JK Rowling Has Lost Her Touch│A Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore Review

[@jenisekirk980]

10:33 - Aberforth's side of the story contradicts Albus's significantly. In Dealthy Hallows, he tells the trio what happened that day Ariana got killed. Aberforth had confronted his brother because Albus and Grindelwald were set to tour the world and scheme with their "(g)rand plans for all Wizardkind." Albus was planning on taking an unstable Ariana with along for the ride because Aberforth had to go back to Hogwarts. Aberforth protested against the idea. "I told him, you'd better give it up now. You can't move her, she's in no fit state, you can't take her with you, wherever it is you're planning to go, when you're making your clever speeches, trying to whip yourselves up a following." He says this to both Albus and Grindelwald. Instead of laughing, as Albus says in Secrets of Dumbledore, Aberforth describes Grindelwald as angry. "He didn't like that... Grindelwald didn't like that at all. He got angry. He told me what a stupid little boy I was, trying to stand in the way of him and my brilliant brother." Aberforth claimed that an argument ensued after the inflammatory words. He said he drew his wand out, Grindelwald performed the Cruciatus Curse on him, then Albus pulled out his wand. He says, "Albus was trying to stop him, and then all three of us were dueling..." Ariana was in the midst of the fight and the bangs and lights became too much for her. Aberforth admits that he didn't know "which of us did it" but it "could have been any of us" that killed her. Aberforth's story is later corroborated when Harry is talking to Dumbledore at the heavenly King's Cross. Dumbledore tells Harry that he "never knew which of us, in that last horrific fight, had actually cast the curse that killed (Ariana)." Not knowing who cast the curse caused Dumbledore dread because he feared that it may have been he who "brought about her death, not merely through my arrogance and stupidity, but that I actually struck the blow that snuffed out her life." After Ariana's death, "Grindelwald fled..." These lines confirm a lot things that Secrets of Dumbledore tries to rewrite/retcon. 1. It confirms that Grindelwald was not "laughing." He was upset that Aberforth insulted his plans and angrily retaliated. 2. It confirms that Albus and Grindelwald were fighting. 3. It confirms that Grindelwald definitely could have cast the curse that killed Ariana. 4. It confirms that Dumbledore was most likely trying to defend Aberforth by fighting Grindelwald. I wrote this comment with the intention of disproving the "Grindelwald was laughing" and absolved of murdering Ariana, but my research also proves one of my main issues with Dumbledore/Grindelwald's storyline in the Fantastic Beasts series. It proves the Blood Pact did not exist. It couldn't have existed because Dumbledore and Grindelwald were fighting each other. The moment Dumbledore chose to help his brother, Grindelwald turned on him, something the Blood Pact strictly prohibits. Rowling's decision to create the Blood Pact always boggled me because of the existence of the Unbreakable Vow. Dumbledore and Grindelwald committing to an Unbreakable Vow would have made it much harder for them to turn against each other, owing to the fact that there wouldn't be anything tangible to destroy. The only way to get out of an Unbreakable Vow is by either fulfilling the Vow or dying. Creating the Blood Pact just felt like a cheap way to make it a convenient impossibility for Dumbledore and Grindelwald to fight until the Pact was somehow miraculously broken. Sidenote: I am highly upset that Rowling tried to retcon that fight scene between Aberforth, Albus, and Grindelwald. That was a defining moment for Dumbledore. Instead of being the one to respond to Aberforth's drawn wand, as the movie wrongfully claims, Dumbledore stepped in when Grindelwald was hurting Aberforth. His allegiance shifted to his family before the death of Ariana even occurred.

[@SmartyPantsYT]

This is a great comment. Thankyou for your in depth research and just for proving with undeniable facts how lazy and fan service-esque this writing has become by completely ignoring precedented lore.

[@brucepraska7781]

@@SmartyPantsYT I couldn't agree more when this assessment

[@RubyAPBT]

I bet this history was not planned and it may be the real problem. I guess on herry potter she knew better what she wanted to do and took her time writing it. However this one she tried as a movie and it get messy alot more easier if you do not plan. Especialy if she do not check what she already had told about it on books or even outside the books. It becomes like Cursed Child where out of no where sudenly belatrix and voldemort had a kid while it was never mentioned she was pregnant on 7th book. The worse is Belatrix loved brag about anything voldemort done to her.

[@matrinoxtm]

I don’t know if the words from Aberforth “confirms” anything. Maybe he misremembered

[@brucepraska7781]

@@RubyAPBT wtf are you talking about none of that made a lick of sense

[@hendbdhjznsnwbhajfj]

They were hyping Jacob up to be this amazing goodhearted person throughout the whole movie so I honestly thought the Quillin was gonna bow for him. Was a real surprise to see that he bowed for dumbledore.

[@spaceodds1985]

I know, IMO Dumbledore is just as shady as everyone else. The Quilla should have bowed down to Newt.

[@har5814]

It's Qilin not Quilla. And why would a Qilin bow to a muggle? They are choosing wizards only.

[@lecturaslunares926]

I also thought this, it felt really on the nose that they insisted several times that Jacob was a kind person

[@hendbdhjznsnwbhajfj]

@@har5814 that was never mentioned they bow for a person who is pure of heart, the wizards used them for electioms and muggles don't know about them, but that doesn't mean they won't bow for a muggle

[@enchantedman123]

I honestly thought that it would have been a great story arc to explain why the wizarding community just decided to flip flop on who they wanted as their leader. If it would have been jacob and that other random wizard lady then i would understand why literally everyone changes their vote unanimously cuz it shows that a muggle could be worthy of the quilins approval.

[@forgotmyun]

Honestly with a name like Fantastic Beasts, it should’ve just been Eddie Redmayne traveling around as if he was a magical Steve Irwin. Anything else was just unnecessary

[@whatsyourname9581]

literally... The movies lost their sense of self, it isn't about the Beasts anymore at all. Newt didn't even feel like the main character anymore. I would've been interested in a separate series centered around Grindelwald and all that, while Fantastic Beasts is only about the Beasts and the obscurum. But together it feels really off

[@kamilleferrer1061]

YESSSSS. Like if you wanted to do a Dumbledore story, then do ANOTHER series

[@DaveLH]

Coming out of the first film I literally thought and wanted the new series to be just various adventures with Newt and his beasts. I never thought we needed another epic "ultimate" battle between good and evil. But that's Hollywood mentality for you. And not just Hollywood -- IMO insisting that every story arc must involve a big and epic battle that must be bigger and more epic than what came before is what's destroying other franchises like "Doctor Who" as well.

[@yaynaymaroon651]

I would have loved a murder-mystery involving obscurials, where Newt tries to find a solution with little nature document- style slice of life moments here and there. I was honestly quite interested in the concept of obscurials, when it wasn’t used for plot devices for the big Dumbledore reveals..

[@sayit1196]

TOYS

[@CharlieZuko]

Things I didn’t like: 1) Tina getting sidelined 2) The revelation of Credence/Aurelius being Aberforth’s son happening in casual conversation 3) Confirmation of Ariana being an obscurial in the same casual conversation 4) Breaking the blood pact so easily, almost accidentally 5) The chilling bowing to Dumbledore didn’t make sense, Dumbledore himself has admitted his fatal mistakes and flaws. Bowing to Newt, or even Jacob, would’ve been more suitable 6) Yusuf Kama is kinda just there. Actually, without Leta Lestrange I don’t think he has much to add to the plot.

[@all-caps3927]

💯 agree with the Quilin bowing to the wrong person, and Yusuf being pretty much irrelevant in the story apart from saving the others in the end when he betrayed Grindelwald’s men

[@힐만94]

I got shocked when finally I watched this movie yesterday... This movie lost its magic... I couldn't even laugh at Newt's slapstick dance with the scorpion's like creatures in the dungeon.. And it's not Mikkelsen's acting, but I couldn't feel Grindelwald as the second most dangerous dark wizard of all time, but his act as Le Chiffre on Casino Royale got me chilled to the bone.. So I don't know what's wrong with this movie... All I could get was the "WTF" feeling when I stepped out of the cinema..

[@you_already_have_it]

1-5 Agree! For me 6) Theseus and Newt didn't mention or grieving Leta. Like they completely forgot about her.

[@all-caps3927]

The blood pact broke with good reason tbh

[@bryanmccoy6527]

@@힐만94 I agree, I cannot see how grindelwalds portrayal brings him up to even reach close to Voldemort. Ralph Fiennes made it seem like no one stood a chance against him.

[@vandal280]

It's also very much not canon for Dumbledore to have told that story about his sister dying to Newt because he's supposed to have never told that story to anyone out of shame until he discusses it with Harry at King's Cross Station in the final book.

[@Charlyy320]

That's true! I was also so confused that he talked so openly to everyone about his relationship with Grindelwald. I obviously love that they finally confirmed on screen that they were romantically involved but Dumbledore who is mysterious about everything just going around telling everyone he used to date the most evil wizard ever makes no sense.

[@dodixaverius9176]

@@Charlyy320 true, this is a danger on creating a prequel if you don't crosscheck with your older source material. If Grindelwald and Dumbledore relation was as open as this, there is absolutely no sense why Rita Skeeter need to track Bathilda Bagshot to confirm that Grindlewald and Albus were friends back then when there were actually this many people knew that they were close. And Rita might be annoying, but she was investigative enough to do her work. It's actually baffling to think that Newt.Co effort to help Dumbledore simply were not recorded to history? And speaking of history, should not Bathilda at least mention all party involved in the first place, or she was not really that great of Historian as many seemed to suggest.

[@frauleinbird]

@@dodixaverius9176 there is also no way that Rita wouldn't find out about the involvement of Aberforth and his son when wizards all around the world had watched what happened during the election.

[@ChienaAvtzon]

@@Charlyy320 - I am starting to think the reason Dumbledore admitted it, besides needing to get it off his chest, was to warn Newt not to make the same mistake with his own brother. Since, Newt was clearly uncomfortable with Theseus and Lally being attracted to each other. It was part of why Newt followed Dumbledore, and ended up eavesdropping on him and Aberforth.

[@ThePokemonPrinceYT]

I guess so but Newt is one of his best friends and we know him to be Very loyal and trustworthy

[@ccormore]

Rowling is depending heavily on nostalgia bait. "Oh look, it's Nicolas Flamel. Oh look, it's Nagini. Oh look, it's Aberforth." She's using this "familiarity" from Harry Potter and it comes to show how weak this series is on its own, and how it's only fueled by the references to the original franchise. Prequels are hard to pull off, and Fantastic Beasts is an example of a fail. I'm sad because I love the setting and the vibe, and I love that the main character is not a teenager, but it's just so bad in so many ways.

[@meriem0710]

Excatly the 3rd movie was just all over the place no logical developments

[@baselious92]

if the blood pact will kill you for even thinking about going against grindelwald, then how does dumbledore concoct a whole plan with the crew to go against him?

