‘Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore’ Was Long and Not that Fantastic

The Fantastic Beasts series has been an interesting journey. The first movie came out in 2016 and it managed to reinvigorate Harry Potter fans’ excitement for the Wizarding World with a somewhat spellbinding new cast of characters and an intriguing new story.

The second film took a sharp turn, taking us on a whirlwind adventure that was both confusing, and slightly fascinating, and revealed that this story was not about Newt Scamander and his beasts but was actually focused on Dumbledore. Depp gave life to Grindelwald in a way that was sometimes comically dramatic and yet I loved it. Now we’ve got the new movie and I’ve got a lot of thoughts…and most of them aren’t good.

The Secrets of Dumbledore could’ve possibly been really entertaining but it feels like this story is moving in slow-motion. Each movie is getting closer and closer to the big showdown between Dumbledore and his former lover Grindelwald but it’s just not getting to the nitty-gritty. The wizard-muggle war that sounds interesting as heck is still inactive even though it seemed that’s what was going to happen next after Crimes of Grindelwald.

Instead, this movie took a political route like The Phantom Menace with the lack of enjoyment of a fantastic third act, a cool pod race sequence, and well, Jedi.

An Epic Love Story Awaits in ‘Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore’

Albus Dumbledore. He’s a walking mystery behind those glasses. And yet, finally, after two decades of Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts, we’re finally going to peel back the curtains on Hogwarts’ most famous Headmaster. And it involves a love story…with one of the most famous villainous wizards of all time. Boom goes the dynamite!

In a recent new clip for the film, Dumbledore is shown having a conversation with the new-and-improved Grindelwald at a restaurant, and in the clip, he professes his love for Grindelwald.

It’s the first time we explicitly see Dumbledore in any of these movies professing his love for anyone and, of course, it has excited many Harry Potter fans who have always wanted to learn more about Dumbledore’s secret romance with a master villain.

Beyond the fact that we’re finally seeing this side of Dumbledore, the implication for the epicness of this storyline is a lot to think about.

Here Are (Too Many) Posters for ‘Fantastic Beasts and the Secrets of Dumbledore’

The third Fantastic Beasts movie is coming out in April (yeah, that was quick) and marketing is starting to ramp up for the film. Am I excited about it? Not really. Will I watch it in theaters? For sure, but this story feels like the Sequel Trilogy to me, all over the place.

When the first one came out six years ago it felt like a fresh new story with brand new characters. And then, like Warner Bros. pressured Peter Jackson to incorporate more connections to The Lord of the Rings in The Hobbit Trilogy, the Fantastic Beasts franchise has become the Dumbledore show.

Instead of focusing primarily on Eddie Redmayne’s Newt Scamander and his journey to find fantastic beasts, hence the name of the franchise, the five-part saga has become a prequel to the story we all know and love, the Harry Potter movies. I guess it’s for the best but when the posters came out earlier this week and I saw how many characters are in this new story I realized that this story may just be a bit too dense to save anymore. We’ll see after the new trailer comes out today. For now, here are ALL of the posters. Enjoy!

Who’s Your Favorite ‘Fantastic Beasts’ Character?

The Harry Potter movies are some of the most popular films in the world with millions of fans who know the movies (and the books) back and forth. Now J.K Rowling is sharing with us a new story, one that’s set several decades before Harry Potter’s time and those are the Fantastic Beasts movies. Only two have come out so far and neither has risen to the exact mystique and storytelling level that the Harry Potter films achieved with such ease but there is certainly enjoyment one can find with these movies.

I personally like the films because of the characters. They’re engaging and have interesting enough storylines to keep me holding on to the overall story by a thread.

Because I like these characters so much I decided to make them part of this week’s Who’s Your Favorite? Enjoy!

Is ‘Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald’ a Worthy Sequel?

If you have been following my blog recently you will remember my review of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them last month. In short; I loved the first film in this new franchise which sheds even greater light on the Wizarding World. I loved the characters and their stories and overall it’s a fun film to watch.

I couldn’t wait to continue watching this story evolve with the sequel and yesterday I finally got the chance to see it. Hence, this review.

That leads me to the question of this post; Is Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald a Worthy Sequel? Yes…and no. There are pros and cons to this story. On one side I loved it and then on the other side I’m totally disinterested. So, on that note, let me share with you the pros and cons of The Crimes of Grindelwald.

Be warned! This review will contain MAJOR spoilers. Thank you for heeding this warning.

These New Posters for ‘Fantastic Beast: The Crimes of Grindelwald’ Are Kind of Awesome

The final trailer for Fantastic Beasts: Crimes of Grindelwald just dropped and along with it came a bunch of truly cool character posters to observe. So, here they are. Enjoy!

Credence Barebone

I don’t remember Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them very well but I do recall this character having issues. It’s nice to see that he didn’t die and I can’t wait to figure out what’s going on with him in this sequel.