Review of Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald (2018) by Jillian Z — 17 Nov 2018

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald was a compelling, if a bit bloated addition to the franchise. The downsides include its shift away from the main characters and beasts to the bigger cast and excessive world building.

On one hand, Jude Law and Johnny Depp give fantastic performances in their roles, but some of the other plot lines don't feel necessary to the overall story. The two groups I felt they should've focused on was the Grindelwald conflict and the friendship between Newt, Jacob, Tina, and Queenie.

The rest didn't feel necessary and probably should've been kept for future installments. The upsides include the casting of all the characters, the beasts, and the callbacks to Hogwarts. The casting was excellent, as said before, and probably would've paired better with a less subplot-heavy script.

Loved the multiple nifflers and the big cat-thing (forgot the name). The flashbacks to Hogwarts may have seemed out of place, but I thought it served the story well when Newt was at the forefront of those flashbacks.

Overall, a little too much subplot, but still very enjoyable.