This week on "Justin Hall At The Movies," I'll be reviewing the next chapter in the Wizarding World before Harry Potter in "Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore."

The Fantastic Beasts series has had a hit-or-miss track record. While the first one was a fairly good entry, its sequel The Crimes of Grindlewald, was a convoluted mess.

Thankfully this series is somewhat back on track with The Secrets of Dumbledore which despite some stumbles in its plotting, manages to conjure up a much more cohesive story.

Eddie Redmayne is back as Newt Scamander and this time, he's out to help a magical creature called a Qilin which has the ability to see within a person's soul.

He tries to go to Albus Dumbledore (Jude Law) for help, but he's unable to due to a blood oath he made with the sinister Gellert Grindlewald (Mads Mikkelsen replacing Johnny Depp).

Instead, Dumbledore assembles an army to help Newt protect the creature and stop Grindlewald's plans for world domination. Grindlewald also has another Qilin and has absorbed its powers.

Newt and his team converge at the International Confederation of Wizards in which Grindlewald is running for the top position. They believe this might be their best chance to take him down. This is where the plot boils down into a lot of dialogue that's often reminiscent of what George Lucas did with the Star Wars prequels.

Ezra Miller costars as Credence Barebone, Grindlewald's top henchman and he has some rather interesting secrets that might make him question his loyalty.

We get some easter eggs of things that will eventually come into play in the Harry Potter series with some subtle and not-so-subtle and there's a lot more intriguing character development among some of the supporting cast such as Jacob Kowalski (Dan Fogler) still pining for his long-lost love Queenie, the renegade witch (Alison Sudol).

As I've said, the Fantastic Beasts series is mixed and especially after the underwhelming sequel, I entered into this one with little expectations and yet I found myself mostly absorbed by the plot twists, the humor and the imagination.

These movies are a far cry from their superior originals, but there's plenty in thus installment to keep fans satisfied until the inevitable fourth chapter.

Grade: B+

(Rated PG-13 for some fantasy action/violence.)