--- title: "Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore" year: 2022 kind: "film" canonical: "https://film.one/film/fantastic-beasts-the-secrets-of-dumbledore" fi1m_score: 50 critics_score: 53 critics_reviews: 28 published: "2026-09-19T16:21:47.747439+00:00" updated: "2026-09-19T16:21:48.047135+00:00" region: "US" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore (2022) Directed by David Yates · 2h 22m · MPA PG-13 · Fantasy, Adventure **Fi1m score: 50** · Critics 53 from 28 reviews *In a sentence:* Dumbledore assembles a team, gives them a plan, and declines to tell anyone what it is, including us > Jude Law and Mads Mikkelsen give the series two grown-ups worth watching, and David Yates surrounds them with a plot that even Dumbledore admits is meant to confuse. Handsome, grey and long, it is a franchise that has misplaced its own beasts. ## Synopsis The early 1930s. Albus Dumbledore (Jude Law) meets Gellert Grindelwald (Mads Mikkelsen) in a London tearoom and learns that his old friend means to take control of the wizarding world and make war on Muggles. A blood pact from their youth means Dumbledore cannot fight him himself, so he assembles a team: Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne), his brother Theseus (Callum Turner), the Muggle baker Jacob Kowalski (Dan Fogler), the American professor Lally Hicks (Jessica Williams) and Yusuf Kama (William Nadylam). Grindelwald wants a qilin, a deer-like creature that can see into hearts and will decide the election for the wizarding world’s most senior office, and sends Credence Barebone (Ezra Miller) to steal one. The team heads for Berlin, where Anton Vogel (Oliver Masucci) is about to clear Grindelwald of his crimes. ## Review The third *Fantastic Beasts* film is 142 minutes long and about an election. Gellert Grindelwald (Mads Mikkelsen) wants to lead the wizarding world and rid it of Muggles, and Albus Dumbledore (Jude Law) cannot stop him himself, because a pact made when they were young means neither can raise a wand against the other. So Dumbledore sends other people. David Yates, who has directed every film in this series and the last four *Harry Potter* pictures, stages it with care and without much joy. It is tidier than the last one, and we still spent long stretches waiting to be told why any of it mattered. The two men at the centre are the reason it works when it does. The film opens with Dumbledore and Grindelwald across a table in a London tearoom, talking quietly about the life they once meant to share, and Law and Mikkelsen play it as two old lovers who know exactly how to wound each other. We were moved by it, more than the rest of the film had any right to expect, because for four minutes nobody explains a rule or a prophecy; two people look at each other and regret. Mikkelsen, taking over the part, makes Grindelwald calm and reasonable, a man who never raises his voice because he has never needed to, and the film is better every time he is in it. The comedy is Dan Fogler’s. Jacob Kowalski is a Muggle baker handed a wand he cannot use and dragged into a war he barely understands, and Fogler plays him with a decency that keeps the film human. His scenes with Alison Sudol’s Queenie, now standing at Grindelwald’s shoulder, are the only strand with a shape you can feel: Jacob still wants her back and Queenie is not sure she has left. Jessica Williams is brisk and funny as Lally Hicks and deserved more of the film than she gets. Eddie Redmayne, top of the bill, spends much of the running time as a courier for other people’s plot. Newt Scamander gets one good set piece, a rescue from a prison guarded by scorpion-like creatures that must be walked past with a swaying, knock-kneed dance, and Redmayne and Callum Turner, as his brother Theseus, make it the one sequence where the film is properly silly and properly alive. Otherwise the beasts of the title are a side attraction. Katherine Waterston’s Tina appears for what feels like two scenes. Ezra Miller’s Credence, William Nadylam’s Yusuf Kama and Richard Coyle’s Aberforth are each given something to carry and nowhere much to take it. The script, by Steve Kloves and J.K. Rowling, has an alibi built in. Dumbledore’s plan is meant to confuse Grindelwald, so the audience must be confused too, and the film says as much out loud. That is a licence to leave scenes unexplained, and the film uses it. Mark Day cuts each sequence to end the moment its information has been delivered, so people arrive in Berlin, or at Hogwarts, or on a mountainside, say what they need to, and are gone. We were not bored, exactly. We were unengaged, which is worse, because being bored at least means you wanted something. It looks expensive and it looks grey. George Richmond shoots Berlin in slate and brown, and even the qilin, whose birth in the rain is the film’s most tender image, comes out silver. Stuart Craig and Neil Lamont build a 1930s Germany of marble halls, torchlit rallies and a wizarding ministry that looks like a railway station, and Colleen Atwood puts everyone in long coats, so the whole film seems to be waiting on a platform. James Newton Howard’s score does the honest work of a sequel, bringing back the old Hogwarts theme when the school appears, and we felt it land and felt slightly managed. Against the series’ own standard this is an improvement. Against the eight films that came before the series, it is a handsome afterthought. If you watch it, watch it at home, where you can pause and work out who is on whose side; the 12A is right, though the youngest may drift off during the election and not much miss it. *Fi1m score 50, published 19 September 2026.