Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore is undeniably thrilling and magical. Every moment recaptures the excitement of discovering the world of Harry Potter for the first time, while feeling fresh but familiar!
The film opens up to the magic of otherworldly creatures that are representative of this series called fantastic beasts. And while the series is best known for centering on Newt Scamander, the magizoologist and author of the in-universe textbook “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,” this time around the plot feels more focused on Dumbledore (obviously since this film is named after his secrets) as well as the muggle (non-magical person) Jacob Kowalski.
While Dumbledore is a professor at the famed school for magic children, Hogwarts, his desires to maintain the balance between the magical and non-magical worlds bring him out to take on a more active role against dark wizards and witches intent on disrupting this balance.
On the side of the magic ability spectrum, we have the baker Jacob Kowalsky who is the reluctant hero that audiences will root for, especially when it’s his love story that pushes him to rise to the occasion as a dogooder.
The fight sequences of Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore can be described as grand, operatic battles of magic that are fought in slow motion. Think of the epicness of lightsaber duels in the Star Wars franchise but with the warping of space and time.
My favorite line in the film is spoken by Dumbledore when he calls the group together, “dangerous times call for dangerous men.” Which when said, suddenly makes the film feel more like a Kingsman film with each of the protagonists focused on achieving their mission in order to protect a world that may never know the good they’ve done.
If you’re a fan of the Harry Potter franchise, then you will not be disappointed by Secrets of Dumbledore. There’s plenty of new material that still resonates with what fans love about the books and original films. Now if the world of wizards and witches aren’t quite your favorite stories, this film can stand alone as an exciting magic-heist-type storyline – just sit back and enjoy the film.
Note: the only moments of the film that personally irked me was seeing Newt act with 0 concern when he was potentially introducing foreign specials to new environments. As a zoologist, magical or not, shouldn’t he be concerned about this type of thing?!
