Hi everyone! Hope you all are well! Anyway, today, we are going to be diving into the world of fantasy. In fact, it is the third installment of a prequel film series that takes place before the events of the Harry Potter book, and movie series. And wow, it’s been three and a half to four years since the last film installment, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes Of Grindelwald, was released. So now that the third film is here, let’s finally review it.
Plot: When the villainous Gellert Grindelwald (now played by Mads Mikkelsen, filling in the role for Johnny Depp, after circumstances caused that to happen a few years ago), and his followers attempt to undermine the Ministry Of Magic in an attempt for world domination, can Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne), Albus Dumbledore (Jude Law), and some new creatures help expose Grindelwald’s plot before it’s too late?
For those of you who at least saw me review films at least on Facebook, you may recall that, when I saw, and and reviewed the first two Fantastic Beasts films at their respective release times, I gave the films a B+, and C+ respectively. The reason for the C+ on the second film was that, the writing wasn’t as great, and it seemed to have more flaws than the first film seemed to. Now that we have arrived with the third film, Fantastic Beasts: The Secret Of Dumbledore, the question you’re all wondering is, “did it improve from the second film, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes Of Gdindelwald?” To a degree, yes. This one also has it’s flaws, but a good improvement nonetheless. First of all, the world building with our heroes, and villains getting to be in different countries throughout this film was really cool. The newer creatures that we’re introduced to are fantastic. That is most notably with some dragon-like creatures that have some really amazing abilities. The movie is also really funny at points too. I mean with how the comedy is brought into this picture, it is so creative, and clever. Wow, and there is the score by James Newton Howard. Okay, how is that he doesn’t seem to be considered as someone like Hans Zimmer, or someone like him? The score in this film proves why James Newton Howard should be talked about more, and why he seems rather underrated as a score composer because of that. Oh, and the cinematography is is phenomenal as well, be it when there is grass, icy, and snowy mountains, or even mythical castles. Additionally, some of the characters seem to be a little better developed than at least in the second film. Oh, and how could you not like some of the cool plot twists in this film?
Still, while some of the plot twists were cool, there were other plot points that didn’t seem to make sense all that much. Also, Mikkelsen does not seem to do the character of Grindelwald justice as much as Johnny Depp. Okay, I understand the reasons for Depp not playing this character this time around, but still. I would say that Mikkelsen could do a little better with putting more charisma into this character, should be plan on playing this character for the rest of this film series. Finally, though there are some characters that were fairly well fleshed out, there were some others that could have maybe been given their due a little more.
And that’s my review for Fantastic Beasts: The Secret Of Dumbledore. Though not perfect, this film proved that there is still hope for this film series to progress for the better, should the franchise continue to be successful. Most definitely see it if you want some really good CGI, good cinematography, mostly good acting, and some other good qualities. Yes, this third film had flaws, but at least it improved from the last film by somewhat of a long stretch. Well, here’s hoping that the Fantastic Beasts film series continues a trajectory in the right direction from here on out.
Final Grade: B+
Matthew’s Animated & Live-Action Movie Reviews 