[@dodixaverius9176]

It seemed like a very convoluted plans by Dumbledore by trying to create a workaround for his bloodpact. It seemed scheming against each other by using others was actually safe for both of them since Grindlewald actively tried this when he tracked Credence. Not to mention, all the multiplans was not really trying to directly oppose Grindlewald. Dumbledore only give them vague command, but he certainly could not possibly planned for Vogel actually heed newt warning, or that when Laly and Jacob attend the dinner, he did not at all command Jacob to confront Grindelwald like that. Or Lalie actually assist In that deception. He created the situation but did not bother to control the outcome because aside from Bunty task, any other plans could all fail but Dumbledore could still win the day.

[@Aomi15000]

I agree with all points from the video but I also think you missed one In my opinion most important flaw: this movie main idea is "We must confuse Grindelwald by doing bullshit without real purpose". For the most of the runtime we as the audience have no idea what is the plan so everything seems pointless, and even worse whole middle part of the movie IS ACTUALLY POINTLESS. Only important actions to stop Grindelwald are 1) Secure quilin 2) show qilin at the election, and most of runtime is in no way related to that. Instead we have 100 other plot lines that are setup and somehow resolved half of the movie later withount any proper setup (for example Credence speaks one time with Dumbledore and somehow it's enough for him to be on the good side at the end)

[@codinghusky5196]

YES. The moment they introduced the idea of "we must confuse Grindelwald" I KNEW they are absolutely incapable of doing so without confusing the AUDIENCE as well. Ironically, the only NON confusing part to the audience was the part that SHOULD have been confusing to create tension: did ANYONE above the age of 4 NOT guess who had the correct bag?

[@tara7261]

Omg thank you! Someone else noticed that too. I was sitting there like “besides getting the animal, nothing that has happened so far has had any bearing on the story, what is the point of these scenes?”

[@buchbummelant8980]

@@tara7261 (Edit. Plot breakdown deleted, top spoilery) So ... I get what they did there, it just wasn't very interesting. And don't get me started on Kama and his role. Totally unneccessary.

[@all-caps3927]

I disagree, the movie was easy to follow, and the conclusion tied it up really nicely with the build up. Any Potter fan who’s read the books and who knows any backstory wouldn’t struggle with not being confused. Yes the runtime was abnormally long, and at time unnecessary, many moments in the middle of the movie attribute to the overall franchise. It isn’t a Harry Potter movie and I can’t stress that enough.

[@tobylerone4285]

@@all-caps3927 it was easy to follow it was all just incredibly asinine. I left halfway through

[@JamesAndTheOcean]

They clearly removed Tina’s role from this story and gave bits to other characters. for example, Kama being all emotional about losing Leta didn’t make much sense when Theseus and Newt had virtually no emotions to losing her. It was clear Theseus was meant to be in Kama’s role and Tina in Theseus/Lally’s. Just sad all these outside factors have an impact on what could have made a really good story. Other things that made no sense Bunty got 6 replicas made but we only ever see the real one and 4. Also there appeared to be more of a connection between the phoenix and the obscurus (instead of Credence) but this was never explained. Also the destruction of the blood pact felt very quick.

[@spaceodds1985]

I totally agree about Tina. Lally's introductory scene when she persuades Jacob to go on the mission would have been so much more interesting if it had been Tina, who was against the relationship between him and Queenie. There would be this undercurrent of him trying to prove himself of Queenie's affections, and Tina coming to terms with the fact that the laws she has sworn to protect are not always right.

[@buchbummelant8980]

@@spaceodds1985 totally agree! I thought Lally was originally Tina in the plot, they just adjusted it to fit her absense. I'm not sure about Kama, I think they cut some background to streamline the plot.

[@you_already_have_it]

Yeah. Tina = Lally + Bunty. And I'm not against them, I actually really liked their characters, but Tina should be there all along with Newt. What I keep saying is if not all this off screen problems this could be such a good movie! Such a shame.

[@umwha]

I agree I think Tina was supposed to have lallys role

[@dodixaverius9176]

The missing two could be interpreted as two ways. Either Rowling notorierity on being bad at math strikes again so she could not do simple counting. Or the missing two was actually a result on earlier draft where Tina and maybe Nagini was supposed to be on that team. Maybe the scene was already shot first but Rowling does not deemed it prudent to revise it when they cut those roles out.

[@made-line7627]

Credence being Aberforth's son was so anticlimactic. So many questions. And "Albus abandoned you, Credence". Why the f*ck is Albus responsible?

[@kaseyc.johnson9926]

Creedence's age doesn't line up to be Aberforth's son. He would be 26-27 during this time (1926). Ezra has stated that Creedence is 18 and Grindelwald, Dumbledore, and everyone always calls him "child". The adult age for a wizard is 17. If they had stated that Aberforth fell in love a "few years after" or "a few years later there were rumors. . ." after Arianna had died, I would buy it. But Dumbledore states that it was during that summer, specifically. It would have been better for Grindelwald to have just outright lied to Creedence and for him to be Corvus. Age aside, Aberforth would have never had time to have a kid. That summer he was too focused on his sister and his neglectful older brother and his shady "friend" to go fall in love. He would not hate Albus as much as he did in Book 7 if this were the case. And even if it were the case, it completely discredits Aberforth and paints him as a hypocrite. It's like JK Rowling forgets her own continuity. It's not as though she doesn't have 7 books, 8 movies, a whole website and her own damn drafts and notes to reference.

[@QAIMIFplays]

I mean aberforth doesn’t have a prominant place in the story of Harry Potter so maybe she just wanted him to have a big role in a story

[@One.Zero.One101]

It wouldn’t be the first time rowling wrote some tidbit that contradicts her own canon.

[@idek7438]

Yeah like, it's the early 1900's, if you're pregnant out of wedlock, you don't need to be a teenager to be sent away. Aberforth is a weird dude who doesn't have much money, just have him fall in love with a wealthy girl whose family doesn't approve, they're both in their early 20's, she gets pregnant and her family sends her away because they don't want her to marry Aberforth. That way Credence is a little bit younger and it makes more sense

[@umwha]

I don’t think wizard adulthood is 17. You are still in school at 17. So I think it’s safe to assume the age of majority is 18

[@kaseyc.johnson9926]

@@umwha Wizards and witches come of age at 17. It is when the Trace is lifted and wizards are allowed to freely use magic and find jobs. Consider also, Wizards don't have a college after their respective schooling i.e. Hogwarts, Illvemorny ect. Please refer to the original series, or even Google. And even in the real world, just because a person is in school doesn't mean they are not also adults. There are 18 year olds finishing high school and 40 year olds returning to college.

[@nathangifford897]

The thing that I thought was the worst was how they subtly undermined Aberforths character for HP. There, he has some basis for his resentment and anger towards Albus. He felt abandoned by his brother and that neglect resulted in the death of his sister. Making him an absent father like this removes any basis for Aberforth to resent Albus because now he has no perceived moral high ground.

[@made-line7627]

Exactly!

[@dannyjorde2677]

Not only that, but in HP Aberforth also says that, precisely because Albus spent so much time with Grindelwald, he was the one who had to take care of Arianna. And if he had to do that by himself, he definitely didn't have time to go out with women and lose his virginity.

[@matt-thorn]

Not being there for a child you didn't even know about and being bitter at someone for ripping your family apart, potentially killing your sister... They are not equivalent or mutually exclusive, but even if they were that would just make him a hypocrite, hardly all that damning.

[@dodixaverius9176]

@@dannyjorde2677 that actually not that true. He did mentioned at first, Albus did just fine caring for Ariana. Now he did not specify how long that moment was before Grindelwald came, so at least he had time to do the deed during that span. However, it create even more questions rather than solves, was that just a quick fling or was Abe actually had a longer relationship with her(he did have plenty more time when their mother was around)? Was the girl also a witch? And if she was why isn't she attending Hogwarts? The "Titanic" scene does suggest that maybe she was a muggle, but what do we know? Wizards could use muggle method of transportation simply to avoid magical detection.

[@pinklight]

I only ever wanted two things from this franchise: 1. Fantastic beasts 2. Where to find them No convoluted backstories, no wizard Hitler, no retconning established lore. Just a whole bunch of fantastic beasts and where to find them.

[@lehtuska]

I agree with the Credence identity reveal being a huge disappointment! I've seen so many theories which would've been so much more interesting. This was lame and dumb. Also I had wished the change in Grindelwald's appearance would have been addressed in at least some little way. Like maybe the wanted posters with the flashes could've shown his previous face between the flashing.

[@ellicel]

With problematic franchises, I often wonder why writers don’t mine fan YT and blogs for story ideas before writing sequels. I often see much better plots and treatments than what we eventually get 😂

[@lehtuska]

@@ellicel they should totally at least browse them to get fresh ideas if they're running out 😁

[@One.Zero.One101]

It was a retcon by rowling because fans pointed out that it was impossible in the timeline for credence to be albus’ brother. Whoopsie.

[@drogadepc]

@@One.Zero.One101 she's retconig the retcons. Also, Minerva wasn't even born at that time but J.K deleted the information about the year Minerva was born.

[@nanalove3819]

Yeah... Albertforth always was the Dumbledore who cares for his family in my eyes, I can't picture him abandonned his child. I would rather have them say "actually Grindelwald competely lie, you are not a Dumbledore at all".

[@grayden4138]

Mads delivered the menace that I wanted Grindelwald to evoke. He's absolutely capable of it given his performance of Hannibal. Yusuf had two lines and did two things and had no purpose otherwise. As a mole, I don't think his purpose was clear. I just feels like there was a lot more movie that was simply cut because the holes are there, and they feel intentional.

[@Nephilim1717]

Magic in the HP universe has always been inconsistent and confusing , there’s practically no scaling so one can’t tell if some display of magic is impressive or not.

[@darkmistico]

Its called poor writting skills :v

[@lenguyenquangvinh2684]

One more thing is the vague distinction between a "powerful" wizard and a regular wizard. Regarding spells, there is no exception, to my knowledge, as who can and can't do what spell. The patronus charm was supposed to be really difficult but harry could do it even when throughout the story it is imply that besides his connection to Voldy, he is just brave and completely ordinary.

[@verylostdoommarauder]

That's just more evidence that the series is a rip off of Discworld. The vast majority of the time, a fantasy author who isn't ripping someone else off would build a clear magic power hierarchy.

[@RenegadeGamer89]

The one thing I will say I really liked about this movie was Jacob's approach to Grindelwald. He clearly knows he can't do anything against him but refuses to let him just keep Queenie without putting up a fight to get her back. Walks right up to him during the dinner scene and points his fake wand at him, doesn't care about getting caught by Grindelwald's followers if he gets the chance to talk to her again. Shows no fear during the climax when he confronts him face to face. He's basically telling Grindelwald "I don't care who you are. I love her more than I fear you."

