Even the color scheme underscores that this tale exists in shades of gray. “Secrets of Dumbledore” gestures toward themes of frailty, thwarted intentions and forgiveness. Still, this is the most absorbing and well-paced film in the trilogy to date, despite its nearly two-and-a-half-hour running time - de rigueur for modern spectacles that want to convince audiences they’re getting enough bang for their buck. Later, in an act of popcorn-movie prestidigitation, all memory of yet another character is erased. It feels like a wink to the franchise’s apparent struggle to hold onto actors. The series seems to be shifting its spotlight away from its supposed lead and his love interest from the previous movies, Tina (Katherine Waterston), who pretty much is only featured in one scene.

Redmayne’s character justifies his existence in the plot by coming into possession of a Qilin (pronounced chillin), a rare, fawn-like creature that holds unusual sway in electoral races - it’s a kind of mammalian dowsing rod that has the power to identify a person’s purity of heart and ability to be a leader. With Dumbledore grappling with a family full of grievances, the story barely has any room for Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne), the fluttery animal caregiver who tends to the fantastic beasts of the title. To Grindelwald, they’re “animals,” though he concedes they make a good cup of tea. (The role was last played by Johnny Depp Mads Mikkelsen takes over the role here, and Grindelwald’s threats sound more probable when delivered with Mikkelsen’s bloodless chill.) Rowling’s readers know to refer to nonmagical people as Muggles. Grindelwald, the wizard supremacist last seen attempting to incite a global war, hopes to convince the magical world to back his campaign platform to subjugate nonmagical humans. Rowling and Steve Kloves, center “Secrets of Dumbledore” on an election. Instead of building the plot around a tedious pursuit peppered with cutesy digital monsters - a misstep in the first two “Fantastic Beasts” films - the returning director David Yates and the screenwriters, J.K. It’s a pointed movie from tip to barbed tail. An alternate subtitle could be “Totalitarianism for Tykes.” The deadly stakes are crystal-ball clear.

A chunk of the story is set in 1930s Berlin. In this third installment in the “Fantastic Beasts” franchise (itself a prequel series to the original “Harry Potter” stories), cuddly critters have mostly been swapped out for darker creatures: Here, scorpionesque freaks guard a prison where activists are tortured (or worse).

Like so much children’s entertainment these days, “Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore” is a political primer sprinkled in magic dust.

The secrets of dumbledore book