Fantastic Beasts Just Got a Whole Lot Better Thanks to This Harry Potter Connection
Reading reviews for the Fantastic Beasts series has officially become more fun than actually watching the movies.
Sure, there are big names like Jude Law as Dumbledore and Colin Farrell Johnny Depp Mads Mikkelsen as Grindelwald, and Eddie Redmayne is truly inspired casting as the gentle and awkward Newt Scamander. But the movies have really devolved in terms of entertainment value – not to mention the basic ability to hang a cohesive plot together.
(10 points to Ravenclaw if you can actually outline the plots of the movies without getting confused, forgetting anyone's name, or saying "oh, they retconned that later".)
For your entertainment pleasure, here are some of choice excerpts from reviews of Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore:
"It's very clear, watching these movies, that they're adapted from a branded guidebook. They have all the dramatic interest and excitement of a manual." – The Week
"A dour movie with lots to say but not enough imagination or understanding to say it well." – Chicago Reader
"Time to put Fantastic Beasts out of its misery." – Mashable
"While this film is not as bleak and boring as the last one, it still is in no way coherent." – Mugglenet
However, one sweet fan theory does make this series a whole lot better, if only in our heads. It's the idea that Newt Scamander, friend and finder of Fantastic Beasts from across the magical world, could perhaps have been the one to give Fawkes the phoenix to Dumbledore.
It makes sense: in the movies, Newt and Dumbledore team up to save the world from Grindelwald, and Newt would have known that Dumbledore would be an excellent partner (you probably can't say "owner" about a phoenix) for the incredibly rare and valuable bird. Who but Newt might have been able to find a phoenix, and who else but Dumbledore could have been worthy to look after it?
Perhaps after Dumbledore was devastated by the necessary loss of his boyhood love, Fawkes was gifted to him by the understanding Newt.
Okay, so it's not a theory with any proof in the books or the films, but doesn't it just make you like the movies so much better to imagine this connection? While largely the Fantastic Beasts movies don't add much to the Potter lore, now you can think of Eddie Redmayne's sweet face every time you hear the cry of the phoenix.