Review of Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald (2018) by May W — 26 Nov 2018

SPOILERS AHEAD.

Like so many other people said before me, JK Rowling is George Lucasing her own franchise. Coming from a huge Potterhead, it breaks my heart to see how horrible this movie truly was. I watched it twice, thinking maybe it'll get better with a rewatch. I ended up falling asleep midway through and woke up to the end when everyone assembles in at the LeStrange family tomb. I was honestly hoping to see the credits. The movie was just as bad during the second watch.

This movie was over bloated with deadline storylines and way too many characters.There was so many going on, you couldn't really find out about anything. It was 2 hours of pointlessness.

But the true travesty is what she is doing to the original series. And the first Fantastic Beast movie. COG proves that nothing that's been established in the books and series applies moving forward.

Queenie acts completely out of character and Tina does nothing but serve as Newt's love interest. They're no longer the characters they had already established. Actions taken just don't make sense.

The ending is ridiculous. If it's true, I hope they never end up finishing the FB franchise. Everything they're introducing is retcon and doesn't fit the established universe. And it's frankly heartbreaking.

Nagini was completely unnecessary and insulting when Rowling's response to the backstory controversy was to tell us to watch the movie. She was absolutely pointless and was a submissive East Asian who spoke a total of 10 words the entire movie. How Nagini has been written so far is doing nothing to demonstrate JK supposed non-racist self. Going from the demure Asian eye candy to the Dragon Lady as Nagini's character arc shows a complete lack of insight. It also demonstrates that JK probably doesn't have anyone Asian in her inner circles.

Leta's backstory followed the same stereotypical racist tropes. Her birth is because her White dad raping her Sengalese mom. In what world is all this ok for your few POC characters? Seriously JoAnn, are you really this tone-deaf?

Additionally, it was unnecessary to bring McGonagall into the story. If she wanted to bring a teacher, I don't understand why it couldn't have been Flitwick. He would have fit canon.

This is beginning to feel like Cursed Child. And that is the last thing anyone wants.

JoAnn, please stop and get some collaborators. And please hire some sensitivity readers, as well as get rid of Johnny Depp.