Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore follows the story of former Hogwarts headmaster Albus Dumbledore as he battles his powerful dark side, Gellert Grindelwald, played by Johnny Depp. But since this is just the first film in a five-part series, we won’t get any answers about Dumbledore’s past or his motivations until later movies, which may leave some viewers feeling like there isn’t much plot to follow here. That being said, Fantastic Beasts does an excellent job of setting up the overarching story and expanding upon Harry Potter lore without losing newcomers to the franchise in the process.
Overview
This post is going to be a movie review on Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore. In it, I will talk about how I feel about each character, what I liked about it, and my favorite moments. This was a very entertaining movie and I would recommend anyone who has enjoyed previous Harry Potter movies to watch Fantastic Beasts. Keep reading to find out more!
Rating
4/5 Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore is rated PG-13, but I would recommend it for those 13 and up. There are some scenes that might scare younger children and a handful of mild curse words in multiple languages throughout. Nothing that can’t be overlooked for a good movie, however, Fantastic Beasts is an enjoyable movie as long as you don’t expect to see Harry Potter come back to life. If you miss him though, there’s always his younger version making appearances throughout! I hope future installments feature more action and explanations about how these creatures fit into wizarding society at large. Overall, though, I would rate Fantastic Beasts 4 out of 5 stars because it was worth seeing in theaters on opening night!
Plot and acting
What makes a movie great is not necessarily its plot, but how that plot is executed. While The Secrets of Dumbledore had a compelling premise, it was bogged down by formulaic acting and too many cliché moments. Although it was enjoyable to see Eddie Redmayne on screen again as Newt Scamander and his scenes were interesting to watch, his acting did not reach the levels that he showed in The Theory of Everything. It’s obvious that there are more Fantastic Beasts movies planned for release in 2018 so some may say that there were no surprises or twists in The Secrets of Dumbledore, but I disagree.
Production value
Harry Potter is one of those rare franchises that has managed to translate its amazing film sets, special effects, and cinematography into book sales. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them was written by J.K. Rowling as a companion volume to her beloved Harry Potter series, so it’s no surprise that her latest movie also translated well into sales for paper books (more than 3 million copies were printed before opening day). However, beyond strong early book sales, Hollywood’s newest franchise could also mean more movie adaptations from Rowling. Any author would be happy with an adaptation.
Writing quality
Good movie starts with setting a scene. Who is your audience? What do they know about Fantastic Beasts? What questions should they be asking before, during, and after watching it? Quality movie includes elements of other movies (for example, often when a character says I don’t want to go back there we know that their going back will be important).
Conclusion
Fantastic Beasts is one for all Harry Potter fans and an excellent movie for anyone who likes movies about magic. Although it does have some small problems, Fantastic Beasts still has a lot to offer and was very well written. I would recommend watching it at least once. If you are not a fan of Harry Potter, then that may change your opinion on the movie. However, it is still a good movie overall.
