![]() ![]() You could say that “The Secrets of Dumbledore," directed by series regular David Yates, is comparably more straightforward than its predecessors. Alongside the author this time is Steve Kloves, who wrote or co-wrote all but one of the Potter movies. Maybe to help steer “Fantastic Beasts” back on course, this is the first franchise iteration with a script not credited entirely to Rowling. ![]() Despite a great deal of talent and craft, the purpose of these movies has never felt like much beyond keeping the Potter train running. Where “Fantastic Beasts" may ultimately reside is in a prequel netherworld - never truly in Potter land but instead in some contrived next-door realm that, at times, seems to exist purely to capitalize on a potent patch of intellectual property. Grindelwald's rise has been the overarching drama to the “Fantastic Beasts,” an ominous series framed around the menacing power grab of a tyrant who, with echoes of fascism then and now, wants the magical world to rule over Muggles. After two films with Johnny Depp in the role, Mads Mikkelsen takes over as the dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald, a onetime friend and love interest of Dumbledore's. ![]() The villain, at least, has been steadfast - the character, anyway, if not the actor playing him. Perhaps he was always meant to slide to the side, but, either way, I think Redmayne's meek and mannered performance has made Newt less of a protagonist to hang a story on and more of a sentimental mascot alongside a troupe of characters - including the baker Jacob Kowalski (Dan Fogler, increasingly central) and the law-enforcing wizard Tina Goldstein (Katherine Waterston, more on the outs). We began these movies with Eddie Redmayne's magizoologist Newt Scamander. Who even are our most central characters? “The Secrets of Dumbledore,” perhaps seeking its own clarity on the issue, pushes Jude Law's wise wizard to the fore. ![]()
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