Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore
Directed by David Yates
Released 2022
5Fine — Neither good nor bad; emotionally neutral
- Watched
- July 6, 2026
- Format
- Phone
- Platform
- HBO Max
- Location
- Parents home
My take
A critique about the Harry Potter books/movies is that dumbledore, the near all powerful doesn’t do more to help Harry to defeat Voldemort. HP originals manage to pull off the impossible where the most powerful and smartest isn’t the main character but his (Harry’s) arch is satisfying and you’re with him every step of the way. For me at least. This movie series tries to do the same thing. But the execution just doesn’t land for me. I have very little emotional attachment to Newt and anytime he’s on screen I want it to move on from him and go to the other characters, especially dumbledore and grindlewald (or the muggle or Newt’s brother). I think that’s why I find these movies frustrating and not that enjoyable. Where in the originals it’s always a story of Dumbledore v Voldemort, but you are happy to go along with the story of Harry and his friends as they grow up. With no growing up in this series, without the structure of school, I just don’t think it works emotionally for me. What a disappointment. That said, there’s a chance they could have pulled it off with the full five movies. Maybe if the tv show is a smashing success, they can do a different type of spin off in a few years. Until then, I’m glad I watched these even though I didn’t really like them. And the animals feel like a forced gimmick. But the animations and how they were shot. 10/10. Like what in the world have we been doing for the last 10 years? Michael and Disclosure Day had animated animals that sucked sooooo bad. The ones here in this movie are flawless, literally flawless and fit in with the humans phenomenally. The best animal moment was the beaver thing going to save the stick but then grabbing the money.