It's sometimes funny and often creative, and it's an improvement over its predecessor by default, simply because rather than only 5% of the plot being consequential, about 30% of the plot is consequential.

In fact, the best thing I can say about this "film" is that you can go to the bathroom during it without worrying about missing something; there's hardly anything important to miss.

Just like the last movie, this has a screenplay that desperately tries to find reasons to keep these characters in the story, and it fails spectacularly. 90% of the characters could be missing from the story, or replaced with planks of wood, and not a single thing of note would change.

The story just consist of characters wandering around and either chilling in the background or completing a task that has absolutely no bearing on the main conflict. It's a two and a half hour movie that should be an hour long.

Even though the magic is creative, it's so inconsistent and so confusing in how it works that it's frustrating to watch rather than awe-inspiring.

In fact, most of the things that happen in the movie don't make any sense. They rely on characters knowing things that they couldn't possibly have known. They rely on people acting in ways that are so unfathomably stupid and are not in line with who they were shown to be earlier in these three movies. It's a story in which not a single plot point can withstand the slightest amount of logical scrutiny.

The writing is so insultingly idiotic that at one point in the film, when a character questions a plot point that doesn't make any sense, Dumbledore actually says "Let's call it fate," ignoring the question entirely.

That was JK Rowling saying to her stupid mob of gullible fans, "Screw you. I don't even have to try anymore. Nothing has to add up or be consistent. You'll watch it and love it anyway."

Lastly, this movie has ZERO character development. Nobody learns anything, nobody does anything special, nobody even IS anything. It's a story populated by husks of human beings, and none of them are even remotely relatable or understandable. In fact, most of them are briefly shown and then forgotten about until the end of the movie.

Just as in "Crimes of Grindlewald," Grindlewald hardly committed any crimes, in "Secrets of Dumbledore," Dumbledore only has one secret, and it doesn't even have any bearing on the story. How fitting. It's false, just like this movie. It's barely a movie.

Stop making these, please.

I will say that the visuals were amazing. I thought the cinematography was amazing. However that is where I get off the train.

Even if they had Johnny Depp, the movie would have still sucked. Sure, Mikkelsen is a fine actor and he did the best he could, but his acting for Grindelwald is like trying to compare Heath Ledger's The Joker to Jack Nicholson's version. Both are good, but one is demented and insane while the other is a comic book impression. Depp was far more sinister, dark and abusive. I found Mikkelsen sort of like a step dad who wanted to punish you for breaking his bowling trophy but only gave you a long winded discussion about how you need to respect the possession of others. There was no fire. There was no anger. There was no evil.

I blame the script writers/the author, along with a lot more blame going to Warner Bros. The script was predictable and boring. I thought the idea of the animal (the Qilin) picking the next leader as poor of a plot device as the 'time turner'. Lame. I found the multiple story arcs weak and contrived. The script could have been a lot better. The story could have been a lot better.

I dismiss the idea that JK Rowling did a good job with this story. I found no magic in the story, not like the magic felt in the first movie or book. In fact, I have found this entire series lackluster. Yes, there are good characters and there were scenes which I liked out of the series of movies. However, I found the "Fantastic Creatures" as if she gave up writing and said, "I'm tired, this will have to do".

I found the script was nothing more than filler that had no purpose other than to take up space and time. Take for example the story arc about assassinating the Brazilian candidate. Why? Absolutely filler for the story. This plot device was not needed.

Anton Vogel was a weak and unintelligent character. Did he forget who Grindelwald was and why he was being held in a maximum security prison with his entire body encased in chains and braces? Oh, yeah, his followers would have blood in the streets. What total crap. This is such a weak plot device that I want to scream. Did JK Rowling completely forget the other books/movies?

Too many Deus ex machina. Too many poorly constructed, illogical story arcs. Too much continuity toss out the window.

Overall, the CG was the highlight of the movie. The rest of it I dismiss. It's really lazy and sloppy writing. I do not blame the casting or the director. They did the best that they could with the material they were given.

Though the style part was enjoyable on it's own; the cinematography, special effects, costumes, score, set design and much of the acting was brilliant. It felt great to lose myself into the feel of the wizarding world again. But the plot and the writing felt unanchored in anything real or relatable. Nothing felt earned. Events just happened without much anticipation or appreciation of their significance, and I didn't feel invested much in any of the plot lines or characters. I'm not expert enough to pinpoint exactly what went wrong, but I know something did.