Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald(12a)

About 

Release date  16.11.18
Summary
In an effort to thwart Grindelwald’s plans of raising pure-blood wizards to rule over all non-magical beings, Albus Dumbledore enlists his former student Newt Scamander, who agrees to help, unaware of the dangers that lie ahead. Lines are drawn as love and loyalty are tested, even among the truest friends and family, in an increasingly divided wizarding world.
Time 2hr 13

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Trailer

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The Good
Well it wasn’t as appalling as I feared it was going to be, and I certainly loved Newt’s adventures with the various new creatures.I also enjoyed the characterisation of him had been developed further since his last outing.

We get the addition of Jude Law to the cast. As someone who has grown to love Law, its brilliant to discover that he suits the role quiet perfectly. He gave us an insight into the young Dumbledore and his relationship with Depp’s Grinelwald. If it wasn’t for the title being Fantastic Beasts, I’d be begging for more screen time with Law. As it stands, I’m quite happy with what we got.

The Bad
This isn’t the series I signed up for. There’s two story threads at play here, and they seem at odds with each other. On the one hand there’s Newt and his quasi-Hobbit like nature; it’s light, funny and darn well cute at times. Then you have this seedy underbelly of a plot in the shape of a big bad. The timelines match, I can’t argue that. However, I feel like I’m watching a fan edit of two very different movies.

Newt’s role is circumstantial at best and its not what I wanted, and while I’d be the first to say that it’s the film maker’s prerogative, the Wizarding World has somewhat stayed close to the source material. Therefore when it was announced that we were getting a film of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, it shouldn’t be beyond reason to expect something similar to that of the book, right?

Queenie’s character is somewhat at odds with how she was represented in the first movie. I love Sudol’s portrayal, but it seems a little inconsistent with what we already know of her.  

The Ugly
Depp! Leaving the political and social justices aside, he is not right for the role. Every time he came on scene it was ‘There’s Depp’. It removes you so much from the narrative that the magic is lost. I also struggle to fathom why Colin Farrell wasn’t deemed good enough for the role. It’s such a shame as there have been times in the past where I’ve not been keen on the casting choices, but I’m always been mildly surprised with how well it works.

Canon and retcon. Wow! This film is a bit of a mess; from having a young before her time Mcgonagall roaming the hall in two different time periods; one when she should be 8 years old and another when she wouldn’t even be born. There’s also another alarming reveal that doesn’t make sense, unless it’s a deliberate misdirection. Which is fine; however, we can no longer trust the film makers which makes the predictions for the next movie a little less fun.

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