The several sides of spirituality explored on Friday

Above : “Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore” opens on Friday. (Photo/Warner Bros.)

When spirituality is conflated with magic, you get a wide range of topics for filmmakers to explore. Such is the case this week, what with a couple of new films scheduled to open.

The first, beginning today, is the Mark Wahlberg vehicle “Father Stu.” The second, opening Friday, is the latest in the pre3-“Harry Potter” franchise, “Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore.”

Neither is attracting more than a few so-so reviews.

“Father Stu” : Written and directed by Rosalind Ross, “Father Stu” is based on the real-life story of Stuart Long , the Montana amateur boxer and later would-be movie actor who had a religious awakening that led him to becoming a Catholic priest.

Wrote Bob Strauss of the San Francisco Chronicle, “ ‘Father Stu’ is often entertaining, thus avoiding the sin of omission committed by many movies made to proselytize. It’s just too damn likable to judge harshly.”

“Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore” : Third in the “Fantastic Beasts” franchise, this one involves Dumbledore (Jude Law) directing Newt (Eddie Redmayne) and his pals to find a way to foil the nefarious Grindelwald (Made Mikkelsen).

Moira MacDonald of the Seattle Times wrote, “Ultimately, this ‘Fantastic Beasts’ has some moments of charm and energy, but falls prey to the same problem the two previous movies did: a story that’s both too complicated and unintriguing; in short, not well told.”

I’ll update as the week progresses.