* ## What the critics say Most critics agree this is an improvement on The Crimes of Grindelwald, though that is faint praise for many of them. The praise clusters around the cast: Mads Mikkelsen’s recast Grindelwald is widely called an upgrade, and his scenes with Jude Law’s Dumbledore are the part most reviews find something in. Newt’s creatures get fond mentions, and the production design is admired even by those who dislike the film. The reservations are the familiar ones: convoluted, overstuffed plotting, a long runtime, too many characters and too little wonder. Several reviews say the film sits awkwardly between a children’s story and the adult political thriller it wants to be, and a few note that the controversies around its author colour the experience. The spread is wide. The Evening Standard finds it close to fantastic, while the Los Angeles Times calls it drab, grey anti-cinema with no stakes, and more critics write it off than recommend it. ### Reviews we read (28) - **Evening Standard**, Charlotte O'Sullivan (80/100, inferred): Rowling experiments boldly with queer themes and a Cabaret-like political edge in 1930s Berlin, making for a risky but rousing hybrid that is a work in progress but within a whisker of being fantastic. [Read](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/film/fantastic-beasts-the-secrets-of-dumbledore-review-jk-rowling-b992561.html) - **The i Paper**, Helen O'Hara (75/100, inferred): This is the best entry in the franchise yet as it leans into Harry Potter mythology with Jude Law's Dumbledore front and centre and effective human drama, though it lacks real peril and visual distinction. [Read](https://inews.co.uk/culture/film/fantastic-beasts-the-secrets-of-dumbledore-review-jude-law-mads-mikkelsen-eddie-redmayne-harry-potter-1563171) - **Empire**, Ben Travis (70/100, inferred): The film is an improvement on the previous entry with more fun, solid action and moments of genuine heart, though it falls short of the original Potter heights due to muddled plotting and flat direction. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/fantastic-beasts-the-secrets-of-dumbledore/) - **The New York Times**, Amy Nicholson (70/100, inferred): The film is a pointed political primer on totalitarianism and an election in the wizarding world, making it the most absorbing and well-paced entry in the trilogy despite its length. It centers Grindelwald's campaign against Muggles rather than a tedious monster chase. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/14/movies/fantastic-beasts-the-secrets-of-dumbledore-review.html) - **The Times**, Kevin Maher (★★★★☆): The film is a muscular story with unexpected soul, slickly directed and improved over the previous entry by trimming excess. It makes for a fitting potential end to the series. [Read](https://www.thetimes.com/culture/tv-radio/article/fantastic-beasts-the-secrets-of-dumbledore-review-muscular-fantasy-with-unexpected-soul-gldzhwn3z) - **Variety**, Peter Debruge (70/100, inferred): This vastly improved sequel fleshes out the anti-fascist message with Mads Mikkelsen as Grindelwald and a more focused screenplay. It reveals emotional depths in the Dumbledore-Grindelwald relationship and feels like a prestige serialized story. [Read](https://variety.com/2022/film/reviews/fantastic-beasts-the-secrets-of-dumbledore-review-1235224900/) - **The Guardian**, Peter Bradshaw (65/100, inferred): The film is amiable and visually impressive fantasy entertainment with strong production design. The narrative feels weightless and formless despite intriguing timeline questions. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2022/apr/05/fantastic-beasts-the-secrets-of-dumbledore-review-good-natured-magical-entertainment) - **Total Film** (65/100, inferred): Mads Mikkelsen is chilling as the new Grindelwald and the film gains emotional heft with satisfying plot progress, but it is a polished prequel that dials down visual wonder and animal set-pieces. [Read](https://www.gamesradar.com/fantastic-beasts-secrets-of-dumbledore-review/) - **Radio Times**, Patrick Cremona (3/5): The narrative is far more streamlined than the previous entry with some fun moments, especially involving Newt's creatures, but the film is still too long, relies on exposition and cheap nostalgia, and feels like a franchise unsure of its identity. