photo courtesy of IMDB
Let me just start off by saying that I am a huge Harry Potter fan; I have watched all eight movies too many times to count.
I recently watched “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them”. I liked it, however, I was disappointed in its lack of connection with any of the Harry Potter movies. Therefore, when I heard a sequel was coming out, I was skeptical that it would have the same problem.
Overcome by curiosity of if I would be proven wrong, I knew I had to go see “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald.”
Directed by David Yates and written by J. K. Rowling, the movie follows Newt Scamander and Albus Dumbledore as they try to take down the dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald while facing threats of a strongly divided world between wizards and Muggles. Throughout the movie, Scamander’s love and loyalty are tested with the dangers he has to go through.
The opening scene was captivating and the visuals were explosive. In fact, there was absolutely nothing to complain about the visuals throughout the movie as the beasts and characters were more unusual and stunning than in the first movie. The amount of imagination poured into each detail of each magical beast is mindblowing.
As for the connections with Harry Potter, I can honestly say there were way more than I expected. There were many scenes that were ingeniously mimicked in this movie.
Rowling did a great job of writing this movie in a way that it gave context of the events leading up to Harry Potter’s arrival at Hogwarts including young Dumbledore’s actions.
However, she did not give away too much, as good movies do, which left me wanting to know more about history! In a way, it was satisfying connecting this movie to the Harry Potter movies.
Despite the many good aspects of this movie, I was confused with the overall plot. With so many new characters and so many questions for our old Harry Potter heroes, the movie didn’t really have a clear storyline.
This was most likely because the chemistry between the old characters from “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” was diluted by the large number of new characters being introduced.
In summary, “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald” is a great movie for all the nerds out there that loved the Harry Potter books and movies and never wanted them to end. It definitely one-upped “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” and my expectations.
Photo courtesy of IMDB
