Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore

     It was high time for me to return to the Wizarding World if only for a few hours. I've always had such an admiration for Newt Scamander and how his life is dedicated to his passion and not to what people think about him. From his devotion to his few friends, his growing friendship with his (over) protective older brother and of course his love for Tina. Newt may not have the appearance of a novel hero, but then again neither did scrawny, bespectacled Harry Potter. However, Secrets of Dumbledore is exactly what the title indicates and Newt plays a more secondary but important role in a bigger story.

The storyline in itself is good, but as typical of J.K. Rowling, there's a lot of it. So just putting down my general thoughts has become the best way to review a Wizarding World film.

• Eddie Redmayne gets better looking as Newt with each film.

• People say that Jacob Kowalski became the MVP of the franchise. I say, "HE ALWAYS WAS THE MVP!"

• I missed Tina more than I thought I would, but you get that promotion girl!

• Bunty and Lally Hicks more than made up for the lack of Tina.

• Bunty was introduced in Crimes of Grindelwald as Newt's lovestruck assistant and she plays a vital role in this film. She's the definition of a cinnamon role!

• Eulalie "Lally" Hicks! Lally Hicks is the Charms professor at Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in Massachusetts and she is grace and wit and charm itself. Lally brought a great deal of calm and capability, but also light heartedness to the story. Plus she's an unashamed bookworm who knows how to 'escape through the pages.'

• One of my hopes for this film and is we would see Albus' Dumbledore's younger brother Aberforth and I was so stoked when I saw the first images of him. He becomes an unexpected gamechanger.

• While I did want to see Ilvermorny School, returning to Hogwarts, even for a small space of time, was a treat in itself.

• Bringing back Yusuf Kama was a good idea. I enjoyed his role in The Crimes of Grindelwald and he still has that aloof and enigmatic manner that makes you wonder if you can really trust him or not. 

• Mads Mikkelsen is Grindelwald. While I don't agree that firing Johnny Deep for his personal issues is acceptable, Mads was exceptional in the role and I found his performance as the more business and covert characterization to be more sinister and concrete as compared to Johnny's rather unhinged and spacey performance.

• In this film Newt is definitely more on fire to aid Dumbledore in any way that he can. The loss of Leta may definitely be a factor, but just seeing Newt completely engaged with Dumbledore's plan and not arguing or trying to escape shows so much growth and development. 

• Albus and Aberforth's small and intimate family discussions brought a great deal of depth to the story. One may believe that Aberforth hasn't entirely forgiven his brother for tearing apart the family or that at least he's struggling to forgive him. And you can tell that Albus is spending every day atoning for his sins.

• Queenie is so heartbreaking. She's known all along that she chose the wrong side, but now she's trapped. You can't hate her for what she did. She was scared and confused, plus the restricted life she's been forced to live in did more damage than good.

• I'm glad Credence's story finally gets wrapped up in this one. He's a tragic character for sure, but eventually you need to give this guy a background.

• Theseus and Newt are most definitely on the same page this time. However, instead of Theseus being in charge, it's now Newt taking control and his brother is the one that's unsure.

• One of the best scenes in the film is Newt trying get Theseus out of jail. It was hysterical.

• Of course, there were more of Newt's crazy and fantastic beasts and one of them is the crux of the story. 

• Seeing the expanded Wizarding World in other countries is always great to watch as well as getting an inside look of the political systems.

• There was so much closure at the end of this film, I sometimes wonder if there needs to be more.

• However, I'm certainly not opposed to more Fantastic Beast films either!

In spite of the mixed reviews that the film has gotten, I thoroughly enjoyed it. The storyline was more streamlined and the characters of course were solid all the way through. As always, Newt Scamander remains stalwart in his role as a magizoologist whose purpose is to care for misunderstood creatures and to accept misunderstood people. It's Newt's compassionate heart that is forefront of Dumbledore's plan to bring down Grindelwald when the time finally comes.