[@rainbowbgood]

I think the only underwhelming part was Mads performance.. like throughout all the scenes he is in. The guy looks like he should be doing an actors on actors show not playing a super villain.

[@whatsyourname9581]

yeah, I was pleasantly surprised how they wrapped-up his character. He seemed more like a goofy and useless side character as a comedic relief, but he did shine a lot here. Hope that happens with Tina too, she's such a boring character honestly...

[@RenegadeGamer89]

@@whatsyourname9581 Yeah she's so boring they completely wrote her out of the movie.

[@ChienaAvtzon]

@@RenegadeGamer89 - Tina is not just boring, she was forced into the story in second film. There was never any reason for her to be in Paris. Which is why it was good that she was switched out for Theseus, during the rewrites of this film. Newt is not the type of character who needs a love interest. However, his relationship with his brother is a unique story angle.

[@frankcarlosnajera9723]

Credence needs more character. His mystery is not interesting anymore, because it is not even a mystery anymore. You got Newt, his assistant and his brother, and Dumbledore. Those are the only characters that can be saved right now. Jacob serves no purpose after the bait and switch kind heart thing going nowhere.

[@ChienaAvtzon]

The problem with “Fantastic Beasts” has always been JK Rowling’s writing. The majority of the characters and actors have always been great. So much wasted potential. Completely agree, that Newt and Theseus’ relationship was the highlight. They finally felt like real brothers, and it was obvious that Eddie Redmayne and Callum Turner get along in real life. While, Theseus and Lally Hicks dueling in the alleyway was incredible. Credence should have remained dead, after the first film. MACUSA murdering him gave Grindelwald an incredible rallying call. While, the third film should have been the second film to introduce Dumbledore, Theseus, Lally Hicks, and Leta Lestrange. Leta was the perfect character to be the spy/double agent within Grindelwald’s ranks, and it would have made her death more impactful. Since, it would not have come across as fridging. Especially, considering Lally Hicks was foreshadowed to be Theseus’ love interest. While, the blood oath should never have existed. Dumbledore letting the world burn, because he still loves Grindelwald, was always a much more nuanced and interesting story. Also, the Qilin should have bowed to Jacob.

[@katiebrooker1437]

I spent almost the entire film trying to work out if Lally was taking polyjuice and was really Tina. Cannot believe they sidelined Tina like that

[@JustJoe10]

I thought that bounty was disguised as tina

[@captainbeastwinger4940]

I like that they actually had a somewhat decent reason for newt to be there and you know have the plot revolve around a fantastic beast They should've given these movies a different title

[@justin9744]

It made literally no sense at all.

[@drogadepc]

They mentioned it the beggining of the movie that an election was about to take place but there's no election. They just make a ceremony were the Qilin stares at the candidates souls to choose the one with a pure heart. But what would happen in a scenario where none of the candidates have a pure heart? Would they get new candidates? Would they ignore the fact that no candidate has a pure heart and will actually vote? And why do the candidates even need supporters and voters if everything is decider by a magical creature? What would happen if more than one candidate had a pure heart? It makes no sense.

[@mranima748]

@@justin9744 the quilin is born when a new leader comes to power, the quilin is used in elections to help people make the decision

[@captainbeastwinger4940]

@@justin9744 none of the fantastic beasts movies do

[@mstrikesback168]

Mr. Dursley sees wizards: Bright colorful purple robes and hoods in broad daylight, among the muggles. Wizards in NYC: Dull, plain boring old muggle clothes.

[@tannorhighroller7517]

I thoroughly enjoyed this film, but I absolutely agree that it felt like the directors wanted to make a big 'reset movie' instead of diving deeper into the storylines they've been struggling to build for the last 6 years, like Creedence, Tina and Newts relationship, The "unbreakable" blood pact, Leta, and the list goes on. Grindelwald also has no weight, he moves through the film like a snail, and has little to no 'threatening presence' when standing next to others in scenes (like the election process). They should have killed Leta off at the end of this one, at the hands of Grindelwald, instead of him popping a forcefield (corny), jumping on a ledge, and running away like a spiderman villain for the climax.

[@all-caps3927]

It was certainly a big step forward for the franchise and I really did enjoy

[@ChienaAvtzon]

Newt and Tina’s relationship is not important and is boring. She was switched out in favor of developing Newt’s relationship with Theseus. Since, the Scamanders serve as foils for the Dumbledores.

[@tannorhighroller7517]

@@ChienaAvtzon boring is subjective, and also kinda dumb, why would they make 2 movies building up, and explaining tina and newts relationship (1&2) just for the character to get be non-existent in the third installment? Considering Newt is the protagonist of the film, calling the main love interest "not important" is underselling it. she played a huge role in helping newt throughout the past 2 films so I'm not really sure what you mean. And to my knowledge, nobody wanted 'more theseus' so that seemed like a huge error in writing in my opinion.

[@ChienaAvtzon]

@@tannorhighroller7517 - Because if the second film had received a rewrite, Tina would have been removed in favor of Theseus too. Newt is the protagonist, and Theseus is his brother. Which, at the end of the day, is more important than a clichéd and poorly written romance. Watch the second film, and listen to Newt and Tina’s only conversation. They are talking about his brother, not their “relationship”. Plus, Tina’s personality is an antisemitic stereotype. Harry was the main protagonist and Ginny was unimportant too.

[@tannorhighroller7517]

@@ChienaAvtzon did you not even watch the second movie? one of the main and first plot points in the second movie is Tina wrongly seeing newt in the paper with Leta (and thinks they are engaged), and Tina going to Paris where Newt eventually meets up with her. It seems like most of the issues just root from your disliking of the character, not actual character flaws, "antisemitic stereotype" is stretching it a little too far, its a fictional wizard character and I never got that vibe. and if you think ginny was unimportant, you prolly just don't enjoy females in movies lol

[@breezle7296]

I felt like the movie was like ‘Rise of Skywalker’ and trying to recon parts of the second movie. I had just started some ADHD medications before seeing this and felt every damn minute of this movie. I wasn’t sure if it was my meds and me not liking it or that it was actually bad. Thanks for bringing up some good points and helping me feel a bit more normal in this mess.

[@codinghusky5196]

I'm sorry, I find this one BY FAR the worst of the 3 and the least entertaining of the 3. The first is OK, in the 2nd the writing is abysmal but at least the designs, the actors, the set pieces, the costumes and the make-up, the visuals and the sound design are great; but in #3 we have a SERIOUS downgrade on all those OTHER factors with ZERO improvement in the writing which is even MORE over the place. I don't want to talk about the writing, but honestly, every OTHER decision about this movie strikes me as equally TERRIBLE as the writing. - Creedence looks EXACTLY like Snape. WHY???? Are you THAT limited and uncreative? - There's no BEASTS in this Fantastic Beasts movie. All we get is a boring ass deer and a generic spider monster. WHY??? - Back to Hogwarts in a most uninteresting dull way possible, showing us ONE kid flying after a snitch for... no reason at all, just STUPID. WHY??? - All the sets, environments and designs look exactly the same. If you mixed these scenes up for me, I wouldn't be able to tell you if we're in NY, London or Berlin. WHY????? - Grey green blue green blue grey. WHY?????????????????????????? What's wrong with some COLOR in your KIDS MOVIE???? - Dumbledore and his gloves. Is there NO OTHER fun and creative way to have him do what he does with the gloves? I've SEEN it already! - A deep bottomless pit for a jail with... I can't even finish, it's THAT stupid. (Also our heroes just leave it and never mention HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE who are GOING TO DIE THERE ever again. But that's the writing.) - A terribly threatening and downright scary... Muggle shop that makes suitcases. WHY????? - We're in Nepal and it's SO boring, I see that the LOWER mountain has snow on it and the TALLER one does not. AAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!! and I could go on, but I'll stop here: - Grindelwald, whose only saving grace to work in any way as a villain with this abysmal writing was the somewhat threateningly/insane appearance and portrayal by Johnny Depp, is now replaced by a visually completely benign and uninterestingly designed Grindelwald portrayed by an actor known by his restrained and kinda bloodless performances. WHY????????? Why wasn't someone like, I dunno, Ben Mendelsohn or Tom Hiddleston brought in to insert his OWN character/charisma where NONE was written? At this point I'd have hailed even the orchestra of overacting that is Robert Carlyle, just to have SOMETHING. But like this, Mikklesen grinds Grindelwald into a one big nothing - no writing, no performance, no on screen presence, NOTHING. WHY??? (I'm not saying Mikklesen is a bad actor, far from it, he is great. BUT he is the kind of an actor who gives a subtle, subdued performance that MUST be supported by stellar writing to work, ESPECIALLY for a villain. Since this movie doesn't HAVE that, and I mean from the start, Grindelwald is never given and exposition or development; what they SHOULD have done is cast someone who is capable of creating their own "noise" to fill in the gaps. Mikklesen is NOT that kind of an actor).

[@williet.3058]

+++

[@inferiorinferno8859]

I haven't even watched the movie yet, this review is the first one I could find about it. It makes me so sad to hear there are no more beasts. They were one of the things that were charming about the first part, and my mom who only ever watched HP movies with me because I loved reading the books as a kid like many others, was actually a huge fan of the first and eager for the release of the 2nd movie, only for both of us to be massively disappointed with the trainwreck. That, paired with the fact JKR's twitter also cast a shadow on the franchise for me, I've felt kinda iffy about the 3rd movie. You pretty much confirmed what I feared would happen. Perhaps I'll watch it if it comes out on streaming services, but no cinema ticket for me.

[@williet.3058]

@@harrietvane7805 Did I post any reviews? I didn't notice..

[@maximus8574]

You are 100% right first was good, 2nd was good to look at 3rd was really just a meh

[@rainbowbgood]

@@williet.3058 Yes, Mads ruins the whole movie.

[@tazzreviews1578]

I honestly think this film is boring and forgettable. There’s characters and moments from the film that could be cut and nothing would be change. And it didn’t really have that much of a climax either.

