Harry Potter Fans Identify The Glaring Plot Point Missing From The Fantastic Beasts Franchise
Although the "Fantastic Beasts" movies don't lack for box office success (having pulled in a combined $1.8 billion according to The Numbers), it's fair to say that this series is the black sheep of the "Wizarding World" franchise. Taking place in the same continuity as the "Harry Potter" film series, "Fantastic Beasts" focuses on the life of Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne), a young wizard interested in magical creatures — who finds himself wrapped up in the ever-growing conflict between Albus Dumbledore (Jude Law) and Gellert Grindelwald (Mads Mikkelsen, Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell).
Despite the series' incredible success at the box office, "Fantastic Beasts" has been marred by poor critical reviews and behind-the-scenes drama concerning the exit of Johnny Depp — with the most recent installment of the series, "Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore," receiving an abysmal 46% on Rotten Tomatoes. Much of the criticism levied towards the film is directed at its slow pace, flimsy plot, and failure to provide a satisfying conclusion to the arc set in place by the previous "Fantastic Beasts" films. However, fans on Reddit seem to believe that the true problem with the series is actually related to two of its main characters: Albus Dumbledore and Gellert Grindelwald.
Fans think the Dumbledore-Grindelwald backstory has been neglected
Fans of the "Wizarding World" franchise will know that Gellert Grindelwald and Albus Dumbledore share a complicated history: falling in love during their youth and subsequently sketching out an ambitious plan to overtake and rule the Muggle world. We learn in the book version of "Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows" that Grindelwald and Dumbledore had a falling out after a duel that resulted in the death of Dumbledore's sister Ariana. However, this is never addressed in the films.
Fans online believe that the series' reluctance to actually dive into this relationship and its collapse is what makes the "Fantastic Beasts" franchise so underwhelming. "You know what is even more stupid?" wrote u/RamenJunkie in a Reddit thread discussing the absence of Dumbledore's backstory in the films. "They later created this entirely seperate Movie Series... where Dumbledor and Grindlewald are main characters. AND THEY STILL HAVE BASICALLY IGNORED TELLING THAT STORY." "Maybe that's why they're struggling so hard," added u/MultiverseOfSanity. "The movies put zero effort into establishing a history with these characters so fans of the movies just plain don't care about the conflict between these characters."
Other users, like u/EurwenPendragon, claimed that this entire Dumbledore-Grindelwald storyline shouldn't have been added as a side plot to the "Fantastic Beasts" series where it isn't given enough of the spotlight. Indeed, the series only truly explores this relationship in a brief scene at the start of "Secrets of Dumbledore" when the two former lovers meet in secret to discuss their impending battle. Although there may be hope for this story to be explored in future films, it's clear that fans have a major gripe with how this storyline has been ignored in the movies.