After the events of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Newt Scamander’s (Eddie Redmayne) life has gone back to normal – as normal a life that an enthusiastic Magizoologist can have at least.
His international travel rights have been revoked, he believes that Tina Goldstein (Katherine Waterston) has moved on after their brief romantic encounter and to top it all off The Ministry of Magic informs him that Creedence Barebone (Ezra Miller) has resurfaced in Paris after nearly destroying New York. The Ministry believes that Scamander is the only one that can secure Barebone and neutralise the threat he poses but Newt is not so sure. It’s a good thing then that the evil Grindelwald (Johnny Depp) is securely locked away for his crimes…
Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald is the second film in Warner Bros’ plan to reignite the cinematic love for Harry Potter. J K Rowling herself has provided the scripts for this and the previous film and may well do so for further instalments, but as far as the audience are concerned, Rowling is the only person who knows what is really going on.
Newt’s friends are quickly pulled back together as if the events of the first movie have never happened and off they go again on another adventure. Along the way they are met with old characters, new characters and some really old characters (just how old is Dumbledore anyway?) and the fans of Harry Potter are given a movie full of magic, wonder and CGI. However, there are very little indications of an actual plot.
Personally speaking, I have read every Harry Potter book there is, I have seen all the movies probably more than once but I cannot tell you in a clear and concise way what actually happens in the movie and least of all why it happens at all. As I said, characters appear as if they have never left but other characters appear for seemingly no reason other than to anchor a previously non existing connection to the main cast.
Other characters seem to just appear for the real Potterheads to prick their ears up among the confusion of special effects and exposition. (Nicholas Flammel anyone?)
It all just feels like it was meant to be leading to something else, but the questions of what and why this film exists are never properly answered. The cast are all on top form though.
Love him or hate him, Newt Scamander’s shyness is still endearing under Redmayne’s control and I for one am looking forward to seeing more of Jude Law’s Dumbledore as a face off with Grindelwald is sure to be on the cards at a later date.
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