[@tonyastark1215]

I hate how this film has all these plans and plots that are literally all useless? Like, that Kama guy that pretends to be Dumbledore's traitor but turns out to be double agent (? I am not sure, but he is definitely a good guy in the end): totally pointless, there isn't a single thing he does that helps the bad guys *or* the good guys, he just kind of hangs out with the bad ones until it's the end of the movie. I guess I could theorize that it is thanks to him that Dumbledore knows some random stuff like "there is assassination being planned", or "Newt, they are keeping your brother in this specific place" (although it's not Grindelwald people who put him there so Kama shouldn't know about even by spying), but even so, it's my theory that is in no way shown within the movie, not even with a visual hint or so. Or, the whole 5 suitcases thing: every suitcase was found within 10 minutes after shuffling, except for the right one, which was only kept safe because the character that had it knew that she had it and didn't parade it around, just hid it and revealed it when it was needed. They could have just done the same with one suitcase, although they would have to cut the action scene then. Or the first part of the movie, which actually has a nice sounding concept -- everybody gets a mystery object and contradictory plans to throw off someone who knows the future. But, these don't make any sense either. The only two real things the group does in the first half is a) Newt delivers the message of "Hey, maybe don't let Grindelwald into the elections", and, even though it fails, it was arguably worth a try, and the crew is able both to deliver the message and get back safely to the checkpoint before level 2; and b) the group stops an assassination attempt using the imagery of Jacob doing magic, which is cool both for confusing Grindelwald's visions and the trailers, even though actually making Jacob use a wand is absolutely unnecessary, it could have been any other form of distraction. Somehow Grindelwald doesn't see the attempt being stopped (as a matter of fact, not once do the bad guys use knowing the future to their advantage), the info that the assassination might take place comes up one day later than the train scene, where everybody was supposedly getting their mission. What I am trying to say is, the film is trying to make it sound like Dumbledore, who is beloved for his wisdom, plays 3D chess and assembles a bunch of contradictory plans to throw off Grindelwald while also giving out mysterious objects all HP7 style, but in reality, they have no plan, they just hang around in the right places to hear the biggest news on the Grindelwald situation and react to stuff as it happens at them, with the occasional Dumbledore coming in and actually spelling out the *one* plan to the group (i.e. plan to stop assassination). Honestly, it's like someone wanted to write Ocean's Eleven but then forgot and wrote Phantom Menace or something. Idk, insert your favorite story that has a device to objectively measure the goodness and evilness in any individual.

[@juliah6106]

I 100% agree!! Also when the blood pact pendant just randomly broke because of "fate"... was so disappointing. They have all these plots but they dont matter and become irrelevant after 5 seconds without a good explaination :/

[@tonyastark1215]

@@juliah6106 Oh, good one! After the second movie you would think breaking it will be the main quest of the story, and every event will somehow affect the progress toward this goal, but nope, let's just say we can't break it in the beginning and then break it randomly in the end anyway, that will do it.

[@juliah6106]

@@tonyastark1215 yess instead it was all about this weird election which sometimes felt more like the hunger games to me than Harry Potter

[@idek7438]

Honestly they could have had the action scene without the suitcases. Grindelwald's followers probably don't know who Bounty is and she's hiding among the "priestesses". The other characters could just function as bait, distracting the bad guys so that they don't pay attention to her and she and the suitcase can get to the election safely. The suitcase plot was so stupid. And what if one of the other characters had chosen that suitcase? What then? Did they just trust in the fact that no one would choose the suitcase closer to Bounty?

[@tara7261]

Can we talk about how they could have cut an entire hour of the movie and nothing would have changed? The whole “lets confused him” with the whole dinner parties and crab prison scenes serve NO purpose to move the story along. What was the point

[@samanthapeck8395]

That prison situation was just weird. Why was he hanging upside down in a prison full of man eating monsters?

[@taniajs]

@@samanthapeck8395 Even better question: why is he there in the first place?

[@peaches5914]

Every HP death we had from Cedric, onwards, was generally unexpected and sad. We cared about these characters and all of their deaths represented something. With Fantastic Beasts, we see random characters die (like Leta, who no one knew enough to care about), and then we see characters redeem themselves that generally wouldn't be able to. Queenie walked through those blue flames, and honestly I think she should have died, because it would have made an impact. She sacrificed herself for love, but she made the wrong choice and that's what happened. The same way Snape technically sacrificed himself for love. Having her just be able to escape with 0 consequences makes Grindelwald seem weak and like a boring villain who isn't as scary as Voldemort. With HP, we get to SEE so much of the action, through stories, flashbacks, scene changes, etc. But with Fantastic Beasts, they just tell us stuff. They tell us Dumbledore loved Grindelwald without showing us depth. They tell us the whole Arianna story that we already knew without showing us. So onscreen, there is little to see and most of the time we have no clue why the characters are doing what they're doing. We don't understand why there's 6 suitcases, we don't know WHY exactly we need Jacob other than for the fake wand scene, we don't know why Yusuf Kama even cares about supporting Dumbledore all of a sudden, and we have no idea why exactly it has to be Newt facilitating all of this. Nothing makes much sense, it just seems like a story that has been thrown together. Honestly, they should've written an HP-style book before having it fit into a script. There is barely any content to go off of, and perhaps giving us more backstories, such as explaining why we needed to see Nicholas Flamel, who Eulalie is, etc. would make the movies seem interesting, rather than drawn out.

[@duyanhpham1978]

Having the Qilin bowing to Jacob would be a better narrative choice in my opinion. We clearly saw how the Qilin loved Jacob and Dumbledore telling him how he was pure of heart. Choosing Jacob would nullify Grindewald's argument regarding how dangerous Muggles could be and demoralize his army (for some time until 1945). It would also serve as proof to how wizards can respect or at least acknowledge how Muggles could be good. Choosing Dumbledore or the Brazillian representative was a very safe choice, especially Dumbledore due to his actions (past, present and future) and his underlying guilt. Jacob was essentially obsolete in these sequels.

[@calamitysangfroid2407]

small gripe but kinda miffed how the qilin myth isn't true to the chinese (and other east asian) legends at all, its basically taking traits of the english unicorn (pure of heart) and giving it a fun foreign name to seem smarter

[@idek7438]

And the thing is we already have unicorns in the Harry Potter world and they work the exact same way. At least I remember Hagrid talking about their pureness of heart in the first book. Just have it be a unicorn

[@ThePokemonPrinceYT]

It's a Beast made up by Rowling it's not supposed to be 'true to the chinese legends'

[@carlosa3087f]

You forgot the spells. How we dont know which ones theyre using. Like for example like now the stunning spell is blue instead of red, asuming that is stupefy cause they do absolutely all spells without incantation. Also whats that alternate reality dumbledore enters onhis 2 fights? Lol wtf and why has that never been seen before? Also why the CONSTANT need to use portkeys and no apparition???

[@ChienaAvtzon]

The stunning spell was always blue. The disarming spell is red.

[@psych0536]

To be fair about Nagini, Claudia Kim was pregnant at the time so she couldn't be in the film. She still should have been addressed in the film. And I do hope she is back in FB4

[@JustJoe10]

That’s why the actor wasn’t in the movie but there’s no explanation to why Tina isn’t in the movie

[@One.Zero.One101]

Rowling kinda forgot about her.

[@made-line7627]

@@One.Zero.One101 But we certainly haven't forgotten about Rowling!

[@ChienaAvtzon]

Nagini should have never been included to begin with. Thank goodness, she was dropped.

[@jackrichardson7020]

Katherine Waterson was very publicly outspoken against Rowling's transphobia so I reckon that's why there's functionally no Tina. Lally is very transparently a Tina stand-in lol. Nagini’s actress was pregnant during filming.

[@mrsfahrenheit]

ohh that’s why nagini wasn’t there!!

[@tytytherussianspy2778]

Katherine Waterston had COVID. Stop spreading misinformation.

[@marocat4749]

And credence was killed because ezra miller , and i think its a mental health or whatever, he has a streak of veing a pulic menance and having violent weird incidents. I hope ezra gets better but thats why credence was killed. To not have to ever film wih ezra.

[@c.m.8972]

@@tytytherussianspy2778 Do you know how long it takes to rewrite a script and do the filming? Do you actually want to say that the actress was sick for more than a year due to COVID and that the writers already knew she would have such a slow recovery that they wrote her out of the script because of that? Also, the filming was stopped because of the pandemy more than once. Why wouln't they just postpone filming until Katherine Waterston was healthy again? This would take less time than completely writing a central character out of the script. Stop spreading nonsense

[@spaceodds1985]

@@tytytherussianspy2778 But she recovered very quickly. By May she was already doing charity work, and by September 2020 she was at the Venice Film Fesival promoting The World To Come. FB3 finished shooting in September 2021.

[@bumblebeeproductions1673]

I didn’t even know this movie came out already…really says something

[@zee3030]

Same and I didn’t even know that the franchise existed until 3 months after I finished Harry Potter and no one I knew (even potterheads) had watched it

[@diamondsky3787]

@@zee3030 thats because it hasn't been realeased in the US

[@gosnfrenki]

True HP fans love these movies... your misinformation wont change that...

[@sayantanpaul1864]

@@gosnfrenki Exactly man Spoiler Free Review - I have been a long time Harry Potter fan..💯 And as recently I have completed the book series, I fell in love with this to franchise even more, with that being said.. This 3rd installment of the Harry Potter spin off Prequel series Fantastic Beasts The Secrets Of Dumbledore was just a blast.. 💎💎It brought back the magic that made our hearts jump and it has all those nostalgia that true Potterheads recognize.. It's Truely an amazing piece of art and I definitely highly recommend all Potterheads to go to the theater and experience it there! ✅⚡ This movie deserves to hit Every actor did an amazing job and they worked hard for this film! Kindly respect that as well ✨ PS - Make sure to re-watch the Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts 1 and 2 and learn the background of Dumbledore's story to understand this movie in a better way! #SecretsOfDumbledore #wizardingworld #wizard #wizardingworldofharrypotter

[@zee3030]

@@diamondsky3787 I don’t live in the US and I was referring to all the fantastic beasts movies

[@KahNabiz]

She NEVER had a "touch" hahaha She write books, is WAAAY different write scripts. She is terrible in this job, so terrible that warner bring back the same script writter of HP franchise

[@catherinekeena4657]

The answer to why Aberforth couldn’t marry the woman if she was a witch would probably be because she wasn’t from a pure blood family. If she was a muggle it is because marriage between a warlock and or Witch and a muggle was forbidden. And even if it weren’t his family would have never approved as his father hates Muggles because Muggles abused Arianna.

[@catherinekeena4657]

I know they said that Credence dying wasn’t answered in the movie but it was. The Obscurial was slowly killing him. Dumbledore even said that he didn’t have much time left. When they killed the mother and the baby Chilin I wanted to strangle them. It took me a while to understand that the creature with the scorpion tail was supposed to be a manticore. If I remember correctly it wasn’t just a fight between Albus and Aberforth that caused Arianna’s death but Grinderwald was part of the fight as well.

[@catherinekeena4657]

@@harrietvane7805 or it was because she wasn’t a pure blood family.

[@rhondacrosswhite8048]

We got so spoiled by the original Potter films that showed us the Wizarding world through the eyes of children. That child-like sense of wonder and exploration combined with the fact that each story/film showed events through a finite time of each school term is going to be hard to beat. Aren’t we all still waiting for our own Hogwarts letter? Maybe if the prequels at least started us out with the school-age Dumbledore or Newt we could regain some of the magic and awe.

