The Harry Potter series of films and books hold a special place in my heart. And in recent years, new films and books have come out to expand the universe including The Secrets of Dumbledore.
The Secrets of Dumbledore is a film directed by David Yates. Who directed the last few films of Harry Potter. The film stars Eddie Redmayne, Jude Law and Mads Mikkelsen. It is expected to be released on the 8th April 2022 depending on if there are any more delays.
The main reason I’m not looking forward to this film is that the previous film was a complete mess. I watched and thought the acting was pretty good, the plot just didn’t hold my interest. There were also many Easter eggs that took place that didn’t match the correct timeline. Such as how was Professor McGonagall teaching at the school.
Controversy Before Release
The biggest story is Warner Bros letting go of Johnny Depp. This may or may not be explained in the film with the change to Mads Mikkelsen as Grindelwald. But many fans of both the films and Johnny Depp don’t understand the reasoning behind letting him go. This makes me very uncomfortable with watching the film.
Now don’t get me wrong I have nothing against Mikkelsen. He is an amazing actor and I’m sure he will do the role very well. But there will always be a dark cloud on his performance on how he got the role. Even though he had nothing to do with it.
The Plot Twist
In the second film, we were introduced to a crazy revelation that there was another Dumbledore. Since this film is set before Harry Potter surely this would have been mentioned somewhere in the HP books. Especially with the hyper-focus on Dumbledore’s life in Deathly Hallows. But if Rowling and her team of writers do a good enough job they may be able to explain it away.
The Secrets of Dumbledore and Craming it all in
It also feels like this is a last-ditch effort to extract as much money from the Harry Potter fandom as possible. By using various characters from the lore such as Newt and Grindelwald which feels like it’s been forced into a story.
The Trailers
Before The Secrets of Dumbledore release, there have been two trailers released for us muggles to enjoy. In the first trailer, we are provided with a clip of Michael Gambon’s Dumbledore at a pensive storing his memories. We are then sent back into the “present” timeline of the film with Jude Law’s Dumbledore. We even get to meet his brother Aurelius Dumbledore which did pique my interest.
Further, into the trailer, we are introduced to Mikkelsen’s Grindelwald. He is shown to be amassing an army of witches and wizards. I wonder if any other future dark lords will follow suit? It feels like it is going to end in a huge battle. Until you find out only a few wizards are fighting the good fight. Maybe we will still get a large battle?
My favourite part of this trailer is when Newt gives Jacob, a muggle, a wand. Now from my limited knowledge, I don’t think it would work. Unless he does have magical abilities but was never sent to a wizarding school.
We are then shown quick sequences where there seems to be a few battles this time around. Then it ends on a comedic note. Which I hope there is a lot more of. Rowling can write very dark scenes, so we need a bit of comedy to balance it out.
Trailer 2
The second trailer starts with Gambon again, except he speaks. Which is great, I think we all miss his Dumbledore, even though there was that one scene we readers hate. We then switch to Law’s Dumbledore who has scars on his hands. Which look like the effects of an Unbreakable Vow. Which we saw Severus Snape take during the Harry Potter films. That’s very interesting I wonder what the vow is for? Maybe not to battle Grindelwald.
The trailer also reintroduces Newt’s beasts helping him on his adventures. They were greatly missed in the second film and I’m happy to see them return.
The only other important sequence is where Fawkes the phoenix lands on Credence Barebone while Albus (Jude Law) says “Things are not quite what they appear”. Does that mean that isn’t a phoenix and Barebone isn’t a Dumbledore? Possibly.
Will I Watch it?
After watching the trailers, I am gearing towards watching the film. Maybe not in the cinema, and maybe not right away when it is released for home viewing. Well, we have to wait and see.
English