Director David Yates
Starring Eddie Redmayne, Jude Law, Ezra Miller, Dan Fogler, Alison Sudol, Callum Turner, Jessica Williams, Katherine Waterston & Mads Mikkelsen
Rated M
Score 3.5/6

Professor Albus Dumbledore knows the powerful Dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald is moving to seize control of the wizarding world. Unable to stop him alone, he entrusts Magizoologist Newt Scamander to lead an intrepid team of wizards, witches, and one brave Muggle baker on a dangerous mission.

Perhaps I should have done my homework before going to watch The Secrets of Dumbledore and have actually watched The Crimes Grindelwald, but the decision to wait to watch The Secrets of Dumbledore would have meant I would have to wait around for about an hour at the friendly neighbourhood cinema on a Sunday night until the next movie was scheduled to start playing. Though with a lack of knowledge of what happened in the last movie I didn’t feel lost while watching The Secrets of Dumbledore.
From a franchise point of view its good to see that they have given it to David Yates (Yates directed the last four of the Harry Potter Movies) I have always been a fan of directorial continuity because it prevents any weird tonal shifts from movie to movie. I’d also like to note that I have always found ‘period movies’ to be fun to watch and I suppose that considering that this is a Fantasy movie wrapped up in the Wizarding World universe it gave the filmmakers license to push the boat out just a little bit further to see what they can get away with.
There where a couple of good points made about the rise of evil and there was a moment in Germany that felt very ‘Third Rechy’. It would be a big surprise if it was not foreshadowing things to happen in future Fantastic Beasts movies. I also enjoyed the charisma and confidence that Jessica Williams brought her role as Professor Eulalie “Lally” Hicks while Callum Turner’s performance as Theseus Scamander because his overall look reminded me of Henry Cavil’s performance in The Man from U.N.C.L.E. I loved the sequence Theseus had with Newt in the Wizarding Prison. However, my biggest problem with The Secrets of Dumbledore was that the overall feel of the entire movie was that it was the filler arch in The Fantastic Beasts franchise. It was too busy trying to set the table for the upcoming movies in the franchise.