[@inferiorinferno8859]

You don't need to be a child. I loved the first Fantastic Beast movie, probably more then I enjoyed the HP ones. Because A, they didn't change the characters from their book counterparts like the infamous scene in GOF and B, we barely saw any of the other magical communities and barely any magical creatures, and exploring those things aren't things that school children will do. Newt and Jacob were both perfectly doe-eyed in that sense. Newt is raised as a magical kid, so no, we wouldn't have explored things as magical through his eyes, because unlike Harry, it would have been less special to him, unlike other communities and beasts from far away places, and Jacob was a muggle. Them being a team is perfect in that sense. It's the horrible writing, and trying to jam action into it with ONLY the first movie being given the time to explore a foreign community and the beasts. Its like, trying to make HP work by Philospher's Stone being the first movie, and then to pick it back up in Order of The Phoenix, Halfblood Prince and getting Deathly Hallows pt 1&2. Much of the wonder, and emotional build-up to the action, was cut off by going into the war with Grindelwald from the start of the 2nd movie.

[@komi-creative]

J. K. Rowling is not a screenwriter. The issues were there from the first Fantastic Beasts film and the subsequent films have exposed them further. It's disappointing to see but honestly, screenwriting can be a hell of lot harder than novels in many ways and takes years to do well.

[@ChienaAvtzon]

The character interactions only worked in “Secrets of Dumbledore”, because of Steve Kloves’ major rewrites. His grasp at dialogue and scene transitions were better suited for film. However, the problems with the plot, were clearly due to JK Rowling. A seasoned screenwriter would have never had the Qilin bow to Dumbledore or that Brazilian woman.

[@ankhgaiming1582]

I 100% agree with your view After seeing the film yesterday I would have it to 3. 5 out of 10 as it is so inaccurate compared to the books McGonagle shouldn’t be alive yet the quillin bowing to Dumbledore completely removes him from the who killed Ariana plot and he basically remove Grindelwald from it which only leaves abafoth

[@rainbowbgood]

I think it went bad when they decided Credence would be a Dumbledore. That was just stupid. Let life be the painful random mess that it is.. Too neat.

[@justjamie5006]

I like this new style of harry potter, you get to see all over the wizarding world not just hogwarts

[@ThePokemonPrinceYT]

Same

[@verylostdoommarauder]

Transphobic shill.

[@giannagarda7598]

The magic thing about the HP books was (and still is) that they made us fill part of the story - the spells were explained (wingardium leviosa, spelliarmus, petrificus totalis, repugno...), potions were explained, the Death Eaters had their mark etc. It is the opposite with Fantastic Beasts - we are constantly guessing what's going on, but some conclusions are disappointing. I love FB3, but there are so many issues that still remain unexplained - way back FB1. How I miss the books 😢

[@gracejones2549]

Apparently there might be 2 more fantastic beats movie’s and that is a big might but I did love the video good points you made I saw the movie today and I did like it.

[@lorettoponton7218]

They did say they wouldn't work on the script for the 4 until seeing if the 3 made it

[@amyfry4628]

Number 3 isn’t gonna make it after how much they messed up the writing

[@SuperMoviemaster21]

Oh we need to worry about more is people refusing to go and see it all because of her comments; I’d highly encourage and recommend everyone [please Encourage as many other people as you can as well please :-) See it as many times as they can in theaters, and even If possible,buy a ticket for it In place of going to see another movie so that way it still gets money without you actually having to see it multiple times. Buying as many merchandise directly related to it as possible will also truly help. Also remember that if you’re refusing to see it because of #JohnnyDeppIsMyGrindelwald Then please remember that this movie needs to do well so as to give Johnny the chance to actually come back in the Later movies, For the actor who played MacNair The executioner was re-casted for prisoner of Azkaban and then came back for order of the Phoenix. The bottom line is that if #FantasticBeastsTheSecretsOfDumbledore Doesn’t do well, And they don’t make the remaining two movies,then Johnny definitely will never be back as Grindelwald!Plus you also have to remember that it’s about to be a new company with new people over seeing it, So as such you were technically not paying that company and are actually giving more of a chance than not having him actually return. Especially depending on what may happen with the results of his trial that’s going to be happening shortly after the movie comes out, the new people taking over Warner Bros. right before it comes out…… Also remember in regards to her that she doesn’t necessarily get a whole lot of money from this, as well the fact remains that as many people have pointed out that she already has so much money that not supporting the series will not really change any kind of “power“ that you may have against her, and after all the series should not suffer at all because of her for Regardless of what you may think, nothing I repeat nothing will ever ever truly take away what a series overall truly means to you let alone other people, And again it’s not The series that’s the problem at all in any kind of way :-)

[@SuperMoviemaster21]

@@amyfry4628 Not unless you can do whatever you can to try to help it make enough money EH?

[@sayantanpaul1864]

Spoiler Free Review - I have been a long time Harry Potter fan..💯 And as recently I have completed the book series, I fell in love with this to franchise even more, with that being said.. This 3rd installment of the Harry Potter spin off Prequel series Fantastic Beasts The Secrets Of Dumbledore was just a blast.. 💎💎It brought back the magic that made our hearts jump and it has all those nostalgia that true Potterheads recognize.. It's Truely an amazing piece of art and I definitely highly recommend all Potterheads to go to the theater and experience it there! ✅⚡ This movie deserves to hit Every actor did an amazing job and they worked hard for this film! Kindly respect that as well ✨ PS - Make sure to re-watch the Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts 1 and 2 and learn the background of Dumbledore's story to understand this movie in a better way! #SecretsOfDumbledore #wizardingworld #wizard #wizardingworldofharrypotter

[@88tianxin65]

Imo, Fantastic Beasts 3 was more made for Harry Potter fans, rather than Fantastic Beasts fans. Dumbledore's character was allowed to be fully explored, in ways that could change your viewing experience of the Harry Potter franchise, which was a nice touch. The idea of parallels was something thematically enjoyable and I think that people might be a bit harsh on the FB films. Yeah, it's pretty full of plot holes, but the magical world is in general too. It was beautiful film to watch, and thinking about it too much kind of erases the 'magical' aspect about it. The film had heart.

[@weegee_darthno4045]

Congratulations, You're the first smart person I found in the comment section.

[@ChienaAvtzon]

Does FB have actual fans? Part of the issue for me with these films, was trying to shoehorn in the characters from the first film. Newt Scamander has an actual life in London, when he is not traveling the world. Meaning, he has actual relationships at home. He, Theseus, and Bunty all live in a townhouse together. While, Dumbledore is his mentor. Whereas, Newt and Tina are not in an actual relationship, and only get married after WWII. Meaning, Tina is the forced character. Plus, everyone seems to forget that she is Jewish and this film takes place in Nazi Germany. There is no way she could function within this story, from a historical standpoint. One parallel I really liked was how the Scamander brothers are foils to Dumbledore brothers. Which explained why Dumbledore is so fond of Newt and Theseus. He has known them since they were children, and does not want them to turn into him and Aberforth. Other than Lally Hicks, Dumbledore has no emotional connection to the Americans. Hence, why he does not attend the wedding but hones in on Newt and Theseus’ voices. So, why wasting so much time with characters Newt randomly bumped into on a misadventure, when they should have been shelved until WWII hit?

[@mrsfahrenheit]

I’m a huge Harry Potter fan and also watched and enjoyed the Fantastic Beast movies. I watched this one just a few days ago and I gotta say overall I did like the movie. Concept wise I would say it’s probably my favorite of the 3 BUT I don’t think it was a good sequel as part of a movie- series. I did enjoy the film on its own but it felt a lot more „to itself“ than as part of a series. I think that is due to the reason that first of all a bunch of new characters are being introduced but second of all at the same time a few of the characters we know from 1 & 2 are either having reduced screen time and even reduced plot relevance If not being absent completely. Grindelwald being portrayed by Mikkelsen really contributes to that feeling even more in my opinion but it’s not only that, it’s also the story in general. The story feels almost like it’s own thing, being completely separate from what happened the first two movies with only a few ties here and there. That wouldn’t be a bad thing If they haven’t decided to make a movie series with every movie supposedly building on top of each other and the story unfolding movie by movie, like with the HP movies series. The best way to explain it would probably be that in the first movie we had an A plot being Newt Scamander and his fantastic beasts and a less dominant B plot about the whole anti- muggle/ wizards vs muggle theme and Grindelwald being introduced. The second movie we still had this A and B plot but now with the B plot being just as dominant as the original A plot. But now with this movie we’re all of a sudden having a whole new C plot with the B plot being less dominant once again and the A plot being almost non relevant. It just doesn’t really add up movie-series wise. It feels like they were trying to tell two seperate stories in 1 movie alone and that obviously can’t really work. This is even indicated before the movie starts when the title sequence shows up and even there the movie seems to advertise with „Dumbledore‘s Secrets“ more rather than with the original „Fantastic Beasts“, making that aspect seem almost irrelevant. And even tho that isn’t completely the case, in general it definitely is. I gotta say going into that movie I was immediately captured by the „new“ C plot they introduced playing into the whole „Dumbledore‘s Secrets“ situation (even tho it wasn’t too much of a surprise lol). The first act had some beautiful scenes that really got me interested and hooked. I really enjoyed all the plot points surrounding „Dumbledore‘s Secrets“ and was really looking forward to discovering all that and exploring them. Newt, Kowalski and even the new characters complimented all that very well. But then going into the 2nd Act we… didn’t really get to explore what felt like was set up for us to explore. I was hoping for more backstory, maybe even a whole flash back sequence like they did with Snape‘s Memories or with Tom Riddle‘s Diary and all the other moments in the HP series, where the past was significant for events happening in the movie‘s present but no.. we didn’t get that at all. It was just mentioned by the characters but not really explored. We rather carried on with what felt like this „second story“ they also „had to tell/ wanted to tell“ so when in the 3rd act we finally came back to that new C plot all of it felt way too rushed and kinda out of place like it should’ve happened at a different point in the movie or in a different way- If not in a separate movie by itself to begin with. That‘s why it kinda felt like everything was building up to nothing really. The 2nd Act was kind of just there to connect these 2 separate stories with one another but they handled that not well enough for it to actually work. But I gotta say, when the movie did focus on one thing by the time there were beautiful and very strong scenes that emotionally touched me! Definitely! And these scenes were really well done with great chemistry between the actors and/ or great acting and great dialogue (I gotta say even though the whole situation with Johnny Depp is just terrible, Mads Mikkelsen did a fantastic job as Grindelwald and his chemistry with Jude Law was really great!) but every time they tried to connect all that, one thing overshadowed the other and there wasn’t really a balance to give each of the stories justice. I don’t know.. I don’t understand why they simply didn’t stick with that C plot and rather let us explore that before continuing the B (and A) plot. So yes after watching this movie I do want more! I want to experience what I thought I would experience in this one already! I want more direct confrontation and direct conflict! Because I gotta , apart from what we’ve seen in the trailer we didn’t really get too much more confrontation wise between the two parties, even tho I thought that would be the movies main plot. Overall I would recommend this movie but I think one should definitely try to see it as it’s own thing rather than part of the other 2 fantastic beast movies.

