Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore follows Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne), Albus Dumbledore (Jude Law), Jacob Kowalski, a muggle, and their small army of witches and wizards as they fight against Grindelwald (Mads Mikelsen) and Credence (Ezra Miller), the most dangerous wizard before Tom Riddle, also known as Voldemort. Grindelwald sees muggles as lesser beings, and he dislikes the fact that the Wizarding World feels the need to hide itself from muggles. His goal is to manipulate the Wizarding World to go to war with the muggles. I was hesitant to watch this film due to multiple factors: the disappointing prequel Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, Warner Bros firing Johnny Depp due to the backlash he received from Amber Heard’s domestic violence allegations in 2020, and J.K. Rowling’s transphobia and antisemitic controversies. However, it did not disappoint. The Secrets of Dumbledore is a fine installment of the series, outshining the first film, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them released in 2016.  

The movie begins as Dumbledore suspects that Grindelwald will rig the wizard elections. Dumbledore suspects that Grindelwald may have found a way to briefly see the future so he splits up his army to do secret errands in the hopes of confusing Grindelwald and stop him. To start, Jude Law is incredible as Dumbledore. Every look he gives has some slight hint of regret, it shows how truly broken he is. This is a fascinating take on the character that I did not think would be shown on the big screen. Another positive was Jacob Kowalski, the muggle. Each scene where he was with Dumbledore made the film very entertaining. Often the conversations between the two is a reason why this film was very satisfying. It was amazing how someone as famous and well-known as Dumbledore considers Jacob an equal, despite him being a muggle. Additionally, seeing Grindelwald slowly taking over and how the world starts to turn on Dumbledore was also very cool to see.

However, there are parts of the film that are confusing. Specifically the fight scene between Credence and Dumbledore where there was too much to focus on just visually. Some parts of the story are kind of ridiculous. For instance, the Wizarding World uses a majestic magical creature called the Quilin, a deer-like creature, to determine the winner of elections. It determines elections by looking at the candidate and discovering whether they are a good person. However, these creatures are supposedly extremely rare. What doesn’t make sense is how there is no security for this creature, just a “magizoologist.” An election could easily be rigged, but Dumbledore was the only one who realized this. Small details like these often make the audience question the film. 

Concluding, The Secrets of Dumbledore is not a flawless film. However, the problems that many had with the second installment are finally resolved. Odds are, if you enjoyed the first film, you will likely enjoy this one just as much—if not more. As a Harry Potter fan I am very happy to say this.