The official rating of the new entry in J.K. Rowling’s Wizarding World Franchise, Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore is finally out. While the film opened up with a positive response, the consistent inflow of reviews suggests that the film has been mildly received. In a consensus, the film earlier had received a fresh but at-the-edge rating of 61% on Rotten Tomatoes. However, currently (at the time of writing), the film has fallen to a rotten rating of 59% against 49 critics’ reviews.
The site’s critics’ consensus reads,
A ‘rotten’ critical rating before the film’s theatrical release poses a threat to the film’s box-office projections. The films’ predecessor, The Crimes of Grindelwald was the first film in the franchise to receive a ‘rotten’ rating, which heavily affected the film’s business, halting its returns at $654.8M on the worldwide box-office, which was also the least for the franchise. However, the consensus suggests that this film is certainly an improvement over its predecessor.
Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore avoids some of the pitfalls that plagued its predecessor, but lacks much of the magic that drew audiences into the wizarding world many movies ago.
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The Fantastic Beasts sequel is set to release on April 8 in the United Kingdom and will be followed by the U.S. release a week later on April 15, thus, making way for the audience score to counter the critics’ reception. Most fantasy films are likely to have a higher audience score despite critical reception, owing to the particular franchise’s global popularity and fan-following. It’s unclear if The Secrets of Dumbledore will follow a similar pattern with a positive audience response, but the film is likely to gain steady box-office momentum.
The Secrets of Dumbledore is already in a fanbase war caused by Warner Bros. sacked Johnny Depp from the film, who was consequently replaced by Mads Mikkelsen. Depp’s fans then subsequently also demanded Amber Heard’s firing from Aquaman, leading most of them to pull support for the Fantastic Beasts threequel. It’s possible that the actors’ personal life concerns will factor in the film’s audience reception.
Critics Are Divided On The Secrets of Dumbledore
Warner Bros. Pictures
The most recent reviews for The Secrets of Dumbledore haven’t exactly been favorable. However, the Rotten Tomatoes reviews clearly show a divided base of critics in the film. There are possibilities of the film’s aggregated rating to go up if the positive reviews continue, but even the fresh rated reviews of the film hold it at basic recommendation points.
Most critical comments are directed toward rushed and extensive subplots, which are left unexplored, probably for future films to unravel. While many reviews suggest Jude Law and Mads Mikkelsen’s chemistry as a worthwhile reason to watch the film. MovieWeb’s own Julian Roman rated the film fresh at 3/5 and wrote:
Many of the film’s reviews are yet to come in, which will further affect the overall ratings, which shall meet comparisons from audience scores once the film releases.
The Secrets of Dumbledore is a vast improvement from the last film. Mads Mikkelsen brings a cold calculation and reserved anger to the villainous Grindelwald. There may be varying levels of confusion depending on your grasp of Harry Potter lore.