[@tobylerone4285]

May I counter with; it was shit and boring and nothing happened and I hated it. Complete heresy to the one great HP franchise. I really hope they stop making them now and stop wasting the actors’ time

[@Jiji_here_431]

Just saw it few hours ago and ngl i Personally feel it's the Best among the present 3 movies of the franchise. The cinematography is phenomenal and the feel is THERE that this is what wizarding world is. The ending made me a bit emotional but the portrayal of Grindelwald by Mads Mikkelsen is surprisingly more better suiting given the character of Grindelwald. I would absolutely recommend you to watch it but please do keep in mind this isn't HP universe it's The fantastic beasts one and therefore differences are bound to exist.

[@codinghusky5196]

The differences are HUGE, mate. HP has fun relatable well developed protagonists and threatening, fun and interesting villains set in a mysterious, fun, interestingly designed world cluttered with great costume and set design. In which somewhat corny but fun adventures take place (more corny and less fun as the story goes on). Fantastic Beasts has underwritten, boring protagonists and an uninteresting non-threatening villains set in a dull world from this installment relieved of fun visuals, interesting costume, character and set designs. In which boring stuff I can't be bothered to care about takes place.

[@jesspmv]

@@codinghusky5196 your only saying it for attention and from what other negative people say. i thought it was better than that shitty batman film kids watch(edit - I don't think it's actually shitty I am proving a point by saying something is bad when it's good

[@har5814]

I hate it being in 55% already in rotten tomatoes. What the hell. -_-

[@Jiji_here_431]

@@codinghusky5196 nah actually i still remember HP franchise films falling a lot behind and similar meh attitude being towards them during the release. All I'm saying is fantastic beasts does indeed has a lot of drawbacks but this installment is better than it's predecessor but well not every movie is for everyone therefore this one might not be for you. So harm mate ;)

[@jesspmv]

@@Jiji_here_431 same here I doesn't deserve hate it gets just for a recast and slightly different approach bro people need to chill

[@lauranoble9578]

I agree with what you said about Newt and Theseus. Their relationship was one of the main reasons I wanted to watch this new Fantastic Beasts movie.

[@chifuchi]

They could've just not use the book at all and make this new grindewald-dumbledore story. It's a shame because they did had a great protagonist and could've been a nice light creature focused movie, but nope

[@kategreaves9083]

Ya the Dumbledore storyline was definitely confusing as hell plus the Credence reveal was let down, but you got to love that sibling relationship between Newt and Thesus, adorable and kind of relatable. Also, I wish the Chillon would have bowed for Newt or Jacob it would have made more sense than it bowing to Dumbledore after making him appear like altogether just not a great guy. And I hate the fact that Tina wasn't in this film. They could have done so much more with Newt and Her's relationship plus she's just a really interesting character. But other than that, the film was pretty funny, and the special effects were amazing. So, all in all it was a great film.

[@karolinakuc4783]

We've got expansion of lore but it is not consistent with the rest of HP lore. Which is sad. Fantastic Beasts could be like Harry Potter saga but from Hagrid point of view. We could learn more about Akromantulas and nature of their conflict with wizards. And other facts about magic beasts.

[@samanthapeck8395]

Good point. There's also a lot of history between centars and wizards that would be cool to explore in depth since the original movies skipped over it

[@garythepenguin4411]

The thing that annoyed me the most was the very beginning. The cherlin i think it is called gives birth the twins and then gets shot with not one but 2 killing curses. It is supposed to be able to kill any creature instantly and without pain but that is not what happened.

[@Legocatshouse]

My issues with Secrets of Dumbledore (Heavy spoilers) was that so many plot points were brought up and they all ended unsatisfactory. They gave Jacob a wand, and he did absolutely nothing with it. It was useless to him and the story. Kama joined Grindelwald.. and accomplished nothing, he took out a few goons, it wasn't a surprise or huge twist. It was totally expected. Then there's how poorly written and confusing some scenes are. Why the hell did Jacob point a wand at Grindelwald? It lead to nothing. Dumbledore has done almost nothing in both movies now, he has none of his inquitive, manipulating everything from the shadows charm, and where's his pheonix? It's a beasts movie after all, why isn't it in his office or anything? Why did Grindelwalds lady servant walk up to Newt and try to lie to him to take his qillin brief case? Who the hell would of fallen for that? Why did Dumble and Grind fight in a pocket dimension when the HP books clearly state that their battle was known by all wizards as the greatest battle of all time.. and no one even saw it. Last, Jacob and Queenie get married and no emotional impact is felt because the wedding is rushed. Tina shows up for little to no impact, dumbledore watches everyone from a bench and the movie wants us to be sad for him? But nothing bad even happened to him. P.S I didn't like Eulalie's accent the entire movie, it pulled me out of the immersion.

[@richardblakely6854]

I kept expecting Bunty’s Polyjuice Potion to wear off and - Surprise! - it was Tina all along, but then we saw Tina watching the elections and the surprise was that there was no surprise.

[@amyfry4628]

I really thought when Bunty walked up and gave the real case to newt and revealed her face it was gonna be Tina. I was so disappointed to see it was bunty

[@har5814]

That's the problem when you let theories get into your skulls instead of watching a movie with an open mind. Too much watching vloggers is really detrimental to movie enjoyment.

[@amyfry4628]

@@har5814 the bunty and possible Tina being a part of the mission wasn’t from theory it was my idea from their writing. The excuse they gave for Tinas absence was poor. She was promoted to head Aura so wasn’t in it, Theseus is head Aura and was still involved and isn’t an auras job to catch dark wizards so it would make her presence more likely. They should have come up with something better.

[@har5814]

@@amyfry4628 Auror, not Aura. Many commentors and vloggers already theorized that so I presume that's where you get that predictable idea. No hate meant, but I agree with Tina not involving in the mission a poor excuse. I hope they explain it some time.

[@har5814]

@@amyfry4628 To repeat someone who understands it: AMERICAN POLICY IN THE 1930s. The US at the time is very isolationist, whatever happen outside their own borders is NONE OF THEIR BUSINESS, and will not get involved, Europe's community was more unified when they had the league of nations, which the US wanted nothing to do with, because they didn't want an equal vote with lesser country, american arrogance at work, while the magical community was more successful at having shared interests except for the US magical community as explained by Newt that the MACUSA forbids any interaction between the magical community and the No-Mag, that sounds elitist because it is. as the film is set in 1932, it means the US magical community would have the same policy as the No-Mag, we got rid of grindewald, it's no longer our problem anymore, does, Tina wasn't needed, she was a Mary Sue TBH. Also Grindelwald's spell in Paris killed Leta Lestrange, Theseus's Fiancé.

[@whatevafield]

It feels like she’s attempting to absolve the morally grey Dumbledore of everything. He’s to be super-duper morally good that was only in love with the wrong person.

[@ChienaAvtzon]

Which, honestly, makes Dumbledore less interesting. What was the point of casting Jude Law as young Dumbledore, if he is not going to be morally ambiguous? The drama is that he was a coward who let the world burn, because of how much he loved Grindelwald. This story needs to be nuanced, not black-and-white.

[@DBLCreations]

Honestly, it's not that JKR doesn't have "it" anymore. But she isn't a SCREENWRITER! She writes books! They gave her a chance with the first one. And honestly, i personally loved the first one. The second one for me personally, i loved it as well. But it was super confusing. I understand that this threw off a lot of people. Including fans. So that's where they needed a HARD STOP. And that's why this time around, we got Steve Kloves back, you know, the guy who did the actual screenplay thing for the Harry Potter movies! And i do absolutely think that, in terms of structure and story, the Secrets of Dumbledore is the best one. I think that the naming is just really messed up as well and doesn't really help in matters of structure and story. We should've gotten Fantastic Beasts and Where to find them. This would be a great introduction to Newt and Newt's world indeed. But then, there are 2 options: You go with Fantastic Beast (a sequel of that world and more of Newt's adventure.) Or you do a different ending (because the first one was actually a set up for the sequel in which Grindelwald was revealed.) And of course, that brings another option. So i don't think that, if you just want it for FB, that ending would've been good. But the second option, if you want to introduce the Albus Dumbledore secrets is to just have exactly that: "Albus Dumbledore: Origins" Or something among those lines. I'm sure they would come up with a much better name than i do. But i mean, this would let to less confusion i think. The naming is really a big thing. I mean, Harry Potter was always straight forward in my opinion. We got the title, and i think it was much clearer. Even though i must admit that the Halfblood Prince and Deathly Hallows did raise some questions (and possibly eyebrows... 😅 )

[@pilar8323]

My biggest problem with this franchise is that Dumbledore's trauma about his sister's death and Grindelwald was already explored in Deathly Hallows. Finally telling Harry about his shame and regret felt like a great catharsis to me, but now they bring it up again in this prequel and it feels like a retcon that takes away the emotional impact of that scene from the book. The thing is, I like Jude Law as Dumbledore, and once I get past my gripe with his character being part of this and pretend Harry Potter doesn't exist, I can admit that I like what they do with his character. He feels like Dumbledore to me, and I find Mads' Grindelwald more compelling and believable as someone who could have actually cared for Dumbledore, so there's that at least.

[@naomibedford1312]

It’s not addressed in this video, but I was really confused by the scene at the banquet where Lally creates the bridge out of book papers and her and Jacob run across to get to one another. If the book was the Portky we saw earlier in the film, surely it was have been activated as soon as they stood on it? And if it wasn’t the Portky then what was the function of the bridge when they were both running towards each other anyway? Can someone please help me understand this!?

[@PeaceLoveShawn]

I think she had to touch Jacob to travel w him. Technically if he touched the port key by himself as a muggle nothing would happen right?

[@ojyochan]

I really enjoyed this movie on its own. They definitely left a lot on the table. I didn't remember Leta died and neither did Theseus or Newt XD

[@ChienaAvtzon]

Theseus literally got a new girlfriend, in this film. 😆

[@e.rvanrood7373]

The author is the queen of retcons! That's when I know the wizarding world will never be the same

[@riduanaqil1452]

Same lol

[@TheProgressiveFrequency]

To have lost her touch, she'd have needed to have one in the first place, but when you have a main character who doesn't believe anything other than the status quo is god and must be protected because it's the status quo, because that's what SHE believes... Well, there's just no opportunity for a good story.

