Teddy the Niffler is undoubtedly one of the most interesting characters in the Fantastic Beasts franchise. Photograph: Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures/Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved / Click to view the trailer
J.K. Rowling, the screenwriter of Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore, once described the plot of the upcoming Fantastic Beasts threequel in three words:
“Answers are given.”
Indeed, dear reader, indeed they are.
But don’t worry, you won’t find many here.
What this reviewer can tell you is that this third installment lives true to its name: Teddy the Niffler, Pickett the Bowtruckle, the new Bambi-like magical creature. . . they all are fantastic!
With that being said, most of the wizards live up to the word, too.
Sadly, the decision to replace Johnny Depp (for personal reasons) with Mads Mikkelsen does no justice to the film. Where Depp’s portrayal of Gellert Grindelwald exuded strength, humor and ice-in-the-veins resolve, Mikkelsen’s Grindelwald’s heart could freeze hell over but not much more.
Luckily, this is not enough to decimate the film.
Great characters and a world-saving attitude are provided by our old friends: Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) and his brother Theseus (Callum Turner), and Bunty (Victoria Yeates), Eulalie Hicks (Jessica Williams), Yusuf Kama (William Nadylam) and Jacob Kowalski (Dan Fogler).
Interestingly, as the story proceeds, Kowalski the baker, the non-magical human, finds a special place in the viewer’s heart.
But’s that’s about all this reviewer will say. It’s highly recommended, fan or not, to go and watch this one in the cinemas on Friday.
‘Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore’ premieres in Finland on Friday, April 8.
