By now, everyone knows the names Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling, or even Dumbledore.
Rowling’s young teen magical books full of witches, wizards, and magic span the globe and have become a cornerstone of popular culture and spawned a prequel series, too.
That being said, I’ve read the books and seen every movie since the first Harry Potter film graced the silver screen in 2001.
By now, it’s just a habit to go see the latest and hope it lives up to the hype of its predecessors.
This one isn’t the best Wizarding World film by far but the cast seems to be much more dynamic and settled into their roles – and that helps things flow much more smoothly!
Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore is a fantasy film directed by David Yates from a screenplay by J. K. Rowling and Steve Kloves.
It is the sequel to Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald (2018), the third installment in the Fantastic Beasts film series, and the eleventh overall in the Wizarding World franchise.
The film is rated PG-13 for some fantasy action/violence and is 142 minutes long.
Its ensemble cast includes Eddie Redmayne, Jude Law, Ezra Miller, Dan Fogler, Alison Sudol, Callum Turner, Jessica Williams, Katherine Waterston, William Nadylam, Oliver Masucci, and Mads Mikkelsen.
In Kweilin, China in 1932, Newt Scamander (Redmayne) helps a Qilin — a magical creature that can see into one's soul as well as the future — give birth.
Gellert Grindelwald's (Mikkelsen) acolytes, led by Credence Barebone (Miller), attack and kill the mother, and kidnap the newborn.
Grindelwald subsequently kills the creature to harness its ability of precognition.
Unbeknownst to them, however, the Qilin has given birth to twins, the younger of which Newt is able to save.
Unable to battle against Grindelwald due to a blood pact, Albus Dumbledore (Law) recruits Newt, his brother Theseus (Turner), Ilvermorny Charms Professor Eulalie "Lally" Hicks (Williams), Senegalese-French wizard Yusuf Kama (Nadylam), and American No-Maj Jacob Kowalski (Fogler) to thwart Grindelwald's plan for world domination.
Yusuf Kama is tagged as a spy in Grindelwald's inner circle while the rest of the group is sent to work in Berlin, Germany.
There, the group witnessed Grindelwald being acquitted of all criminal charges by the International Confederation of Wizards (ICW), and subsequently running for the office of Supreme Mugwump.
The Supreme Mugwump is the overall ruler of the Wizarding World.
The German Minister of Magic Anton Vogel (Masucci) urges the ICW into believing that the arrest of Grindelwald could gain him more support but beating him in a legitimate election will lose him support.
Grindelwald's acolytes, who have undermined the German Ministry of Magic, arrest Theseus and plan to assassinate one of Grindelwald's competitors, the Brazilian candidate, Vicência Santos.
Dumbledore gives Newt and Lally their next assignments: to rescue Theseus and foil the assassination.
While Newt rescues his brother from the secret German wizarding prison, Lally and Jacob thwart the assassination attempt; however, Jacob is subsequently framed for attempting to kill Grindelwald and he and Lally barely escape.
That “assassination” attempt gives Grindelwald an incentive to turn the Wizarding world against