[@nonyabusiness2032]

This movie should of gone a different route. When the first fantastic beast film was made, lots of information was revealed about a hogwarts school based in the United States. Ilvermony I believe. I got the sense when he arrived in New york. I thought we were gonna dive deep into that lore. Would make sense if newt wanted to come to the u.s to find some new species of beast. But they went a different route. The prequel route.

[@anjaherholdt314]

Didnt Steve Kloves write this last script?? Anyway I loved the film, I love all 3 films, and I'm gonna buy it on dvd when it comes!!

[@quoniam426]

You raise a critical issue of the HP adaptations, making really magical duels is insanly difficult and expansive in SFX set up. I was glad to see multiple duelling techniques worthy of McGonagall in the books in Secrets of Dumbledore (McGonagall vs Snape was quite poor in Deathly Hallows as well as Dumbledore VS Voldy in Order of the Phoenix compared to what the books showed us. As for the pocket universe thing, it is not explained at all and that disturbs me a bit. One could say that Dumbledore is a mentalist of some sort? Or does it work only with loved ones??? That's what I would like to know. An other detail; the film doesn't say in, which year it takes place compared to the two previous ones. The only thing I can assume is that it takes place BEFORE 1933 because Berlin isn't covered in swaztikas so the Third Reich isn't implemented yet. And I could also assume that it takes place before 1929 because Berlin doesn't seem filled with poor people during the financial crisis. So my best educated guess is 1928 unless I missed some crucial details. Depp's flamboyant portrayal and design of Grindelwald aside, it was not that that different from Mickkelsen's protrayal (lss flashy design, more distinguished, I'll give you that but the charisma and speech level is about the same as it was in the Lestranges mausoleum. Mickkelsen's demeanure is closer to a certain Russian dictator nowadays, I'll give you that. The inner workings of Wizarding politics was also a nice addition to the lore. The Aurelius being the son of Aberforth does make sense up to the point of when he xas born, that would indicate that Leta was older that she seems to have been and Credence himself should be older as well, closer to Dumbledore's age. So the timing doesn't add up. I could do with Credence being Aurelius if he had been concieved ten years later, so around 1909. Credence was a baby on the sinking ship, that would mean Leta would have been born prior to 1899 which doesn't seem to be the case since I date her memories at school around 1917 and she wasn't on her seventh year that year (which would suggest Leta being born around 1902, after the said trip of Credence from England to New York... On the boat, Leta seems to be about three to five years old at the most so if we acknowledge the sinking to date from 1901... that would place her birth date between 1896 and 98. That plus the fact that McGonagall seems to be barely older than Dumbledore in these new movies where she was supposed to have been Albus's pupil at school... JK Rowling either becomes completely crazy or has a particular taste for retcons. Grindelwald could know about it in other ways though, he's not stupid. Aurelius mother being a one night stand from Aberforth does makes sense if the which in question was an magical aristocrat so the baby would be sent to be adopted on the other side of the ocean. But I don't agree about the timing. The fact that Aurelius and Corvus ware exchanged on the boat isn't the third movie's fault, it was done in the previous one. You say it was in 1932??? WHERE THE HELL did you see this? The movie seems to atone Dumbledore's dark side by making him purer than it looked, making him a guy whose love blinded him and prevented him to see Grindelwald's red flags. That still could be possible since Grindelwald is a manipulator and uses people by their strengths and weaknesses. It makes Dumbledore plagued by the Imposter Sindrome. It still could be possible but it also makes him a wimp with no bravery instead of making him the guy who fights against his dark side his whole life for the Greater Good while still saving it multiple times. I'm not sure that I like that retcon to be honest. Given your résumé, I'm feeling Rise of Slywalker vibes all of a sudden. Despite Rowling's mistakes as a non cinematic writer in the previous two, they shouldn't have hired a writer who doesn't know aboyt the overall story compared to adapting an existing book... Rowling made mistakes in continuity in the second movie but not having her from A to Z on this one might have plagued the saga evenmore in the end. I'm under the impression they tried to wrap up as many things as possible to not make five movies and end it with the fourth. Which isn't even necessary because, had they added one hour to the third movie, once the blood pact is destroyed it is open to end the story once and for all, the epic 1945 duel could have happened right at the end of the movie and it would have made much more sense.When you set up things, you usually wrap them up at the very end, not one or two movies before. I envisionned a blood pact destruction not before movie 4 or even midway through movie 5 personally. I wouldn't be surprised if WB deliberately sabotaged the movies chances so they wouldn't have to make the last two...

[@Deathisdark05]

I do agree with most of this, but I want to point out that Dumbledore being "blinded by love" isn't exactly a retcon. Mind you, it isn't stated to be love in the books, but Dumbledore does state when speaking about him in the last book that he effectively chose to be willfully blind to Grindelwald's faults. So no matter how one chooses to interpret their relationship, it is canon that Dumbledore technically was blind to Grindelwald's faults (whether he was really KNEW them is something I feel is arguable because Dumbledore states this decades later, when he's obviously had the benefit of years of hindsight that may have not been present in the moment). Moreover, we know Grindelwald canonically said things that were obvious manipulation (i.e. Dumbledore was meant to be his sister's primary caretaker after his mother's death, but clearly neglected this since Aberforth paid more attention to her. We also know that Grindelwald attempted to appeal to Dumbledore by asking him to leave with him and the infamous three way duel happened because he had suggested he could always just bring along his sister, an obvious attempt at manipulation in the sense that this wouldn't really work but it would have likely appealed to what Dumbledore wanted by making it seem like what he really wanted was achievable. Nevermind the fact that Grindelwald's beliefs likely did appeal to Dumbledore on some level since Dumbledore's early life involves his entire family becoming broken after muggles find out about his sister's magic).

[@bababooey6055]

Aberforth having more action was the thing I loved the most. Aberforth was one of my favorite characters despite him being shown only in like 2-3 scenes.

[@AnywayJenniferSim]

I haven’t seen SoD yet, but I can say this. I’m disappointed the series suddenly focused on Dumbledore’s story, and sidelined a much more interesting story about a Magizooligist traveling and having adventures around the world.

[@arthasthelichking6213]

Oke I got a question. If the qilin has died in front of everyone, why was the other qilin needed in the first place? I mean it did choose a leader at the end, but they could vote normally anyway. Once credence gave away the plot there was no need for the other qilin. Also why couldn't Grindelwald kill and resurect the qilin in a place where nobody could see him doing it?

[@samoeson]

I thought the movie was pointless and the character development we got could have been accomplished in like 30 minutes

[@ccrawf143]

I wouldn’t say JK Rowling has lost “it” I just think she’s a significantly better book writer than she is a screenwriter. Combine that with the difficulty of creating a prequel just makes for a bad combination.

[@sunshinet90]

I was never very happy with Johnny playing Grindelwald. I thought that they could have kept Colin Farrell and give him the radical makeover that they gave Johnny. I was happy that they cast Mads because I think he’s brilliant. I think he did a good job but I wish I could have seen him as Grindelwald all along

[@psykid18]

There is no question that JK doesn't not understand writing for movies. I agree on all points except for the misgivings on Dumbledore's actions or lack thereof towards his ex boyfriend. That is literally what Grinanwald is and everyone forgets. Never hald mix feelings over an ex? I bet it's even worse for a closeted gay teacher in the 1930s and it doesn seem like the Wizarding world is even more backwards than Muggle when it comes to progressive ideals. I for one am so happy that she retired the extra Dubledore plot. I would have loved to have seen the 3 way fight played out even as a flashback Maybe that's the true l Dumbledore's Secret. I loved seeing Alberfotth and I totally see him having an illegitimate child with anyone but if that was supposed to be the title of the movie they should have fleshed it out more. As for Albus they didn't tell me anything I didn't already know.

[@verylostdoommarauder]

She doesn't understand writing books either. The series sucks and is a rip off of Discworld.

[@dole2904]

The writing problems remind me of the issues with the Star Wars prequels where no one wanted to question some of George Lucas's desicions because everyone looked at him like he couldn't have bad ideas and the same seems true with J.K.

[@ChienaAvtzon]

There are moments, especially within this film, where you see the true potential of what FB could have been had JK Rowling’s decisions had been challenged.

[@leannafelts2276]

Not gonna lie, I really wish Rowling created new novels for this franchise instead of creating a screen play so that the fan base could have gotten the full idea of where she is coming from. I personally don’t think she makes for a good screen writer there are just too many holes in the story. Love Harry Potter, enjoyed the first two films, this last one was a bit of a let down

[@astrinymris9953]

There's a rumor that JKR slashed Tina's role from the movie in revenge because her actress, Katherine Waterston, spoke out more directly against Rowling's transphobia than any other actor in the franchise. I believe it, because JKR's spite and vengefulness has been well-documented. If you're interested in an analysis that takes longer than the first 'Fantastic Beasts' movie, here's a fascinating take on Rowling: kzbin.info/www/bejne/Y2LMkn2NiNyIkNU&lc=UgwNfU9irT10SRz6t7x4AaABAg&ab_channel=Shaun

[@idakristinedemesa5234]

If it’s indeed true, Katherine Waterston is stupid. U don’t kill the goose that lays the golden eggs.

[@JustJoe10]

Absolutely love that video!

[@One.Zero.One101]

@@harrietvane7805 lol ginny’s relationship wasn’t put on hold because rowling made it up as she went along

[@idek7438]

@@harrietvane7805 I mean it's hard to cut Newt's role from the movie. He's the main character (or at least he's supposed to be)

[@persian338]

i knew that she was not in the movie because she got severe covid and couldn't film

[@chrisAclaes]

Very much agree, you hit all the major pitfalls while still acknowledging the high points. It’s just wild to me that you can basically get a blank check from the studio without having a planned out story. It’s ruining beloved IP’s.

[@AllenInRealLife]

It's so sad hearing people (Including myself) have to explain why the plot of this movie is atrocious. We all love JK because she was a masterful writer/creator. Why then does this movie and the previous both feel like an amateur wrote them? What the hell is going on JK?

[@rhaenyralikesyoutube6289]

She created a great world, sure, but she was not good at characterization, period.

[@morningstar6552]

@@rhaenyralikesyoutube6289 Are you kidding? JK has been masterful at characterisation. Look at Harry or Dumbledore or Voldemort or Snape... there's so many more. Her issue here is writing these movies as though they were novels, she wasn't and isn't very skilled at adapting screenplay. That's her issue.

