, but too expensive to cut”. There are some bits of Potter nostalgia shoved in to give the “bamboozled viewer something to cling to”. Such moments do provide some brief “jolts of delight” – but overall, “for these particular beasts, the glue factory beckons”.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
What They Found: Sam Mendes's powerful debut documentary
The Week Recommends The Oscar-winning director's harrowing film features footage and first-hand accounts of the liberation of Bergen-Belsen concentration camp
By The Week UK
-
The Return: a 'lethally effective' Odyssey adaptation
The Week Recommends Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche reunite in Urberto Pasolini's 'emotionally gripping' drama
By The Week UK
-
6 trackers to help you find everything from your keys to your kids
The Week Recommends These devices offer accuracy and ease
By Catherine Garcia, The Week US
-
What They Found: Sam Mendes's powerful debut documentary
The Week Recommends The Oscar-winning director's harrowing film features footage and first-hand accounts of the liberation of Bergen-Belsen concentration camp
By The Week UK
-
The Return: a 'lethally effective' Odyssey adaptation
The Week Recommends Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche reunite in Urberto Pasolini's 'emotionally gripping' drama
By The Week UK
-
Critics' choice: Three takes on tavern dining
Feature A second Minetta Tavern, A 1946 dining experience, and a menu with a mission
By The Week US
-
Film reviews: Warfare and A Minecraft Movie
Feature A combat film that puts us in the thick of it and five misfits fall into a cubic-world adventure
By The Week US
-
Music reviews: Perfume Genius, Momma, Elton John & Brandi Carlile
Feature "Glory," "Welcome to My Blue Sky," and "Who Believes in Angels?"
By The Week US
-
Myth and Marble: Ancient Roman Sculpture From the Torlonia Collection
Feature The private collection is being revealed to the public for the first time in decades
By The Week US
-
Ione Skye's 6 favorite books about love and loss
Feature The actress recommends works by James Baldwin, Nora Ephron, and more
By The Week US
-
Book reviews: 'Miracles and Wonder: The Historical Mystery of Jesus' and 'When the Going Was Good: An Editor's Adventures During the Last Golden Age of Magazines'
Feature The college dropout who ruled the magazine era and the mysteries surrounding Jesus Christ
By The Week US