Establishing itself as an unintentional homage to Hogwarts’ late headmaster, Fantastic Beasts 3 miraculously survives a raging storm of critical reception previously known for having demolished many other films. This is no stroke of brilliance or anything but it definitely gets the job done when compared to its disastrous prequel.
The lack of continuity with characters and the introduction of newer ones to replace them makes low sense but the already established characters are more than enough to keep you engaged. The main issue with this franchise is that all three of them feel very unconnected from each other. In comparison, the Harry Potter entries, even though directed by different people, do feel very connected to each other.
The creatures, amazing magical displays, fight scenes, and a little twist at the end were good. Although, the magic system is underdeveloped. Spells are used as if using guns without any command or rule. Plus, this series is still lacking the in-depth character backstories connected with the Potter series.
As for Grindelwald then I liked Mads Mikkelsen’s performance, to be honest. He definitely added his own touch to the character which feels more like a politician. Johnny Depp’s version was more stylish and worked to his persona. It’s hard to differentiate the two because both did it well and I think it will be wrong to criticize Mads Mikkelsen for the decision he didn’t make.
Overall, it’s not perfect, but The Secrets of Dumbledore brings new life to this franchise and is a huge improvement on the lackluster prequel in every sense. This third installment really shows how good this series could’ve been. Is it too late to salvage something, I probably think so. But if this is the last Fantastic Beast film then at least, it goes with a good ride.
