Fantastic Beasts: Dumbledore's Mysteries

The dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald (Mads Mikkelsen) is getting serious: he is gathering more and more followers to seize control of the magical world and then start the war against the Muggle world. Professor Albus Dumbledore (Jude Law) would be the only one who could really stand up to Grindelwald, but due to an old oath he cannot oppose him. Therefore, he rounds up a group around the magizoologist Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) to prevent Grindelwald from finally gaining power over their world. But it quickly becomes clear that the following around the dark wizard is already so large worldwide that it seems impossible to stop him yet...

"Phantastic Beasts: Dumbledore's Secrets" is the third installment of the "Harry Potter" spin-off about Newt Scamander and his magical animal creatures. Three and a half years after the second film in the series, which was not exactly well received by critics and fans, and which also performed relatively disappointingly at the box office, this film is now intended to bring the necessary magic back into the world imagined by J.K. Rowling. Right off the bat, it's very clear from the film that the makers have just taken the criticism of the fans to heart and tried to iron out the mistakes that were just made in "Grindelwalds Verbrechen". This brings a lot of positives, but also a few minor difficulties.

It is without question the best installment of the "Phantastic Beasts" series to date. The story is much more clearly outlined than was the case with arguably chaotic second film. In addition, there is also - without wanting to give too much away - an ending that is more satisfying than the cliffhanger of the predecessor. Even if some questions remain unanswered and thus the possibility for further sequels exists - after all, the series was originally planned for five parts - "Dumbledore's Secrets" would be a coherent end for the "Phantastic Beasts". However, some storylines are concluded a bit too effortfully in the process. What in the first two films is built up very slowly and partly also very confused, dissolves here sometimes in minutes. And since at the same time it is tried to dive even deeper into the magical world (this time it goes among other things to Germany), there is again the danger that the story is told too overloaded. But fortunately this is only really disturbing in a few scenes.

Also that Grindelwald is no longer played by Johnny Depp will probably only annoy loyal fans of the actor. Because Mads Mikkelsen gives the dark wizard completely new, own nuances, which make this character even more evil, but also more multifaceted. The fact that not a word is said about his new character is a bit strange, but it is completely forgotten after a few moments. The reason Mikkelsen worked better for me is that his menacingly charismatic portrayal makes it more understandable what a close bond once existed between Grindelwald and Dumbledore.

"Phantastic Beasts: Dumbledore's Secrets" manages in its best moments to capture that very special magic inherent in the "Harry Potter" franchise in movies and books. Even though there are still some weaknesses dramaturgically and the staging seems slightly sprawling here and there, this third installment is an enormous improvement on the second film in every respect. If you liked "Grindelwalds Verbrechen" despite its weaknesses (I count myself among them), you will get your money's worth here. And even those who love this whole magical world, but haven't really warmed up to the "Fantastic Beasts" series yet, might well change their minds after this film. Nevertheless, David Yates has managed the feat of directing a third part that works both as a worthy conclusion and as a spark that, after the slight teething problems of the two predecessors, makes you want to see more. For this, there is clearly a: Absolutely worth seeing!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp