Review: 'The Secrets of Dumbledore' is a passable course correction

SALT LAKE CITY (KUTV) — Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore
3 out of 5 Stars
Director: David Yates
Writers: J.K. Rowling, Steve Kloves
Starring: Jude Law, Eddie Redmayne, Dan Fogler, Mads Mikkelsen, Ezra Miller
Genre: Adventure, Fantasty
Rated: PG-13 for some fantasy action/violence.

SALT LAKE CITY (KUTV) – Synopsis: Albus Dumbledore and his allies stand against Gellert Grindelwald in hopes of saving the world from the wizard’s fanatical totalitarianism.

Review: I’ll admit a sense of excitement when the Fantastic Beasts films were announced. The chance to see a Wizarding World untethered to the stories of Harry Potter and Hogwarts was incredibly appealing. The first entry, “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,” and its introduction to Eddie Redmayne’s New Scamander was an interesting start, but the film’s ending undercut the uniqueness as it connected the film directly to the stories that audiences already knew. The moment you bring Gellert Grindelwald into the picture the films are no longer about Scamander. Yes, it was inevitable that the story would at some point connect to the world that we knew. To have it happen in the very first film of a multi-movie series was uninspired and lazy. Bringing in Albus Dumbledore in the second film, “The Crimes of Grindelwald,” was doubly so.

It didn’t help that “The Crimes of Grindelwald” was a nonsensical disaster of a film that seemed to contradict history presented in the Harry Potter novels. If it was watchable or at least made sense goodwill for the franchise might have prevailed. It wasn’t. It didn’t. I gave “Grindelwald” three stars. I should have given it just two. It still stings.

With “The Secrets of Dumbledore” we get something of an apology in the form of a redirect. They haven’t reconned “The Crimes of Grindelwald;” they’ve certainly spent a lot of time undoing it. I can only assume that this has more to do with the return of screenwriter Steve Kloves. J.K. Rowling isn’t particularly good at being apologetic.

Newt has a few things to do, Jacob (Dan Fogler) gets a nice amount of attention, Tina (Katherine Waterston) is off in America, Queenie (Alison Sudol) is having an identity crisis, as is Credence (Ezra Miller), as is Dumbledore (Jude Law), and Grindelwald (this time played by Mads Mikkelsen) is using backchannels and influence to upend the Wizarding World. We visit different cities in Europe, but there’s very little new to be found. There’s plenty of fan service.

The art direction is strong, the performances are good, and while the script is rote and wraps up a little too easily it ultimately leads to something of a satisfying ending that will allow the next installment to hopefully go somewhere interesting if not unexpected.

The magic isn’t back. All is not forgiven. “The Secrets of Dumbledore” at least shows improvement.