Fantastic news for Potterheads the next instalment of the prequels finally hits UK cinemas on Frida
Fans have waited four years for Fantastic Beasts 3: Secrets of Dumbledore - the third in the five-film franchise - thanks to productions push-backs, casting catastrophes and the pandemic.
So what can you expect from the long-awaited film?
FIRST REVIEW
JK Rowling has bewitched millions with her Harry Potter books, movies and award-winning West End play.
But after the previous Potter prequel, fans were beginning to wonder if the spell was beginning to wear off. Thankfully, while still nowhere near as enchanting as a trip to Hogwarts, the third Fantastic Beasts film brings some movie magic back to Rowling’s “Wizarding World”.
If you didn’t see, or can’t remember, 2018’s mystifyingly complicated Crimes Of Grindelwald, you may need a quick refresher.
Set decades before a tiny Daniel Radcliffe first boarded The Hogwarts Express, the grown-up hero of Fantastic Beasts is Eddie Redmayne’s charisma-lite “magizoologist” Newt Scamander.
This wand-waving David Attenborough spends his days collecting cute, magical creatures and secreting them in his tardis-like suitcase.
But in the last film, he was drawn into a spat between a younger (and now openly gay) Professor Dumbledore (Jude Law) and his evil wizard ex Gellert Grindelwald (Johnny Depp).
Now we’re in the 1930s, and the fall-out has got a lot more serious.
With fascism on the rise in Muggle Europe, Grindelwald (Mads Mikklesen replacing the cancelled Depp), plans to hijack an election to become the leader of the magical world so he can exterminate all the non-magical “Muggles”.
His key is a scaly, deer-like creature that can detect which candidate has the purest heart. If Grindelwald can bewitch one of them, election victory is a shoo-in. This is where Newt finally shows his worth.
In a bracy opening scene, Newt hunts for a magical Bambi with Grindelwald’s goons in hot pursuit. Meanwhile, Dumbledore is preparing for a tense reunion with the man himself at a Leicester Square tea room.
“I was in love with you,” says Dumbledore explaining why he signed a non-aggression pact with Grindelwald and sealed it in a magical amulet.
“I’m going to burn down their world, and there’s nothing you can do to stop me,” replies his testy ex before exiting the cafe.
While Dumbledore can’t fight him with magic, he can scheme from the sidelines.
So a crack magical team is assembled, made up of Newt, Newt’s brother Theseus (Callum Turner), witch Eulalie Hicks (Jessica Williams) and Muggle baker Jacob Kowalski (Dan Fogler).
Grindelwald plays even dirtier, manipulating Dumbledore’s disturbed estranged brother Aurelius (Ezra Miller) into an assasination attempt on his old lover.
The two sides clash in a series of pacy action scenes. Highlights include a prison break featuring a horde of scorpion-like creatures and a spectacular wand fight in the streets of Berlin.
Grindelwald remains a crushingly familiar villain (he’s basically Voldermort with a nose), but Mikklesen delivers a less showy and more creepy villain to Depp’s.
This instalment also benefits from fewer subplots and less screentime for Redmayne’s bumbling hero, who turns out to be far more charming in smaller doses.
Sadly, there remains a Hogwarts-sized hole at the heart of this series. I suspect it was the Quidditch games, playground spats and the childish wonder of its young heroes that made the five Potter flicks so magical.
In cinemas from Friday.
CONTROVERSARY AND COVID
The series, written by JK Rowling in 2001, has been upended with a series of controversies since it began in 2016. And the third film is no exception.
Johnny Depp played Gellert Grindelwald in the first two Fantastic Beast films but was forced to quit after the judge in a high profile libel case said claims he assaulted his ex-wife Amber Heard were “substantially true”.
He worked for one day on the film and was reportedly paid his full £8million fee.
Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen, who played villain Le Chiffre in James Bond film Casino Royale, stepped in to play the role.
Mads said: “Job wise, it’s obviously super interesting and nice.
“It’s also a shocker that it came after what happened, which is just super sad. These are sad circumstances.”
Coronavirus seriously disrupted filming, which halted after just one day in March 2020 as many scenes were to be shot in Brazil, a country heavily hit by the crisis.
And Ezra Miller, who was already under fire after a video appeared to show him choking a female fan, was arrested for disorderly conduct at a Hawaii karaoke bar and released on bail.
CAST (AND CREATURES)
Actors have been strictly tight lipped about the film, with some roles not confirmed by Warner Bros.
We’ll see familiar faces Katherine Waterston as Tina Goldstein, Jude Law as Albus Dumbledore, Dan Fogler who plays Jacob Kowalski and Alison Sudol who appears as Queenie Goldstein.
Ezra Miller returns as Credence Barebone (or is it Aurelius Dumbledore?) along with Callum Turner as Theseus Scamander, William Nadylam as Yusuf Kama, Poppy Corby-Tuech who plays Vinda Rosier, Jessica Williams as Professor Hicks and Victoria Yeates as Bunty.
New faces include Richard Cotle who plays Albus Dumbledore’s younger brother, Aberforth. Oliver Masucci also joined the cast, reportedly as the Head of the International Confederation of Wizards.
Fantastic Beasts are in abundance of course, with some dancing crabs and what appears to be a giant scorpion making an appearance in the trailer.
But there are familiar creatures too with Newt’s Bowtruckle, Pickett (the magical version of a stick insect) and his trusty - and gold and jewellery-obsessed - niffler, Teddy.
FANTASTIC FACTS
- The first film, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, enjoyed global earnings of £620 million. The second film, The Crimes of Grindelwald, had a £150m budget and earned £500 million worldwide.
- Eddie Redmayne claims he suffers “wand elbow” while making the films - a sore elbow after repeating wand movements all day on set.
- Before landing the role as Newt, Eddie had auditioned to play Tom Riddle in Chamber of Secrets but was rejected. Eddie was reportedly the only choice for the role of Newt.
- Although set in 1920s New York, not a single scene the first Fantastic Beast film was made in the Big Apple because much of that era’s architecture has been destroyed. Instead the film was shot in the UK.
