Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald

Successful players, good visual effects but no story

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald shows that J K Rowling should not be writing screenplays although I am sure Steve Kloves who is credited as Executive Producer had a hand in the script.

It is also evident that the directorial duties needs a new vision. David Yates has been too long in the Potter world.

The film is a rehash of the early X-Men films. An allegory. Purebloods need to breakout and overcome the humans who are the true monsters. Grindelwald even shows them a vision of the man made future, World War 2 and the rise of Nazism. The trouble is Grindelwald has his own fascist foot soldiers.

The plot consists of Grindelwald predictably escaping. Newt Scamander is sent by Albus Dumbledore to go look for him. The ministry of magic is stifling all dissent and free thinkers. In short they are driving wizards to the arms of someone like Grindelwald. Everyone is after a young man called Credence Barebone who just wants to find his mother and who he really is.

The film has great spectacle but it is too long and the plot is too slim. Parts of the film is set in Hogwarts and actually makes you realise that these prequels are a cynical cash in by Warner Brothers.

Let me start off by saying that I am a big Harry Potter fan; I loved all 8 HP movies, and really liked the 1st installment of Newt's adventures as well. This movie just didn't really do the trick for me. There was absolutely nothing to complain about visually; the movie was even more stunning than the first one, with even more beautifully designed 'Beasts'. And as many other people have mentioned, as a Harry Potter fan, you just can't hate this movie. Where Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them only contained a handful amount of references to the Harry Potter series, The Crimes of Grindelwald has tonnes. Enough to hype up any Harry Potter fan.

The problem this movie had for me was its plot, or rather, its almost nonexisting plot. This movie just seemed to serve as background information or something for the upcoming movies in this series (for which we'll undoubtedly have to wait another 2 years or more..), more of like a setup for things to come. It introduced many new characters and revealed certain things about already known characters. But yet, some of these things just felt unnatural, as if JK Rowling just kept writing more and more to squeeze into 1 movie. This basically leads to a movie where the biggest plot is to find Credence's 'true identity' - not really much of a plot at all. Some of the reveals about characters also seemed a bit strange, but that could be just me. All in all, all this dialogue about characters made it extra confusing to know what the movie was about, in addition to it lacking much of a plot to begin with.

This movie is definitely not a waste of money or anything, you could just buy a ticket for the stunning scenes and you'd be satisfied. It's just that this movie was quite a disappointment compared to many people's expectations I think, seeing as it basically is just a setup for the upcoming movies, which lacks a good plot.

Picture that awkward situation when you are at the cinema, feeling uncomfortable, looking at the clock and thinking... Is this movie too long?

Well, that was my feeling towards half of the movie. Even though I enjoyed a couple of CGI scenes, I soon found a lack of action scenes and character development, driven by the intention of telling a twisted, too long story of new characters, which leads us to a frustraing but desired ending.

Is not the direction, the photography nor the scenery, but the J.K Rowling script. Therefore, this movie tries to compensate the lack of novelty with too much of an unresolved, empty plot, failing in it's main intention: entertaining Harry Potter fans while revealing some of the desired background information.

I stopped watching Harry Potter movies at the cinema when they started to divide movies in parts, just to make more budget. This movie felt just the same. Don't think I'll watch the next one, at least at the big screen.

As both a lover of the Harry Potter Universe and a lover of movie going, I was thoroughly disappointed, even angry with this movie. While the visuals are as magical as ever, it's clear that the filmmakers are so distracted by trying to build a franchise that they're forgetting to actually tell a good story! The chemistry between our main four heroes was diluted by so many new characters being introduced. With so many new people and also so many questions for our old heroes, there wasn't enough time for any kind of (explainable) character development or for the viewers to connect with anyone on the screen. The only "character development" with one of our main heroes felt random and out of character and we aren't given much reason or warning for this change. I was also very disappointed with the writing behind Tina's character as her role was demoted from a strong willed Auror and woman to merely a side kick and love interest. Huge and important elements of the story were left for us only to assume what had happened when discussing the one year time jump between the two films (like the Jacob/Queenie relationship, Jacobs memory, etc.). As a whole, the film screamed "money hungry" and "franchise building" rather than letting us really connect with the characters. It also seemed as if they were only adding in twists that would surely get a reaction from viewers despite the fact that they not only discredited the original Harry Potter films, but just felt like unrealistic and a little too convenient! In short, as a huge fan of the Harry Potter Universe, I was disappointed, upset and felt really let down, and as a film goer, I was confused with the plot and frustrated with the lack of character connection and development! The only reason I have given a 4/10 instead of a 1 is for Eddie Redmayne's perfect execution of the shy, socially awkward but loveable and charming Newt Scamander and for the alluring performance from Jude Law's Dumbledore who leaves us wanting to know more of his history! But in the end, it was a huge disappointment as a stand-alone movie.