Seriously, their goal is to confuse him to disrupt his powers of foresight. Since he can't move against Grindelwald directly, Dumbledore sends a team including magizoologist Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) and his Muggle friend Jacob Kowalski (Dan Fogler) to confuse the absolute hell out of his ex. Thanks to a blood pact the two made when they were young and in love - aka, MacGuffin #1 - they are unable to attack one another outright. The meat of the film concerns Albus Dumbledore's (Jude Law) efforts to defeat dark wizard Grindelwald (Mikkelsen). Keep them all and the audience is left wondering what's going on and why it matters. Ditch a few of these elements, and you're looking at something exciting.

It is a political drama about the rise of fascism in the wizarding world, a hijinks-filled look at magical creatures, a tie-in to the Harry Potter films, a prison heist (briefly), and a romance (barely). The Secrets of Dumbledore is several things. There are too many movies in this movieĮddie Redmayne as Newt Scamander. Unfortunately, these more enjoyable elements tend to get lost in the intellectual property sauce, and you'll leave The Secrets of Dumbledore more bewildered than bewitched. The performances remain committed there are some genuine laugh-out-loud moments and Mads Mikkelsen's Grindelwald is an upgrade from Johnny Depp's. However, credit where credit is due: The Secrets of Dumbledore is at least better than The Crimes of Grindelwald (which isn't an especially high bar to clear). And throughout it all, you can sense the desperation to recapture the magic of the much better movies Fantastic Beasts originated from. The story hinges on not one but two magical MacGuffins. There are too many characters and subplots.

The Secrets of Dumbledore falls into many of the same pitfalls as its successors. As if that weren't enough, the films are also bogged down by external controversies (Opens in a new tab), including actor scandals and author J.K. Early on in Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore, one of our wizarding leads assures their compatriots that 'the best plan is no plan.' While that statement proves important to the plot of the film, it also seems to describe the strategy behind the entire Fantastic Beasts franchise: Take a book tangentially related to Harry Potter, spin it into a series of five ( or possibly only three (Opens in a new tab)) films, worry about the details later.

The secrets of dumbledore