Minor spoilers ahead.
"Doctor Strange in The Multiverse of Madness" is a cheerful mess of a movie. I've come to the realization, after being severely disappointed with the first "Doctor Strange" movie, that the title character works best as a supporting player. As a lead, he's arrogant, bullheaded, overpowered, and still stubbornly resistant to personal growth. "Multiverse" doesn't solve any of the fundamental issues I have with the character, but at least it gives him a diverting new problem to deal with.
A teenage girl named America Chavez (Xochitl Gomez), from a different universe, needs Strange's help and protection to keep a dark power from threatening everyone's existence. Our old friends Wong (Benedict Wong) and the Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) are on hand to lend some fireworks, as Strange travels through the multiverses and learns that his greatest enemy is himself. Lots of twists and cameos abound. The most important player here, however, is director Sam Raimi, who gleefully delivers the MCU's first real full-throated horror movie. In fact, it's an old fashioned Sam Raimi horror movie in the vein of the "Evil Dead," full of zombies, cartoonish gore, campy thrills, and schlocky funhouse shocks. He pushes the content well past what I expected to see in a Marvel film, leaning heavily on the fact that multiple dimensions means multiple expendable versions of beloved characters.
Sadly, this is all very surface level. "Multiverse" has been built up and led into by several other pieces of MCU media over the past few years, including "WandaVision," "Loki," and the latest "Spider-man" movie. And it's not as good as any of those previous outings, especially in regards to Wanda. We get a very one-dimensional version of her here, which is a disappointment. The multiverse concept also doesn't get nearly as creative or weird as I expected it to, mostly rehashing things we've already seen in projects like "What If…?" I still enjoyed it as a typical superhero thrill ride, but it doesn't offer much substance and doesn't bother to advance any of the plot and character threads from the first "Doctor Strange." The most notable thing that happens is really Christine Palmer (Rachel McAdams) marrying somebody else, putting an end to her wishy washy romance with Strange for good.
On to the beleaguered "Fantastic Beasts" franchise. We're on the third film, "The Secrets of Dumbledore," which I consider an improvement on the last one, but still significantly flawed. It's much easier to follow the action this time and keep all the characters and their motivations straight, but this means everyone spends significant amounts of screen time explaining where we are and how we got here. Still, I enjoy the "Fantastic Beasts" movies more than the original "Harry Potter" these days simply because they're unapologetically aimed at more adult audiences. Newt Scamander and friends are busy fighting the evil Grindelwald (Mads Mikkelsen) again, this time trying to keep him from stealing a wizard election. It's a lighter, more straightforward adventure with room for some humor, and darker bits limited to brief suplots. New characters include a witch ally of Newt's, Lally Hicks (Jessica Williams), and Dumbledore's brother Aberforth (Richard Coyle).
I know that this series was originally planned for five films, but it feels like the filmmakers are busy tying up a lot of the loose ends this time out for a quick exit. Several characters reach very definite endpoints, and it's probably the last time we'll see several of them. Katherine Waterston's Tina is already halfway out the door, her role greatly reduced for this installment, reportedly because of scheduling conflicts. However, I can't imagine she'd have had much to do in this film even if it weren't the case. Newt and his human pal Jacob Kowalski are in the thick of the action this time, and there is a very prominent fantastic beast at the center of the story - the mystical qilin. However, Dumbledore and Grindelwald's rivalry is clearly the only thing that Rowling is really interested in, and if we get more "Fantastic Beasts," I expect there will be little room for anyone else.
As always, the production values are top class the whole way through, and existing fans of the Wizarding World should enjoy all the little bits of magic worldbuilding and glimpses of familiar characters. If "Fantastic Beasts" is put out to pasture, I expect more spinoffs will be forthcoming regardless. "The Secrets of Dumbledore" isn't the best the franchise has to offer, but I was satisfied with it, and enjoyed most of the performances. Despite all the chaos behind the scenes, I think these prequels have been worthwhile, and sticking with them through the rough spots have yielded some rewards.
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