Review of Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald (2018) by Wayne K — 18 Nov 2018

A massively cluttered second entry into the Fantastic Beasts franchise, The Crimes Of Grindelwald is the same length as the previous instalment, but tries to cram so much in that it quickly becomes unfollowable.

With later entries already confirmed, it's obvious that the script had to do as much as possible to set up the later films. Johnny Depp is a great actor, but here he gets little to do other than talk and posture, much like Voldemort did in his early appearances.

The plot is all over the place, and as if J.K. Rowling realised this while writing, one scene in the 3rd act dumps a metric tonne of exposition on us, which only to serves to make things even more confusing.

The idea that a child decided to switch her sibling with another baby just because he wouldn't stop crying struck me as an especially mean-spirited and callous action, especially in a film that is mostly trying to be a fun, knockabout lark.

The story is full of characters and names and is seemingly propelled by a series of coincidences and lucky breaks, designed to get us to the climax, which is one of the only exciting parts. But it feels too little, too late.

The Crimes Of Grindelwald feels like a transitional episode, a movie that only serves to shift us to the next instalment, while having no interest in establishing its position within that series, or creating an identify that would distinguish it.

The effects are great and the performances, while not as enjoyable as in the first film, are still likeable, and there are some nice character moments scattered throughout. But its all smothered under mounds of pseudo-social commentary and incomprehensible plotting.