[@rose0463]

Yes definitely the writing lets it down! The movie looks great and the acting was great. But the story was just not fun

[@Wackaz]

It's a shame, because although I enjoyed the film compared to Crimes of Grindelwald, I do completely agree that the film felt substanceless, and throughout, felt so safe - likely because it was a soft reset for the franchise - and that really sucks. Crimes of Grindelwald, for all its flaws, at least set up something, and this film totally negates most of that. I''m looking forward to the next two films more, now, but all I'm getting from this series is a Star Wars Sequel trilogy dilemma where no one knows where the story is going, and is just a reaction to every previous film released in the series, changing things up as things go along to appease fans. It's a shame, because if J.K. Rowling just George Lucas'd the films, by ignoring fan demands and telling her own story, I'm sure this series would be a lot better storytelling-wise, regardless of the absurd contradictions she always presents in her stories. Honestly, this film was magical and everything about it felt like Harry Potter, except from the actual emotional depth, stakes and complexity that made those films so wonderful. I actually think the cast of characters they have now set up is great - although I miss Tina - and find them to be almost as engaging and fun to watch as the original cast from the Harry Potter films. I love the new characters and I'm just hoping the next two films flesh them out further. This series has so much more potential and it's a shame these last three films have not necessarily wasted that potential, but not lived up to it whatsoever. Funnily enough, I think for actual creative and interesting decisions, as well as cinematography and magic, Crimes of Grindelwald is the best, but as for storytelling alone, I still think the first film takes the cake for me. This film is just as good as the first, I'd say, it just doesn't have the same overall storytelling quality the first film has. Thank you so much for this video - it was an excellent watch. You worded a lot of my thoughts, concerns and moresome, and explained them superbly well, and I really appreciate that! You've earned yourself a sub :)

[@ThisIsJaySol]

Film just felt anticlimactic all the way through, I liked the way Grindelwald was portrayed but all the character building they did in the previous films just fell flat.

[@williamozier918]

IMO the problem is that JK Rowling isnt an experienced screenplay writer and that IMO is what' showing. She should've hired a screenplay writer partner.

[@Lionstar16]

That would be the sensible thing to do but that would involve eating humble pie and JK Rowling would never eat humble pie.

[@pitipoka6945]

Well, the "Book Snape" is actually quite the bully, I wouldn't call him morally grey (just a horrible person who does one very good deed) - The "Movie Snape" through the genius of one Alan Rickman makes it to that category imo. Sooooo it wasn't actually Rowling - given how she treats Slytherin as the garbage truck of the wizarding world I'd say she has a pretty black/white view...

[@mitch4527]

The producers made a HUGE mistake - mixing the Grindelwald story with Newt Scamander. Fantastic Beasts was a nice little movie that should have been left as a stand-alone. The Grindelwald story was much more interesting and deserved a trilogy of its own.

[@Lednored]

I feel like they made the same mistake than Disney with the Star Wars franchise : they make a movie they regret and then try to fix it with the next one (like Star Wars VIII & IX) In the end it only makes a movie that’s just ok when they could have done something amazing

[@samanthapeck8395]

Absolutely. I was fully expecting to be as pissed as I was at the end of FB2 because of all the information they mixed up/added/got wrong. This one fixed some aspects (Like Dumbledore's "brother" actually being Aberforths son) but it was ultimately boring and clearly just being careful.

[@victorvvc1925]

Oh hell! I can't believe that's how they "solved" the Aurelius issue! To his is so low and stupid, even for Rowling's standards! And seriously, David Yates should be directing soap operas instead of this franchise!

[@jonathanshaffer6757]

The whole movie made no sense, every plot point either made no sense or was unnecessary. They didn’t explain the dumbledor/grindlewald bond very well, nor why it was broken, and if dumbledor can’t act against grindlewald, how can he orchestrate a giant underground anti-spy agency against him?

[@Nephilim1717]

I don’t think Rowling had much input in the Fantastic Beast franchise

[@crossfire34]

Doesn't matter. She still gets paid for it.

[@Nephilim1717]

@@crossfire34 but seeing as she didn’t work on FB it isn’t indicative of her creative abilities.

[@battlep0t]

She was the sole writer for the first two movies and co-writer for this one.

[@Nephilim1717]

@@battlep0t I see, I was under the impression that she wasn’t involved in the writing

[@ratiwatwatthanaphuti5158]

@@Nephilim1717 lol oh no she have alot to do with it, that's why it's bad

[@Nudelyoshi3928]

Did they even accomplish something in the first half, just came out of the theatre and geniunly can't remember

[@Keplaris]

I largely agree. The writing and behavior of the characters were pretty weird to me. When the magical zoologist paddled on the island, I had no idea what was happening or why he was there. And then all he said was "She's ready" then he is quiet and moved on to that magical creature. I was so confused. Why did they not let the audience get to know anything? Like, could he not have talked for himself or with his animal, or brought someone else with him, to speak with, so that we as an audience could get more information on what was happening? There were so many pauses in their dialogue. I didn't get it. And the crowds chanting the names of the leaders they wanted to vote on. And then when do they decide to use the animal instead of voting? There are no consequences, no reaction from the public? What!? And I didn't see any time progression as well.. Not having seen the other Fantastic Beasts movies for a while, coming to that bakery was super weird for me. Those things just made me not be able to buy the plot... It was just weird. People aren't naturally that quiet, right? It lacked depth maybe. I just found the whole movie largely boring..

[@1xoACEox1]

She hasn't lost her touch, she never had it. She's an author. Not a screenplay writer. Its her massive ego and hubris that made these movies bad because she insisted on writing them. Its no coincidence this ones a little better because it has Steve Kloves back, the guy that wrote all except one of the HP movies. We'll never know but i bet the parts of this film that were better were the bits he wrote.

[@ymirs4400]

I don’t know how much she was involved with the cursed child play but that was awful too.

[@ChienaAvtzon]

Apparently, the dialogue was a major aspect Steve Kloves worked on. Which explains why Newt and Theseus finally feel like real brothers.

[@vileplume5927]

I loved Jude and Mads. That was about it.

[@LordofFullmetal]

Look, let's be honest. Everything Rowling has touched since Harry Potter has been kinda lackluster. Is it possible that she's just not that good of a writer? Maybe Harry Potter was the equivalent of being struck by lightning - she happened across something that really resonated with people, and went with it. I mean she clearly doesn't understand WHY it resonated with people, based on her IRL beliefs sounding more like Voldemort than Harry. Maybe she just... got lucky, and that's why she hasn't been able to re-capture the same magic since.

[@thatoneguychad420]

Let's be honest. The first Fantastic Beasts was OKAY at best. The second was crap and it made so many continuity errors it's unreal. Then this new one, I watched it last night and holy shit it was bad.

[@katiebrooker1437]

Besides Rowling being a book writer, not a script writer, it doesn’t feel like each of the story lines of the five movies were fully fleshed out before they started all this. It’s got a real ‘making it up as we go’ feel to it. As a result, even a good script writer struggles to make it good

[@Ylthinne]

just going to say, this film can't be a big improvement over Crimes because there isnt any Nagini. She is in my opinion one of the most intricate and complex characters, so for a really important character to just be forgotten about immediately after she makes her debut is really, really disappointing. I have to say overall this movie just felt like a filler. They rushed so many interesting and possibly complex storylines like the Queenie and Jacob. That COULD have been very interesting, to see how things pan out for them. But of course its a lovey dovey ending for them. However I did actually like the movie, it was missing a lot and I certainly am mad about some choices they made but overall, its a good movie. BUT NOT better than Crimes.

[@gosnfrenki]

Nagini actress got pregnant ffs...

[@sayantanpaul1864]

Spoiler Free Review - I have been a long time Harry Potter fan..💯 And as recently I have completed the book series, I fell in love with this to franchise even more, with that being said.. This 3rd installment of the Harry Potter spin off Prequel series Fantastic Beasts The Secrets Of Dumbledore was just a blast.. 💎💎It brought back the magic that made our hearts jump and it has all those nostalgia that true Potterheads recognize.. It's Truely an amazing piece of art and I definitely highly recommend all Potterheads to go to the theater and experience it there! ✅⚡ This movie deserves to hit Every actor did an amazing job and they worked hard for this film! Kindly respect that as well ✨ PS - Make sure to re-watch the Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts 1 and 2 and learn the background of Dumbledore's story to understand this movie in a better way! #SecretsOfDumbledore #wizardingworld #wizard #wizardingworldofharrypotter

[@Ylthinne]

@@gosnfrenki I know that she was pregnant but there was still no hints or anymore information about her. I'm still allowed to be disappointed about that.

[@inferiorinferno8859]

@@Ylthinne Exactly, not having mentioned her at all when she was Credence only true ally in the 2nd movie, is just bad writing.

[@Ylthinne]

@@inferiorinferno8859 Thank you for agreeing with me! Lol

[@udraj914]

Couldnt have said it better myself. It was so underwhelming. After all that fuss about Credence's identity, it was all for nothing. Leta's story, Nagini, Queenie... Tbh, I liked the second film better than this coz this one doesnt make any sense. You are right, they should hire actual fans to write the script. KZbinrs like Super Carlin Brothers, Harry Potter Folklore had way better theories about Credence than what they gave us here.

[@iamleoooo]

It is alright actually, the action sequence of how Dumbledore fight is something that doesnt feel right to me

[@germanerd6148]

I really don't get why they wanted to show a way to find a "good-hearted" leader. I don't want that I want a leader that does what needs to be done, a good heart is more in the way than anything else. If they just said good leader it would make sense that Dumbledore was chosen he fought three wars and every time his side won, clearly he's been shown to be a capable leader even if he made some mistakes. For example of course it was cold hearted to let Harry walk to his death but it was the right decision considering the good for everyone else

[@idek7438]

It doesn't even make sense. If they leave it to a magical creature to choose their leader, why the signs, the marches, the speeches and all the fanfare? Are they trying to convince the deer to make a good choice?

[@russellsacks3854]

At this point I hope they scrap this series or at most just do one more movie to wrap up the story. If they say they are doing just one more to wrap up the story then I see it breaking even or even making a few dollars at the box office and then they can announce a new series and hopefully that one is better. Nothing would be bigger than to return to Hogwarts with a new group of kids and a new danger to face or a follow-up with Harry Potter or any of the characters from the original series.

[@francarrey7501]

It's not that she lost her touch. It's simply the story of Harry Potter has been told and completed. You can't capture magic in the bottle regardless how much money the studios throw at the writer to do so. Nothing J K Rowling writes or produce about Harry Potter will be as great as the original books and movies. The Hobbit will never be as good as the original Lord of the Rings trilogy. George Lucas or anyone else will never be able to recapture the magic of the original Star Wars and Indiana Jones Trilogies.The Terminator sequels will never live up to Terminator 1984 and T2. The Marvel movies after Endgame and the death of Stan Lee will never recapture the feat of the original MCU which ended with Endgame. Or the live action Disney remakes and reboots to the original animated classics. I could go on. She hasn't lost her touch. It's simply time for her to move on from Harry Potter. There is no story left to be told about it.

[@karurujp6315]

They honestly had some great ideas going in--this could have been the wizarding world take on a heist film, alas...