YMMV / Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore

• Alternative Character Interpretation: This movie leaves a lot of Grindelwald's actions and motivations open to interpretation:
  • The Reveal that Credence is Aberforth's son and that his revelation at the end of second was a half-truth (using the term "brother" liberally to mean "relative") raises some questions about his intent for the long, drawn out manipulation. It could be argued that he didn't want to use Credence to literally kill Albus but rather it was a cruel attempt to cause further emotional anguish. The film makes it clear that as much as he says otherwise, he never actually wanted Albus dead, from the flirting at the restaurant, to the way he absolutely loses it when he realizes that things are over for good between them, to the "I was never your enemy. Not now, not ever" line. While it's clear he didn't know who Credence was in the first movie, he knows by the middle of the second that Corvus is dead when Vinda gets the family tree. He was likely able to follow the rumors that Albus mentions to prove that Aberforth had a son. His use of "brother" and not "nephew" could be seen as an elaborate way to torment both Albus and Aberforth, the latter of whom he probably blames for everything. By using that half-truth, he takes Aberforth out of the picture by focusing on Albus and robs him of the joy of thinking his long believed dead son is alive for five years. He's also causing more torment to both brothers by sending him into a fight he knows he can't win and might die in to kill the most powerful wizard in the world, whom he doesn't even want dead.
  • "Who will love you now, Dumbledore?" is certainly a whopper of a line with a number of potential interpretations. Is it a last minute attempt to win Albus back after he's rejected? It is lashing out because of this? Is it word vomit that he never meant to say but did in a moment of weakness? Is it projection and he really means, "Who will love you now, Gellert? You're all alone!" because he wasn't emotionally ready for their relationship to truly be over? Is it all of these things?
• Americans Hate Tingle: The series has always skewed heavily international and this movie was no exception. Its domestic/international split was about percentage the same as Crimes of Grindelwald but that doesn't quite tell the whole story. This played during a huge COVID wave in China and could never hold screens, coming up a whole $30 million shy of its predecessor and its Russian release (where Crimes made about $25 million) was cancelled. Those two huge markets at their full potential would have skewed it much more. It also took a big dive in its second weekend in the US but held much better overseas, although its legs in the US eventually stabilized. ^note  It only dropped over 50% again after it started shedding theaters with the streaming release
• Broken Base: The Qilin bowing to Dumbledore. Either it makes sense and is a huge Heartwarming Moment or is a forced moment of Character Shilling given Dumbledore's less virtuous attributes.
• Common Knowledge: No, the Qilin does not magically foretell or predestine the outcome of an election, which is what some critics have made it seem. All it does is judge whether a person is particularly virtuous or pure-hearted, which wizardkind used to rely on in the matter of choosing who would lead them. It is basically a high-profile endorsement.
• Contested Sequel: Is it a Surprisingly Improved Sequel that recovered from some mistakes in The Crimes of Grindelwald, or a badly written slog that only sank further?
• Fridge Horror: Think back to the first Potter story's description of how killing a unicorn for its blood invites a cursed life upon its slayer, as they've destroyed something utterly pure and innocent. Now consider that a Qilin is probably even more of a living embodiment of benevolent purity than a unicorn. How sick of a person is Grindelwald, and what karmic horrors has he willfully invited upon himself, by murdering a baby Qilin and desecrating its corpse with necromancy?
• Funny Moments:
  • When Pickett is escaping his locker along with Teddy, Pickett ends up falling and appears to reach out as Teddy reaches his paw out, only he was just trying to catch the coins that fell along with Pickett.
  • As the group waits to meet Dumbledore at Hogwarts, Jacob is seen enjoying some candy that a group of "nice Slytherin boys" gave him. Newt tells him that he himself never enjoyed Cockroach Clusters, causing a shocked Jacob to look back at the boys who laugh at him.
  • Aberforth's look of horror when he realises he called Minerva a "stupid sod" and her dry greeting to him.
    McGonagall: Evening, Aberforth.
    Aberforth: Evening, Minerva. Apologies for calling you a stupid sod.
    McGonagall: Apology accepted.
  • As Dumbledore introduces Newt's gang to the duplicate cases, Jacob catches on its comparisons to three-card Monte. When the others cannot understand this, Jacob admits that Muggles like him would know about this game better. Dumbledore then decides that he'd like to learn more about the game.
