Forget about fantastic beasts.
This time around, we're trying to find fantastic reviews – and they're harder to come by
than you might think.
"Correct – three points to Hufflepuff."
"Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore" is the third film in the Wizarding World prequel
series.
Directed by "Harry Potter" veteran David Yates, it picks up several years after the events
of 2018's "Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald."
The new installment follows Professor Albus Dumbledore as he enlists Magizoologist Newt
Scamander to help him fight against Gellert Grindelwald, the dark wizard seeking out control
of the wizarding world.
J.K.
Rowling, who wrote the first two films, returned as a screenwriter, although this time she
teamed up with Steve Kloves - aka the writer of all but one of the "Harry Potter" films.
The "Harry Potter" series is one of the most successful franchises of all time, but the
"Fantastic Beasts" movie spin-offs haven't quite seen the same success – with audiences
or critics.
The first film in the prequel series, 2016's "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,"
fared pretty well with its reviews, earning itself a 74% score on Rotten Tomatoes.
However, the follow-up film, "Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald," didn't even come
close to achieving the same kind of success with viewers — widely derided for its overstuffed
screenplay, it holds a Rotten Tomatoes rating of just 36%.
So, how does the upcoming "Secrets of Dumbledore" compare to its predecessors when it comes
to critical consensus?
Well, as of the making of this video, it falls squarely in the middle at a 62% score on the
Tomatometer.
Some reviews are okay with it – and some really aren't.
Here's a rundown of what these divided critics think.
"Things are not quite what they appear."
Despite "The Secrets of Dumbledore" nabbing a better Tomatometer score than its 2018 predecessor,
many critics were still not impressed with the latest effort of the franchise.
Speaking for many of the critics who didn't love the film, Entertainment Weekly declared
that "the third time is not quite the charm."
Some critics found that the film lacked focus, and felt generally all over the place.
One of the critics, Kate Erbland of IndieWire, wrote that the film offers
"...an unwieldy, mostly unsettling mash-up of adult themes and childish whimsy, made
still more inscrutable by too many subplots, too many characters, and a tone that veers
wildly off-course at every possible turn."
Meanwhile, Charles Bramesco of Polygon first suggests the series should've called it quits
after the last movie before pointing out that Newt — who began the series as the protagonist
— is barely involved in what's become the actual plot of this series.
He wrote,
"Newt's convoluted, anticlimactic quest to secure and deliver his precious cargo lacks
the delighted curiosity that lent the first 'Fantastic Beasts' a much-needed bump in charm."
Finally, in a scathing review, Siddhant Adlakha of IGN wrote,
"There are two more entries planned, but ending the 'Harry Potter' spinoff here would be a
mercy.
There's nothing fantastic about the new movie.
The story is dull.
The characters are duller."
"Ha!"
It's not all bad, though.
Though the review for Entertainment Weekly implied the film missed the mark overall,
writer Leah Greenblatt still found some merit to the movie.
She concluded her review on the note that "The Secrets of Dumbledore" is a major step
up from its predecessor, deeming it, quote, "nimbler and sweeter and more cohesive in
its storyline."
Greenblatt also noted that this time around, the cast are given more room to explore the
stakes their characters face, instead of just shuttling along from scene to scene.
On the subject of the acting, Peter Debruge of Variety noted that Mads Mikkelsen is better
suited for the character of Gellert Grindelwald than Johnny Depp, who played the character
in the previous film.
Debruge wrote that Mikkelsen comes off favorably as a "more grounded, less cartoonishly menacing"
version of the character.
He also gave credit to the screenplay, which he found "far more focused" and "easier to
follow" than the last one.
In one of the most positive reviews — 4 out of 5 stars — Linda Marric of The Jewish
Chronicle called it a "welcome return to form" and gave special praise to the performances
of Law and Mikkelsen.
She summed up the movie by saying,
"Yates, Rowling, and Kloves have given us an engaging story peppered throughout with
some funny, heartfelt and exciting action sequences."
What side of the divide will you be on?
The only way to find out is to see the movie for yourself when "Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets
of Dumbledore" premieres in theaters on April 15.
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