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/movies/fantastic-beasts-secrets-of-dumbledore-review/) - **Time Out**, Caroline McGinn (3/5): The plotting may be convoluted and the runtime rambling, but there’s still some magic left in the Wizarding World. The cast is ace, especially Redmayne, and the gentle humour and fantastical beasties make for an appealing escape. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/fantastic-beasts-the-secrets-of-dumbledore-2022) - **The AV Club**, Tomris Laffly (C): The film buries timely messages under a mountain of mythology and lacks the urgency and magic of Harry Potter. It is a humorless slog despite attractive visuals and production design. [Read](https://www.avclub.com/secrets-of-dumbledore-review-fantastic-beasts-j-k-rowli-1848746608) - **RogerEbert.com**, Christy Lemire (55/100, inferred): The third installment improves slightly on the previous one but remains overstuffed with too many characters and plotlines and too little magic. It centers an election-rigging story amid the Dumbledore-Grindelwald romance but feels unnecessary and inferior to the original Harry Potter series. [Read](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/fantastic-beasts-the-secrets-of-dumbledore-2022) - **Slant Magazine**, Dan Rubins (2/4): Nuance has disapparated from the wizarding world altogether, though the film works best as a smoothly built action flick in moments requiring little context. As a contribution to the Harry Potter universe, it earns ten points from Slytherin. [Read](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/fantastic-beasts-the-secrets-of-dumbledore-review/) - **The Hollywood Reporter**, Lovia Gyarkye (40/100, inferred): The film is a slog more than an event and more focused than its predecessor but still disappointing overall. The critic singles out the strong production team for recreating the rich Wizarding World. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/fantastic-beasts-the-secrets-of-dumbledore-film-j-k-rowling-1235125145/) - **The Telegraph**, Robbie Collin (2/5): The third prequel is a shambolic production hampered by incoherent plotting and recasting issues. It lacks the warmth and logic of the original Potter films despite some emotional moments. [Read](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/0/fantastic-beasts-secrets-dumbledore-review-shambles-embarrass/) - **IndieWire**, Kate Erbland (30/100, inferred): This flailing franchise cannot conjure real magic in an unwieldy mash-up of adult themes and childish whimsy. It proves how hard it is to build a series on limited IP. [Read](https://www.indiewire.com/criticism/movies/fantastic-beasts-the-secrets-of-dumbledore-review-1234714033/) - **Screen Daily** (30/100, inferred): Impeccably crafted but only intermittently gripping, the third instalment has the scope of an epic while suffering from some of the same weaknesses as the first two chapters and feels oddly underwhelming. [Read](https://www.screendaily.com/reviews/fantastic-beasts-the-secrets-of-dumbledore-review/5169270.article) - **Vulture** (30/100, inferred): The dour film doesn’t know why it’s here either and is woefully pleasure-free despite being slightly more coherent than the previous entry. It is stuck in limbo as a children’s story trying to support underdeveloped adult themes. [Read](https://www.vulture.com/article/movie-review-fantastic-beasts-the-secrets-of-dumbledore.html) - **Los Angeles Times**, Katie Walsh (10/100, inferred): The film is a bafflingly bad, drab, gray anti-cinema project with no magic, wonder, stakes or resonance that feels like a contractual obligation. It is hampered by scandals, COVID protocols and a lack of commitment, making it best forgotten. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2022-04-13/review-fantastic-beasts-the-secrets-of-dumbledore-jk-rowling-mad-mikkelsen-jude-law) - **Collider**, Ross Bonaime (B): The critic finds it the best Fantastic Beasts film yet and the closest to recapturing the series' magic through stronger character focus, beasts sequences, and Dumbledore family lore. It still falls short of being truly fantastic but shows the franchise heading in a better direction. [Read](https://collider.com/fantastic-beasts-secrets-of-dumbledore-review-mads-mikkelsen-jude-law/) - **Deadline**, Stephanie Bunbury (65/100, inferred): The critic finds the film enjoyable for fans despite a cluttered plot with loose threads, praising the fantastic creatures and Eddie Redmayne’s Newt Scamander as highlights while noting Mads Mikkelsen's Grindelwald lacks menace. [Read](https://deadline.com/2022/04/fantastic-beasts-the-secrets-of-dumbledore-film-review-1234994668/) - **Den of Geek**, Laura Sirikul (3/5): The film is a vast improvement on its predecessor but remains overstuffed and chaotic in the first two acts with too much information. It settles into a satisfying third act with strong set design and world-building. [Read](https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/fantastic-beasts-the-secrets-of-dumbledore-review/) - **/Film**, Ethan