A Deeper Look into Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald

On November 16, the new Fantastic Beasts movie Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald hit theaters. The movie received a 40% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, an IMDb rating of 7.0, and a Metacritic review of 53 out of 100. This can be compared to the first Fantastic Beasts movie, which had a 74% on Rotten Tomatoes, a 7.3 on IMDb, and a 66 on Metacritic. Why are the reviews so low?

Many critics considered the film unnecessary and just an exposition for the next installments in the Fantastic Beasts series. Viewers also rated it lower due to the controversy about Johhny Depp’s casting as Gellert Grindelwald. Depp was accused of domestically abusing his then-wife, Amber Heard. Once his casting was announced, J.K Rowling, the author of the Harry Potter series and screenwriter for both Fantastic Beasts movies, said that she supported his casting. This received backlash, as many people did not believe that someone accused of domestic abuse should have landed a major role in a major movie.

I saw the film recently, and my rating would be a solid 7/10. I enjoyed many aspects of the film, such as the character of Leta Lestrange, Newt and Theseus’s brotherly relationship, and the small nostalgic bits that were thrown in. However, there were aspects of the movie that I didn’t like, such as Nagini’s backstory, and the random plot twists.

Spoilers Below!

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald follows Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) a few months after the events of the first movie. He is contacted by the British Ministry of Magic to track down a young man named Credence (Ezra Miller), the Obscurial from the first movie. Newt meets up with Jacob (Dan Fogler), his Muggle (or No-Maj) friend from the first movie, who has somehow not been Obliviated, and they go to Paris to find Tina (Katherine Waterson) and Queenie (Alison Sudol). Meanwhile, Gellert Grindelwald (Johnny Depp) has been gathering followers and trying to find Credence, whom he believes is the only person who can defeat his wizarding equal, Albus Dumbledore (Jude Law). The movie introduces a whole host of new characters like Leta Lestrange (Zoë Kravitz), Newt’s brother Theseus Scamander (Callum Turner), and Nagini (Claudia Kim) (yes, the Nagini who was Voldemort’s snake).

Overall, the movie was a decent addition to the Wizarding World. While not as good as the first, this one managed to keep the story going and set up the plot for the next movie. One way I would describe this movie is “The Last Jedi of Harry Potter”. Many Star Wars fans disliked The Last Jedi because it didn’t feel like a Star Wars film and was filled with too many plot twists that essentially threw away everything The Force Awakens built up to. This movie also lacked the Harry Potter feel and threw in too many plot twists for one movie. For example, towards the end of the movie, we learn that Leta Lestrange had a brother, but she killed him. For the entire movie, the audience is meant to believe that Credence is Leta’s long-lost brother. However, we then see that Leta did not really kill her brother but instead grabbed the wrong child from the basket and that the real Corvus Lestrange drowned by accident. Finally, in the end, Grindelwald tells Credence that his real name is Aurelius Dumbledore and that he is Albus Dumbledore’s long-lost brother. There were simply too many plot twists squeezed in the last half-hour of the movie for them to properly settle in.

The actors actually did an excellent job of portraying their characters. Eddie Redmayne delivered well on his performance of Newt’s awkward nature around people while capturing his ease with the magical creatures. Dan Fogler was as funny as the loveable Jacob Kowalski, and of course, Ezra Miller portrayed Credence’s pain and longing for answers wonderfully. Alison Sudol and Katherine Waterson were great in their roles as Queenie and Tina respectively, and I enjoyed the chemistry between Newt and Theseus throughout the movie. However, the real stars were Johnny Depp as Grindelwald and Jude Law as Albus Dumbledore. Though Depp’s casting brought controversy and backlash, he did an amazing job portraying Grindelwald’s evil charisma, and Jude Law was perfect as the young Albus Dumbledore, not only because he bears a striking resemblance to Michael Gambon (who played Dumbledore in the original Harry Potter series), but he was able to capture his odd quirks and wisdom at the same time.

There were some other problems I had with the film, namely Nagini’s backstory. All throughout the original Harry Potter books, Nagini is nothing more than a snake, with the exception of Dumbledore mentioning that she has an odd rapport with Voldemort. Making Nagini a human with a curse to transform into a snake (a Maledictus) made almost no sense. Nagini didn’t even do much as a character. She was completely silent for most of the movie; if she was cut out, there would be minimal impact to the plot. The other issues were relatively minor and didn’t impact the plot too much, but still irritated me as a die-hard Harry Potter fan. In the film, Dumbledore was a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, whereas in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, it is explicitly stated that he used to be a Transfiguration teacher. Additionally, there is a small cameo by McGonagall, who should not have been born at the time the movie takes place. Of course, these are relatively minor plot holes and could easily be fixed.

Spoilers Over

Overall, the movie was nothing too special. Yes, the effects were good, and yes, it did further the plot of the series, but probably couldn’t stand alone, since it relied heavily on the previous movie and mostly set up the plot of the next installment. The actors did well, the plot could have been better—or at least paced better—and there were a few small annoyances. While the movie was good, it could have been better, though I know that, as I write this, I’m going to buy the screenplay when it comes out, and I will most certainly buy the movie.