Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald
The second installment in the "Fantastic Beasts" series, "The Crimes of Grindelwald (2018)," follows our title character, Grindelwald (Johnny Depp), in his rise to power. Our trusty Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) is recruited by a young Albus Dumbledore (Jude Law) to help thwart his plans to have pure-blood wizards rule the world.
All cards on the table, I'm biased and all about returning to the world of Harry Potter, even if I typically like to do so by way of re-reading. I'm particularly willing to be forgiving about a lot of things in the films and "Fantastic Beasts" by extension. I confess I waited a very long time to see this movie out of fear the story I grew up with would be ruined. It's not particularly easy to let someone be caretaker of a piece of your childhood.
I'm being dramatic. But seriously. STAR WARS PREQUELS.
I'm willing to forgive the endless exposition. The lack of books preceding the "Fantastic" movies really hurts "The Crimes of Grindelwald" and means the colorful history Rowling has created has no choice but to make you painfully aware of its existence. In one particularly unfortunate moment, everything gets put on hold so a character can go through their long backstory and why they've been walking around with a tortured soul coming off as a bad attitude the whole time. They're followed by another who shares their whole story, why they matter to the plot, and what connection they have to said previous character. Never mind this new-fangled blood magic I'm hearing so much about. Much better to listen to characters reading excerpts from Rowling's plotting worksheets.
But I digress.
I'm willing to forgive the blatant symbolism toward what I assume is the screenwriter's (Rowling's) perception of today's state of affairs. Every writer has a point of view and writes from a particular frame of mind. Awesome. But "blatant symbolism" is really a bit of an oxymoron. "The Crimes of Grindelwald" is so brazenly obvious as to lack any nuance and offers little in the way of understanding. Symbolism is good, but it must be weaved. It shouldn't be something you notice in the theater. It ought to be something you ponder on your way home.
I'll even forgive "Fantastic Beasts" for becoming a who's who in connections to the established Harry Potter characters we know and love in order to give a semblance of purpose to our movie ticket purchase. "Crimes of Grindelwald" continues Credence Barebone's (Ezra Miller) search for lineage. After him and a friend (ach, Nagini!) go on what ends up seeming like a particularly pointless journey, we arrive at the grand reveal. My prayer up to that moment was, "Don't go there. I know what you're thinking. Please, for the love of all that is good in the wizarding world, don't do it... And of course. You did it."
Please, for the love of all that is good in the wizarding world, don't do it... And of course. You did it.
I will not, however, forgive what they did to Queenie Goldstein (Alison Sudol). She surprised me in becoming one of my favorite characters of this new series: a pink flower growing foolishly through the cracks in the dark cobblestone streets of New York. Her desire to be with the man she loves, muggle and no-maj, Jacob Kowalski (Dan Fogler) is stymied by the laws of the time. It's a fine subplot and one that could have been worthy of Queenie's character arc.
But, as it all too often goes, the movie needed to be wrapped up in a nice bow after bearing along at an agonizing pace and thus Queenie was sacrificed to the gods of runtime and ribbon. I'm not saying she should not have made the decision she did; the foundation for her arc and its consequences certainly were there. What I am saying is the decision should have broken her; not turned her into a grotesque caricature of her former self.
One look at my receipts from the Wizarding World gift shop and you'll know I've never regretted spending money on all things Potter. This five dollar movie ticket is no exception. That being said, it comes with a caveat: only because of the name. "Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald" shares none of the magic of the Harry Potter I grew up with, only the world in which he lived.