Review of Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald (2018) by Joseph R — 21 Nov 2018

Let me begin by saying that I read the books for the first time less than a year ago. I liked them so much I immediately reread them. Afterwards I watched the eight movies and disliked them all immensely. Then I watched Fantastic Beasts and, while I didn't love it, there was no book being ruined and I found it mildly entertaining.

Hearing all the negatively around 2 I wasn't really looking forward to watching it. When the film began, I thought to myself, "Maybe only this opening scene is awesome and then it will trail off into mediocrity". I continued to wait for it to lose my interest but it never did. I don't get it. Why is this movie being so harshly attacked?

My only real gripe is the same gripe I had about Rouge One. Too many cameos. Prequels need to trust the audience to embrace new characters and not have to show us a (very) young Professor McGonagall, introduce Nagini, or have Dumbledore teaching defense against the dark arts. Couldn't another professor have been briefly introduced?

That being said, there was a lot to like. I thought Grindelwald was a solid villain. The story is a darker Harry Potter tale, but still felt like the same universe, much more so than the first Fantastic Beasts. Also, the music and special effects were great. This movie really worked for me and I'm looking forward to seeing where it goes from here.