The long-awaited third instalment of the “Fantastic Beasts” franchise has hit cinemas and – spoiler alert! – it has left many fans disappointed.

“The Secrets of Dumbledore” starts off on a promising note, with Jude Law’s Albus Dumbledore and Mads Mikkelsen’s Gellert Grindelwald having tea together, and the latter threatening to eradicate all Muggles (members of the non-magical community, for the uninitiated… though would you really be reading this review?).

Fans would surely be left in anticipation and fear of what would happen next if Grindelwald followed through on his threat. Instead, it all goes downhill from there – right after the very first scene, mind you.

The focus of the film shifts to an election, and Grindelwald’s attempt to rig it in his favour to carry out his plan.

As Dumbledore is unable to attack Grindelwald – something to do with a blood pact between the two when they were young and in love (if you know, you know!) – Dumbledore assembles a team comprising magizoologist Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne), his brother Theseus (Callum Turner), Newt’s assistant Bunty (Victoria Yeates), and loveable baker Jacob Kowalski (Dan Fogler), to disrupt Grindelwald’s powers of foresight.

It is a mission they do not understand – and, in a similar vein, will result in audiences being just as confused. The rest of the film unfolds with no sense of urgency, with too many characters and subplots, leaving viewers to wonder what’s going on and why it matters.

Other familiar faces on the team include Yusuf Kama, who was introduced as Leta Lestrange’s (Zoe Kravitz) half-brother in the second instalment, “The Crimes of Grindelwald”.

But don’t expect to see much of William Nadylam’s Kama, who is severely underdeveloped, not unlike Ezra Miller’s Credence Barebone, who one might have expected to play a bigger part in the proceedings than he actually does.

Notably missing from the team is Newt’s love interest, Tina Goldstein. Portrayer Katherine Waterston was said to be “not available”, although she does make a brief appearance at the end of the film.

Many would be left wondering about her much-reduced role, considering her importance to the story being as Queenie’s (Alison Loren Sudol) sister and Newt’s future wife, as confirmed by “Harry Potter” lore.

On the plus side, viewers are introduced to a new addition to the series, Lally Hicks (Jessica Williams), a fast-talking “charms” professor from Hogwarts, so that’s something.

Plus, there are a number of scenes that will have you laughing out loud, especially the one where Newt and Theseus sway their hips and perform a delightfully weird dance to save themselves from scorpion-like creatures in a dungeon.

Then there’s Mikkelsen’s amazing performance as Grindelwald. The Danish actor is no stranger to playing villains, having done so in the “James Bond” and Marvel franchises; and he takes over Johnny Depp’s role with relish and righteousness, infusing menace from the very first scene when he tells Dumbledore: “With or without you, I’ll burn down their world.”

Viewers will also get a dose of nostalgia when they glimpse a passing Quidditch player, the Great Hall, and the Room of Requirement during a short scene at Hogwarts. These, however, seem to be for fan service, with little relevance to the actual story.

Another disappointment is the lack of the titular “fantastic beasts” – one might recall the original premise of the franchise involving Newt’s task of rounding up these escaped magic creatures.

While familiar ones, such as Newt’s stick-like pet Pickett and the adorable platypus-like “niffler” named Teddy, do appear, they are otherwise in short supply here – other than the qilin, a rare deer-like animal that possesses psychic insight. It’s pronounced “chillin”, which is… pretty cool.

If there’s anything this film is noteworthy for, it’s the confirmation of one of the of the major “secrets of Dumbledore” hinted at in the second movie: that the great half-blood wizard is gay.

Made clear(er) through dialogue such as “I was in love with you” and “the summer Gellert and I fell in love”, the romance between Dumbledore and Grindelwald would surely be a thrill to ‘shippers around the world – unless you’re in China, where these lines are scrubbed entirely from the film.

But is this enough to make this installment of “Fantastic Beasts” worth its almost two-and-a-half hour runtime? The jury’s out on that.

And, with two more films in the works, it might take a great deal of magic to tell a more coherent, compelling story, and keep fans old and new entranced.

‘Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore’ is screening in cinemas nationwide.