I spend a lot of time reviewing older films, so I thought I would take on a (very) recent one.
Anyone who has read my reviews knows that I tend to insert personal details into them. I suppose that is one way I connect with Film - on a personal level. The Harry Potter series of books and films has a special significance for me, as my daughters grew up reading the books, and seeing the films. I had the good fortune of attending a handful of special screenings of the films at the Warner Brothers lot with my daughter, Ali.
Regardless of how one feels about the "Wizarding World" is it is now so Corporately known, it is hard not to love the story both of how J.K Rowling struggled for years to get her books noticed (because she was a Female Fantasy writer?) and also how later Alan Horn of Warner Brothers promised her that he would shepherd the beloved books into legitimately good films. She didn't believe him, at first, but he came through. Mainly because he involved her in the production -- and she let go of the actual screenplay writing -- and early on, brought in the marvelous Steve Kloves to do the adapatation.
In some ways, in "Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore" the band is back together. Minus Horn, who parlayed a highly successful run at WB to take perhaps the most coveted position in Hollywood, Head of Studio at Disney. But Rowling and Kloves re-unite to create a whole new story, that is not based on a book. They kind of "Game of Thrones" it, to some extent. Literally, and figuratively.
The world of this FB film is not the relatively happy world of the Harry Potter films. Oh, yes, they were tinged with darkness, but early on, and even through the end the kids -- grown into adults -- were what really drove the story. Here, no such luck. The eerily-named Grindelwald -- the name even sounds German -- is attempting to exert the Magical world equivalent of White Supremacy, by taking over the Worldwide Confederation of Magic with an aim toward wiping out the non- pure-blood "Muggles".
How and why, and how it ends is for you to find out. I do not include Spoilers in my reviews. The conflict itself sets the stage for a multi-layered, surprisingly complex drama that is peppered with action set pieces. Jude Law plays a young-ish Aldus Dumbledore, excellent Danish actor Mads Mikkelson takes up the character of Grindelwald from Johnny Depp (that's a whole nother story) and the entire cast is brilliant. Veteran Wizarding World helmer David Yates turns in perhaps his best effort to date, and James Newton Howard's score pays just enough homage to John Williams without sounding obsequious.
But, again, the accomplishment of FB III is how it juggles numerous very human story threads against the backdrop of a "the world is going to end" conflict. In that sense, another film where a small human drama plays out against a much larger backdrop, Casablanca, comes to mind. Dumbledore has been rumoured for years to possibly be Gay, or Bi. I won't say whether that is confirmed our denied here (I missed FB II, so don't scold me if it was revealed there), Eddie Redmayne is pining for his lost love. I would watch a film that was just about Eddie Redmayne pining for his lost love, he is so, so good. And numerous seemingly minor characters attain nearly Cosmic significance. Dan Fogler's Jacob Kowlaski is about the best "schmo" I can remember in film. Or, at least, for quite some time. And, in "Seabiscuit" fashion he plays a role in the Resolution that I, again, won't spoil.
Finally, Fantastic Beasts is really about the Beasts. And Magical they are. From the brilliant creations of the Qilins to the horrifying Beast which inhabits a Wizard prison in Germany, the SFX folks really went way, way beyond the call of duty. If you love the Wizarding World, or even if you don't you should spend some time here. You will not regret it.
