Film review: Newt and his creatures are a sub-plot in Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore

The gothic glory of Hogwarts back on the big screen in an ambitiously sprawling film

Jessica Williams as Eulalie “Lally” Hicks and Callum Turner as Theseus Scamander in a scene from 'Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets Of Dumbledore'.  Picture: Warner Bros

★★★☆☆

JK Rowling’s fans might argue otherwise, but the fact that Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore (12A) boasts as many (or few) fantastic creatures as it does secrets of Dumbledore is not necessarily a good thing.

Opening with the revelation that Dumbledore (Jude Law) once loved Grindelwald (Mads Mikkelsen), with whom he swore a ‘blood-troth’ to ‘reshape the world’, the story is woven around an impending election, with Grindelwald determined to take control of the Ministry of Magic. 

It’s not an especially democratic process, given that the winner will be chosen by a magical creature protected by Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne), but when the alternative is a tyranny imposed by Grindelwald, then any old democracy is better than none.

Adapted by Steve Kloves from a screenplay by JK Rowling, with Harry Potter veteran David Yates directing, The Secrets of Dumbledore is an ambitiously sprawling film as it flits back and forth from the real and the magical worlds, travelling to 1930s New York, a quasi-Fascist Berlin, Hogwarts, and eventually Bhutan.

Unfortunately, Newt and his vividly imagined creatures are something of a sub-plot here, with the emphasis on Dumbledore and his brother Aberforth (Richard Coyle) as they untangle their knotty family history. 

A more streamlined story would have been far more effective, but Yates tries to shoehorn in a teeming cast, of whom only Mads Mikkelsen — wonderfully smug as the evil Grindelwald — the diffident Eddie Redmayne, and an avuncular Jude Law have the opportunity to leave their mark.

On the plus side, it’s nice to see the gothic glory of Hogwarts back on the big screen.

(cinema release)