Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald
Ten Second Review: There are far better films in the Harry Potter universe that would be worth revisiting rather than this two hour trailer for the next Fantastic Beasts film. Unless you’re invested in the Harry Potter films already, I’d say avoid it.
I’m not a huge Harry Potter fan. I don’t hate it by any stretch, but I don’t have a Pottermore account or any wizard related merch. It’s one of those series (of both films and books) that I enjoyed as a child and saw through to the end out of curiosity of what would happen. I think the thing I always liked about Harry Potter was that it set itself limits. Yes, there were lots of amazing creatures and the world the film was set in always seemed incredible but it always felt oddly grounded. As students learned spells and took classes we learnt how those spells worked. The unique motions and words that went with all of them meant we always understood what was going on and it never seemed that magic was just happening everywhere. This control and depth to this side of its world building is one of the things that I think makes the Harry Potter series one that will stand the test of time.
This film doesn’t really do that.
We open back in New York with Grindelwald (Johnny Depp) being transported to a new prison. He inevitably escapes, and flees to Paris. Meanwhile in London, Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) is at the Ministry of Magic being reminded that he can not travel internationally. He is then quickly asked by Dumbledore (Jude Law) to travel internationally to find and stop Grindelwald. A chase then ensues with Newt trying to find Grindelwald, Tina (Katherine Waterston) and Queenie (Alison Sudol), who are all in Paris. Accompanied by his amazing suitcase Newt and his friends will try to uncover a whole hosts of secrets to try and understand whats going on around them and how they can stop Grindlewald.
Leaving aside the controversies heading into this film, and further leaving aside my own thoughts on casting choices for certain characters, there are still several big problems with the film itself. One of the biggest is it falls prey to a similar plague that afflicted the DC Universe. While starting with a decent enough film, the sequels try too hard to quickly flesh out a universe that leaves a film feeling heavy on exposition with little substance in itself. By the end of the film you realise that what you just watched was a two hour trailer for the next one. We are told lots of information but this is just padded with chase sequences and cool settings that mask the lack of film that is actually present.
The highlight of this film becomes these amazing locations, like Newt’s house or the records room at the Ministry, and the creatures that inhabit the world. There’s a giant cat-dog-monster that is just a stunning visual but in effect this is the issue. It is JUST a stunning visual. So much of the exposition being for future films, hinders all the cool visuals in this one being useful or having resolutions. It is cut like a trailer would be, jumping from cool shot to cool thing to huge amounts of magic. All great for a trailer but not very watchable as a visual onslaught with next to no story resolving in this film.
The other annoying thing about this film was the magic itself. It nails the fantastic beasts but the magic just happens. Lots of bright lights and flashes but the audience is left in the dark at whats happening, bar from the odd expeliarmus inserted just to wake you up. It all well and good for the visuals but unnecessary magic and magic that you, as an audience, are just told to accept doesn’t really invite you into the wizarding world but instead sets you firmly on the outside looking in.
The acting is fine and the CGI is amazing but I really wouldn’t recommend this film for people who aren’t invested in the universe already. It is a go between from the first film to the rest of “Harry Potter and the Ever Expanding Universe” (leave it Rowling that’s mine). If you are already set on seeing them all in the cinema then it will be a must irrespective of how good it actually is but if not, maybe see this one when it’s available to stream.
