![]() What Fantastic Beasts has over all these, though, is the fact that it gave Howard the opportunity to establish, then build upon, a huge array of character, concept, and location themes, as they re-occur in different settings across the course of the three films. The thing that is most impressive about Howard’s three scores in this series is its thematic depth Howard has proven himself adept at immersing himself in the sound of magical fantasy across numerous films, as recent scores like The Last Airbender, Maleficent, and Snow White and the Huntsman, among many others, attest. It is all capped off with a predictably excellent score by James Newton Howard, who has scored all three Fantastic Beasts films with thematic ebullience and a grand, orchestral, romantic sweep. Having said that, the whole thing still looks spectacular, the production design is top notch, the VFX creatures are astonishing, David Yates’s direction is assured, and there are still several fun and exciting action sequences, including one deep within the dungeons of a Berlin prison which veers from weird comedy to something approaching gross-out horror. The Secrets of Dumbledore is a slower, more thoughtful film than both Fantastic Beasts and The Crimes of Grindelwald, more concerned with relationships and wizarding politics and shifting allegiances than grand spectacle and wand fights, which might alienate some younger audience members, but which I found fascinating. It’s also interesting to see how the Fantastic Beasts story is also neatly dovetailing into the origins of the Harry Potter story, which has already explored Dumbledore’s relationships with his brother Aberforth and his sister Ariana, Grindelwald’s fall from power, and how that all feeds into the eventual birth of Tom Riddle, aka Voldemort, in great detail. Themes relating to forbidden love – the youthful gay relationship between Dumbledore and Grindelwald, the magical/non-magical romance between Jacob and Queenie – are also prevalent, as are issues relating to family and heritage. The parallels between Grindelwald’s story and Adolf Hitler’s rise to power prior to World War II are also very clearly defined, to the point where a great deal of this film’s action takes place in Berlin in the 1930s. In many ways, Grindelwald’s story is very similar to Voldemort’s from the original series: he is a wizard who sees himself as superior to regular humans due to his magical nature, and as such seeks to assert his perceived dominance over them in any way he can. ![]() The Secrets of Dumbledore is a much more serious film than its two Fantastic Beasts predecessors, in the same way that the Harry Potter films all became less childish and more serious as they progressed. ![]() Eddie Redmayne reprises his role as Newt, Jude Law again plays Dumbledore, and Mads Mikkelsen replaces the scandal-plagued Johnny Depp as Grindelwald these are joined by regular supporting cast members Dan Fogler, Ezra Miller, and Alison Sudol, while Callum Turner as Newt’s brother Theseus and Jessica Williams as American witch Lally Hicks see their roles significantly increased. The Secrets of Dumbledore picks up immediately where The Crimes of Grindelwald left off, with Grindelwald amassing an army of followers – including the orphaned Credence Barebone, who is actually a descendant of the Dumbledore family – while Dumbledore and Scamander travel from Berlin to Bhutan and beyond to try to stop him being elected as the Supreme Head of the International Confederation of Wizards. Like the first two Fantastic Beasts films, it follows the adventures of the magizoologist Newt Scamander, who becomes increasingly embroiled in the power struggle being waged between the wizard Albus Dumbledore, and the dark sorcerer Gellert Grindelwald, who wants to assert wizarding dominance over the non-magical ‘muggle’ world. Rowling’s Wizarding World, after eight Harry Potter films, and the first two entries in the Fantastic Beasts prequel series, comes this eleventh film, subtitled The Secrets of Dumbledore. IF YOU HAVE NOT YET SEEN THE FILM, YOU MIGHT WANT TO CONSIDER WAITING UNTIL AFTER YOU HAVE DONE SO TO READ IT. WARNING: THIS REVIEW CONTAINS PLOT SPOILERS.
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