Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes Of Grindelwald review: David Yates and J.K. Rowling invite us back to the Wizarding World to witness a chapter of the franchise’s history that witnesses the rise of the dark wizard Grindelwald.
Image Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures
Following his arrest at the end of the first movie, dark wizard Grindelwald (Johnny Depp) escapes from imprisonment and sets about gathering followers to join his ultimate cause; that of enabling pure blood wizards and witches to rule over all non-magical beings. As the wizarding community begins to split, Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) is tasked by Albus Dumbledore (Jude Law) to track down Grindelwald before he can find Credance (Ezra Miller), the young boy with a mysterious past and the power of an obscurus.
The first Fantastic Beasts was not exactly rated up there with the best instalments of the Potter franchise, what with its rather lackadaisical approach to storytelling, filled with characters who just didn’t register in the same way as Rowling’s previous creations. There was still a sense of magic though, as any return to this world is guaranteed to bring with it. But it does not seem as though Rowling has learnt any lessons following her first foray into screenwriting, as this sequel is plagued with many of the same problems as the first, issues which are exacerbated due to its even more crowded cast list and sprawling plot threads.
The Crimes of Grindelwald moves the action from New York to 1920’s Paris, which allows us to see how the magical world operates in another corner of the globe. As ever with these films, the production design is second to none, bringing the streets of Paris to vibrant life, populating it with even more critters and creatures running around for Newt to introduce to his Tardis-esque suitcase.
It is the streets of Paris that all of our characters converge, all seeking either Grindelwald or Credance for their own purposes. Newt is driven not just by Dumbledore’s request, but also the chance to see Tina (Katherine Waterston) again, an American Auror also looking to find Credance before Grindelwald. Her sister Queenie (Alison Sudol) and muggle baker Jacob (Dan Fogelman) also return to join the action, for reasons that are never entirely clear, adding more threads to follow alongside a new roster of characters. These new additions include Newt’s brother Theseus (Callum Turner), his fiance Leta Lestrange (Zoe Kravitz) and the mysterious Yusef (William Nadylum), all who of whom have their own personal agendas to find Credence. And lets not forget Credence himself, who allies himself with a young Nagini (Claudia Kim) as he seeks to find his birth parents and discover his real name. Oh, and of course there is also Grindelwald is also doing a bit of stirring in the background.
As you can see by that description, there are an awful a lot of threads to follow, and Rowling seems to struggle to weave them all elegantly together to allow the story to have much in the way of drive or purpose. We’re expected to care about characters that we’ve barely spent any time with, with motivations proving to be as murky as the way Yates shoots his action, with a lot of scenes often stumbling into one another as the film builds to a fiery final act.
It is in the final act that a lot of the weaknesses of the script come into the glaring light. There is a massive exposition dump before we settle into the point where most of the characters converge at the same place, with the film desperately trying make sense of its own threads and connections. There is simply no way to be invested in these moments as we are left trying to play catch-up a needlessly convoluted plot which ends up having a bizarre family melodrama twist to the proceedings. Rowling simply can’t seem to convey narrative information in a film script with quite the same finesse as she can in her novels, leading to the film itself standing as a bit of an unfocused mess, a rather uneventful two hours capped by a desperate attempt to titillate audiences as to where the franchise can go in the next three(!) instalments.
It is a shame that the storytelling is as garbled as it is, because there is no denying the charm that can still be found in Rowling’s endlessly fascinating world. As mentioned before, it remains a visual treat, and there is no denying that there is still a thrill seeing the magic at work, particularly in the streets of Paris and in a brief but welcome return to the halls of Hogwarts. The level of imagination in terms of design is as great as it has ever been, with the new Zouwa beast standing out as a particular highlight. The spells and quirks of this very detailed world undoubtedly still carry a thrill and a charm, brought to life by the stunning visual effects and further enlivened by a wonderful score from James Newton Howard.
The cast, for the most part, remain strong, with Redmayne particularly proving more endearing this time out. Jude Law oozes charisma as a young Dumbledore, and it will be exciting to see him do more in the future. Depp also certainly feels intimidating as Grindelwald. Elsewhere, a lot of the other new members of the cast don’t have much of an opportunity to impact the proceedings, with their characters often feeling like unnecessary baggage.
There is no denying that the die-hard Potter fans will still get a kick out of what is on display here. It will be interesting to see how fans may react to some of the bigger twists that tweak established lore, but there is no denying the pull that this world still has over audience’s imaginations. It is just a shame that the stories being told in this world lack coherence, drive and much in the way of purpose. It suffers from the same issues that plagued some of the Potter sequels, that feeling of chess pieces being pushed around a board biding time for future instalments, only this time it is less involving due to a lack of connection with the characters that populate the proceedings.
While there are sparks of the magic that once made this franchise great, this return to the Wizarding World is unfortunately plagued by an over-convoluted plot that lacks drive and coherence, making it difficult to be truly excited about the future of this spin-off franchise.
Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes Of Grindelwald review by Andrew Gaudion.
Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes Of Grindelwald is released on 16th November 2018.
