Even though I liked the first Fantastic Beasts film, I wouldn’t say that it was filmmaking perfection with it having problems of franchise fatigue and unnecessary plot points. Still, the majority of the movie was still a lot of fun with its magical beasts and new characters to add to the wizarding world created by J.K Rowling. With the first movie being a success it was no wonder Warner Bro’s was eager to push out the sequel called The Crimes of Grindelwald which would continue the adventures of Newt and his friends. Unfortunately, this movie suffers from the same problems the first film had but this time the problems are 2x more noticeable and they end up taking away from the suppose to be a magical experience that lies before us.
Three months ago, master criminal mind Grindelwald escapes his magical prison with the help of his evil followers. Meanwhile, Newt Scamander tries to make amends with the ministry of magic to lift his international travel ban due to the events that happened in New York. The Ministry grants Newt a lift on his ban if he can capture a witch that has been roaming around and causing trouble in Paris France. Grindelwald and his followers continue with their plan of taking over both the magical and the muggles while Newt finds some old familiar friends including Jacob Kowalski whom Newt thought was erased of his memories from their previous adventure.
The story doesn’t even resemble much of a Fantastic Beasts movie or even a Harry Potter-related movie at that. There are so many complicated storylines and character developments that are hard to follow even for fans of J.K Rowling’s wizarding world. Gone is the simple yet effective magical creature scavenger hunt and in goes the brand new characters that have barely enough time for the audience to care for them. Even the old characters make a return, but they are not as enjoyable as they were before and sometimes they create these weird out-of-context excuses for why they need to be in this movie. I also don’t like the shoved romance between Newt and Porpentina as it doesn’t feel warranted and feels like a last-minute write-in. The only thing that’s kinda cool is seeing a young Dumbledore and having visual references to the Harry Potter movies. I also do give Johnny Depp credit as his performance as Grindelwald is not bad from an acting standpoint.
The Visuals don’t look all that bad, but it’s sort of your been there done that filmmaking as there isn’t much new to be wowed by with exception of some of the beasts and how the home of Newt Scamander is also a huge habitat like his suitcase. Most of the movie looks cold and grey which is not bad for certain scenes but when it’s in the majority of the film, that is a sign that there needs to be a change-up. There is also the usual stuff we’ve already have seen in the wizarding world like the magical spells and the goblins roaming about the ministry of magic. I’m not saying the old stuff is bad, but it would have been nice to see what else can be brought out of the imagination of J.K Rowling and the filmmakers when working on this movie. James Newton Howard comes back after his go with the original Fantastic Beasts film. It’s per the usual and not much is different but it still is good at mimicking the Harry Potter-like score so it at least gets points for staying true to the tunes of the wizarding world.
The Crimes of Grindelwald is a disappointing follow-up to the original Fantastic Beasts movie. The story has more confusing plot points and storylines than a Star-Wars prequel, the characters old and new have been drained out of enjoyability, and even the stuff that is good in the movie fails to overshadow the stuff that is just downright boring to sit through. Everything would have been better if there was any passion being put into it but there is sadly not enough magic to save this lacking experience.
(Final Grade: C-)