Anderton (6/10): The critic finds it the most satisfying and exciting chapter yet, blending 1930s war drama vibes with Mission: Impossible-style plots and timely themes. It still falls short due to convoluted plotting, thin world-building, and feeling extraneous compared to the original Harry Potter films. [Read](https://www.slashfilm.com/821253/fantastic-beasts-the-secrets-of-dumbledore-review-the-best-spin-off-chapter-yet-but-its-still-missing-magic/) - **Digital Spy**, Gabriella Geisinger (40/100, inferred): Familiar criticisms of the plodding and convoluted story persist, but the film cannot escape the shadow of its creator's controversies, which shape the viewing experience and mar its moments of victory. [Read](https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/a39647366/fantastic-beasts-3-review-jk-rowling-controversy/) - **Film Stories**, Tom Beasley (40/100, inferred): The critic calls it a disappointing slog lacking focus and storytelling magic despite an impressive cast and spectacle. Bright spots include the energy between Jude Law's Dumbledore and Mads Mikkelsen's Grindelwald, plus fun creature sequences. [Read](https://filmstories.co.uk/reviews/fantastic-beasts-the-secrets-of-dumbledore-review-magic-and-mediocrity/) - **The Wrap** (40/100, inferred): The critic laments the lack of magic and focus, criticizing the sidelining of characters and weak plot points, while noting some political intrigue sequences and praising Dan Fogler's performance. [Read](https://www.thewrap.com/fantastic-beasts-secrets-of-dumbledore-film-review-harry-potter-wizarding-world/) - **Polygon**, Charles Bramesco (30/100, inferred): The critic portrays the film as a zombified franchise lurching forward into electoral scandal and mythos at the expense of its original premise, resulting in mission drift and bland execution. Some whimsical moments and the beasts stand out amid an otherwise depressing and unfocused political thriller tone. [Read](https://www.polygon.com/23010623/fantastic-beasts-secrets-of-dumbledore-review/) - **The Ringer**, Zach Kram (20/100, inferred): The review deems the series lost and without reason to continue, faulting narrative whiplash, reversals of prior plot points, lack of focus, and metatextual problems around its creator. It notes some strong elements like the Dumbledore-Grindelwald chemistry and beasts but sees the whole as directionless. [Read](https://www.theringer.com/2022/04/18/movies/fantastic-beasts-the-secrets-of-dumbledore-review) ## Details - **Director:** David Yates - **Director:** David Yates - **Screenplay:** J.K. Rowling, Steve Kloves - **Cinematography:** George Richmond - **Editor:** Mark Day - **Music:** James Newton Howard - **Production design:** Stuart Craig, Neil Lamont - **Costume design:** Colleen Atwood - **Producer:** J.K. Rowling, Steve Kloves, David Heyman - **Cast:** Eddie Redmayne as Newt Scamander; Jude Law as Albus Dumbledore; Mads Mikkelsen as Gellert Grindelwald; Ezra Miller as Credence Barebone / Aurelius Dumbledore; Dan Fogler as Jacob Kowalski; Alison Sudol as Queenie Goldstein; Callum Turner as Theseus Scamander; Jessica Williams as Eulalie 'Lally' Hicks - **Runtime:** 2h 22m - **Certificate (MPA):** PG-13 - **Release (the US):** 15 April 2022 - **Genres:** Fantasy, Adventure - **Budget:** $200 million - **Box office:** $407 million - **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fo6TfHkLW6Y ## Where to watch in the US - Peacock: streaming, uhd - HBO Max: streaming, uhd - Amazon Prime Video: add-on, uhd - The Roku Channel: add-on, hd - Hulu: add-on, hd - Amazon Prime Video: rent $5.99, uhd - Apple TV: rent $5.99, hd - Amazon Prime Video: buy $9.99, uhd - Apple TV: buy $14.99, hd *Checked 2026-09-19.* Also available in: AE, AR, AT, AU, BE, BG, BR, CA, CH, CL, CO, CZ, DE, DK, EC, EE, ES, FI, FR, GB, GR, HK, HR, HU, ID, IE, IL, IN, IS, IT, JP, KR, LT, MX, MY, NL, NO, NZ, PA, PE, PH, PL, PT, RO, RS, SE, SG, SI, TH, TR, UA, US, VN, ZA. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## If you liked this - *Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban* (2004), Fi1m 82: The series at its best: one school year, one secret, a hippogriff that weighs something. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/harry-potter-and-the-prisoner-of-azkaban.md) - *Cabaret* (1972): Berlin sliding towards fascism, done with songs, sequins and far more nerve. - *Pan's Labyrinth* (2006), Fi1m 87: Creatures and a dictatorship in the same story, and the creatures mean something. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/pans-labyrinth.md) - *Spirited Away* (2001), Fi1m 92: A bestiary with a heart, where every strange animal earns its place on screen. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/spirited-away.md) - *Hannibal* (2013): Mikkelsen doing the quiet, courteous menace this film only occasionally lets him do. --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/fantastic-beasts-the-secrets-of-dumbledore