Weekend Watch: Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets Of Dumbledore
Can the third part of the latest Wizarding World saga restore fans' faith?
Image Credit: Warner Bros.
Welcome to the latest edition of Weekend Watch, in which I recommend (or occasionally warn against) movies or TV shows I’ve been checking out. This week, Newt, Dumbledore and co. return for more magical beasties and dangerous wand-waving. Follow James on Twitter: @jamwhite
Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) is back – and this time he’s got to wrangle more magical creatures, help stop a dark wizard’s political and terror-happy schemes and figure out why people don’t love him as much as a boy who hasn’t been born yet. Hang on, that last bit is more the real-life story of Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets Of Dumbledore.
Two films in, it’s fair to say that, for the most part, the Fantastic Beasts films have not recaptured the glory or the box office success of the Harry Potter movies. While it has certainly had a high profile and made some money, the films have hardly sparked the driving love for the Wizarding World, largely seen as tired extensions of intellectual property rather than exciting new stories in a beloved franchise.
It didn’t help that the main characters, for all the actors’ efforts, came across as dull and rudderless compared to the forward movement of Harry and the rest. When your hero appears to be a mannequin crossed with The Crocodile Hunter’s Steve Irwin, it’s tough to connect. The first two Beasts movies also rarely managed to blend the story of the magical creatures so precious to Newt with the wider chaos in his world.
Another part of the problem was a lack of focus when it came to the treatment of the villain, Gellert Grindelwald – played in hidden form by Colin Farrell in the first movie, then revealed to be the character brought to screens by Johnny Depp. For this latest film, the studio had to step in when Depp’s personal legal issues became too thorny to have his name associated with the franchise.
The solution was an inspired one – Grindelwald is now played (without explanation for the change) by Mads Mikkelsen, who finds such a calm and collected way to play the character that you almost wish he’d been there from the start. This take on the ambitious wizard is a fanatic who never needs to be weird, he’s simply cold and driven, hardly surprising coming from a man who has cornered the market on impressive villain roles. Likewise, shifting the focus to Jude Law’s Dumbledore is also a winning move since he’s a far more compelling character than Newt. The pathos and spark that Law brings to the character is a welcome boost, building on his performance in the second film and helping to deliver slabs of exposition as to why – thanks to a magical McGuffin – he and Grindelwald can’t directly challenge each other.
Which is not to say that Redmayne and the rest are ignored – he, brother Theseus (Callum Turner), muggle baker Jacob (Dan Fogler, a comic highlight of the film series so far), and more are all a key facet of the story.
Part of the credit for getting the parts to align goes to writer Steve Kloves, who penned all but one of the original Potter films and here works “with” (though you suspect they had him do a near-total overhaul) creator J.K. Rowling to find fresh energy in the film. This one has real movement and feeling behind it, and while it is still lumbered with untangling the knotty threads already established by the series so far, it does so with style and grace. Even if it does have to resort to an info dump by Jessica Williams Eulalie 'Lally' Hicks, the charms professor from Hogwarts’ US cousin Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, to catch us all up on what has gone before. In case you forgot, and I wouldn’t blame you.
Talking of the famous wizarding school, the movie takes us back to those hallowed halls in what feels both comforting and a sallow stab at nostalgia – “you liked that place, right?! Here’s more of it!” and there’s also a part of the final plan from our heroes that feels ripped right from something tried in one of the Potter stories.
Still, The Secrets Of Dumbledore feels like an improvement over the initial two offerings. Trouble is, the relatively wrapped-up ending will make you hope they abandon plans to make the final two of the planned five and just leave it here, on a mostly high note.
Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets Of Dumbledore is in UK and US cinemas now.