Like the Harry Potter movies/stories themselves, the Fantastic Beasts series often gets bogged down in exposition. Which makes it hard to get into what I loved and didn't love about the movie without some spoilers. My high level take is that I found the simpler moments quite exciting. A high adrenaline prison break starts off the film and gets the blood pumping right away. Jude Law captures previous Dumbledore actor Michael Gambon's mischievous playfulness and melancholy regret in taking on a younger version of the character to a powerful effect. But then the film gets into its complicated and convoluted plot which almost requires a Who's Who in the Wizarding World reference book. Characters from previous films feel shoehorned in. Motivations seem forced. The climax feels quite contrived to get to the big reveal. I'm not sure the story has an organic quality.
Fans of the Harry Potter series may be attracted to the way this film religiously works in references, characters, and ideas from the previous stories. But more casual fans may just be overwhelmed with trying to make meaning out of all that is going on. One thing you're going to hear is how this film wants to be the Empire Strikes Back of the series. The comparisons are obvious. The film ends on a down note. Bad things happen to be righted or addressed in the next one. But I'm not sure the film's story is strong enough to make it have the weight it needs to to truly pull this off.
I'm going to get into a few spoilers here so don't read this paragraph if you don't want to know things. The film packs in a lot of backstory. Knowing the histories of the Dumbledore and Lestrange families is certainly helpful. Rowling seems to want to do a lot of worldbuilding here, which isn't surprising if you've ever read her work or see movies based on it. But there is so much it is easy to lose track. And in all that world building a lot of character development is lost. There is truly no explaining what happens to Queenie, her motivations seem completely at odds with her character and her expressed wishes. On the other hand Lita Lestrange is given an incredible arc only to be snuffed out so the rather bland and boring Scamander brothers can have something to move their arcs forward. The plot sort of lurches along, jumping from one event to another without a real sense of cohesiveness. So much is going on characters have to spend a lot of time explaining things.
Still there is a lot of interest going on here. I like world building and mythos and it is one of Rowling's strengths and when it gets to the end there is a lot that is tantalizing about it. I think though for Crimes of Grindelwald to be truly successful it would have benefited from being tighter, more focused. But like its awkward and overblown title, the film is just unruly, even when it is being a lot of fun.
Fantastic Beasts the Crimes of Grindlewald
Starring: Eddie Redmayne, Katherine Waterston, Dan Folger, Alison Sudol, Ezra Miller, Johnny Depp, Zoe Kravitz, Callum Turner, Claudia Kim, Jude Law
Director: David Yates
Writer: J.K. Rowling
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