From calls to ‘cancel’ Harry Potter creator JK Rowling for her transphobic comments on social media to the ongoing and highly publicised Amber Heard/Johnny Depp domestic abuse saga that led to the recasting of Deep’s Grindlewald, the Fantastic Beasts franchise – and by extension, the HP universe as a whole – has been plagued by controversy and scandal. Even as the Harry Potter fandom prepared for the release of The Secrets of Dumbledore, Ezra Miller aka Credence Barebone is making news for a series of arrests in Hawaii but whether the film itself can live up to the drama of its cast and crew remains to be seen.

The premise of the series offered such promise, following Eddie Redmayne’s Magizoologist Newt Scamander on some Attenborough-esque adventure as he explores the world looking for fantastical beasts and building up his collection of weird and wonderful creatures but as the films progressed Newt became something of a bit-part player in a political war drama masquerading as a family-friendly fantasy franchise.

The film starts with a tense and somewhat sexually charged afternoon tea with Jude Law’s Albus Dumbledore and the newly cast Mads Mikkelsen as the film’s villain, Gellert Grindelwald and acts as something of a reminder to the audience of Grindlewald’s fascist ideology and his mission to reign supreme over the wizarding world, a world that has no room for muggles or mud-bloods. Despite Dumbledore’s greatness, a blood pact prevents him from moving against his old friend and former love interest, so once again he enlists the help of Newt Scamander and a handful of characters you may or may not remember from the previous two films.

What follows is a somewhat convoluted, heist-like plot as the ragtag group of ‘heroes’ embark on a plan to deceive and defeat Grindelwald before his plan for world dominance comes to fruition.

Visually, The Secrets of Dumbledore delivered everything we’ve come to expect from this wonderful world of witchcraft and wizardry with grand immersive sequences and broad sweeping cinematic shots. Though few and far between, the magical creatures (new and old) are well executed and offer some of the best moments of the film – providing fun little glimpses at what the franchise could have been had it gone for a different narrative. Pickett the Bowtruckle cements his place as the designated animal sidekick, Teddy the Niffler is up to his usual kleptomaniac tricks and the newest entry to Newt’s catalogue, and a major driver of the plot, is the newborn Qilin (pronounced chillin), a mythical deer-like creature that has the ability to see into a person’s soul and judge their purity of heart.

But it’s when you look past the impressive visuals and cute creatures that the film falls down. Mads Mikkelsen is sufficiently menacing as Grindelwald, provoking thoughts about what might have been had he been cast in the role from the get go, but there was absolutely no effort made at all to address why he looked so dramatically different from the previous film. Obviously us adults know the reasoning behind the cast change but this is a family film and children will wonder why the character is different, and given the revelatory transition between Colin Farrell and Johnny Depp at the end of the first film, something similiar could have easily been achieved.

Jude Law is rather fantastic as Albus Dumbledore, bringing to life elements of the character only hinted at in the pages of the Harry Potter books and channeling the great performance of Michael Gambon. The rest of the cast do what they can but the characters are underdeveloped and the writing gives them very little to work with. It’s this lack of imagination with the storytelling that left me feeling totally and utterly bored, with no sense of connection to story and no vested interest in how the rest of the franchise plays out. In fact, I do believe I gave an audible groan when I realised that the franchise is planned to be dragged out for another two films.

Overall, Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore failed to deliver on the magic and wonder that I have come to expect from the HP universe and although I may still be committed to seeing the story out there is no part of me that will be excited to see the next instalment of what is, quite frankly, a dying franchise.