• Fanfic Fuel: The wizard who Theseus mentions as the predecessor to Grindelwald, who was the most dangerous wizard four centuries before.
• Germans Love David Hasselhoff: While the film did particularly well in its strong markets in Asia and continental Europe, in Japan it became the highest grossing imported movie of the pandemic and was the first American movie since The Rise of Skywalker to gross more than the equivalent of $40 million USD, thought it was soon passed by the billion dollar juggernaut Top Gun: Maverick. The film also became the highest grossing film of the series in Mexico.
• Heartwarming Moments
  • While it is easy to miss, one can see that Hogwarts students of different houses are sitting together at the Great Hall in contrast of the 1990s when students are only sitting at their respective houses. Even the Slytherin students, playful towards Jacob as they may be ^note they gave him a bag of Cockroach clusters, sweets made from actual cockroaches, are not a bunch of bullying, racist brats like during Harry's time.
  • Dumbledore showing his enduring faith in the people everyone else overlooks, being particularly supportive of Bunty and Jacob. He takes a particular liking to the latter, and takes care to inform him more than once that You Are Better Than You Think You Are.
  • The qilin also takes a particular liking to Jacob, hinting at his very pure heart.
• I Knew It!:
  • The title ended up being the most popular contender as far back as the second film’s marketing.
  • People who theorized that Ariana Dumbledore had been an Obscurial like Credence all the way back when the first film was released were finally proven right here.
  • The small number of people who predicted Credence might be related to the Dumbledores but not in the way Grindelwald said were also proven right.
• Just Here for Godzilla: Mads Mikkelsen is the main reason why his fans are watching this movie.
• Lost in Medias Res: As soon as Newt sees that a baby Qilin had been kidnapped, he and his allies realize what Grindlewald's plan is — to get elected Supreme Mugwump. However, the audience isn't told this, and the first time we hear there's an election is when the protagonists arrive in Berlin.
• Mandela Effect: So many misremember Grindelwald proclaiming, "Who will love you now, Dumbledore? You're all alone." When in fact, Dumbledore is the one who sharply responds to Grindelwald with, "You're all alone."
• More Popular Replacement: While professional critics and general audiences had mixed opinions on the film, the one thing most of them agreed on is that Mikkelsen's take on Grindelwald is an improvement over Depp's. Most believe he was able to bring the way the character as portrayed in the books and first movie by Farrell in disguise. The controversial character design and stoicism are gone and we finally get to see the narcissistic, manipulative, and charming yet lost and overly emotional man that was described in Deathly Hallows and glimpsed in the first movie when he lets the disguise slip. For the first time, it became clear why Dumbledore fell in love with him and as well showing that the relationship was truly mutual.
• Narm:
  • Eulalie's weird accent. It sounds like the actress couldn't decide on whether or not her character is American or European - or might have been going for mid-Atlantic and missed.
  • The fact that the title Grindelwald competes for is a "Supreme Mugwump" can make to some fans have a hard time taking the movie seriously. Granted it comes from a real term but it still sounds silly especially given the rather serious tone of the movie.
• Overshadowed by Controversy: The run-up to the film’s release was overshadowed by Rowling's increasingly controversial posts attacking transgender women which led to fear of people boycotting the film, to the point that the film's trailer significantly downplayed Rowling's involvement in the film with her name being barely visible. The film itself also contains dialogue that some saw as an attempt to defend her comments, as noted below. This is seen as a factor in the film's below-average performance at the box office (being the lowest-grossing film in the Harry Potter franchise) which led to the apparent cancellation of the last two films.
• Surprisingly Improved Sequel: Critical reception was better than The Crimes of Grindelwald, with the script and Mads Mikkelsen as Grindelwald being hailed as improvements.
• Watched It for the Representation: A number of Brazilian viewers are excited for the movie mainly due to the casting of their country's popular actress Maria Fernanda Cândido in a notable role.
• What Do You Mean, It's Not Political?:
  • The plot involves a populist political leader trying to subvert the results of an election, which seems like a commentary on the fallout of the 2020 U.S. election.
  • Also, Vogel's statement that all views should be heard even if some find them repugnant was seen by some as a reference to Rowling's real-life controversies regarding transgender issues.

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