As I huge fan of the Harry Potter franchise, I was so excited to see the Wizarding World expand into a new series. Unfortunately, I thought Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them was a bit underwhelming and The Crimes of Grindelwald was absolutely awful. I even contemplated skipping The Secrets of Dumbledore but ultimately decided to see it last night and, to my surprise, I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. While the bar was set very low, I think it is the best movie in the franchise. Albus Dumbledore (Jude Law) is prevented from fighting against Gellert Grindelwald (Mads Mikkelsen) because of a blood pact taken when the two were in a relationship so he recruits Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne), a Magizoologist, Theseus Scamander (Callum Turner), an Auror in the British Ministry of Magic, Eulalie "Lally" Hicks (Jessica Williams), a Professor at Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizadry, Yusuf Kama (William Nadylan), a French Wizard, and Jacob Kowalski (Dan Folger), a Muggle, to stop his quest for Wizard domination. Grindelwald is acquitted of his crimes by the International Confederation of Wizards (ICF) and is now running as a populist candidate (there is a bit of commentary on the rise of fascism that is pretty interesting) against Vicencia Santos (Maria Fernanda Candida) of Brazil and Liu Tao (Dave Wong) of China to be the Supreme Head of the ICF. One of Newt's magical creatures overturns a manipulated election and Dumbledore's protection of Credence Barebone (Ezra Miller) breaks the blood pact leading to an epic confrontation with Grindelwald. Unlike the first two, I think this tells a more complete story that ties up most of its loose ends (I credit the improvement to Steve Kloves who co-wrote the screenplay with J.K. Rowling). If this is to be the last movie in the franchise, as has been speculated, I think the resolution is a fitting conclusion to the trilogy. As with the other movies my favorite moments involve Newt Scamander interacting with the magical creatures, particularly a hilarious scene when Newt must rescue Theseus from prison and an affecting scene where he saves a newborn creature. There are also some exciting action sequences, including a duel between Dumbledore and Credence and the climactic battle, and some fun references to the Harry Potter movies (I loved the use of the original score). Finally, I think recasting Mikkelsen as Grindelwald is a huge improvement over Johnny Depp, who was rather bland in the role, because he is much more menacing and he has great chemistry with Law. I liked this movie enough to recommend it, especially to those who are already fans of the franchise.
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