Movie Review: Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald is worth a watch if you’re a fan of Harry Potter. However, it left viewers with many questions.

The Crimes of Grindelwald is the second installment in the Fantastic Beasts franchise. The franchise is a Harry Potter spin-off loosely based on J.K. Rowling’s book Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, a textbook on mythical creatures used by Hogwarts students in the Harry Potter series.

The first movie, sharing the book’s title, focused on the author of the textbook, Newt Scamander, and his adventures in New York’s wizarding community in the 1920s. The sequel, The Crimes of Grindelwald, focuses on the evil wizard, Grindelwald, and his rise to power.

The movie has many insights into the Harry Potter universe. Some background information on the Lestrange family is given. (Bellatrix Lestrange is a character in the Harry Potter series who is a loyal follower of Voldemort.) Albus Dumbledore also appears in the movie, and his relationships with Grindelwald and his family are explored.

One thing I didn’t like about the movie was how the ending was left unresolved. It felt like less of a complete movie and more of a bridge to the next one. Originally intended to be a three-film series, the producer recently announced that there will now be five films. In my opinion, that really feels like they’re just dragging out the story as long as they can.

The plot was also hard to follow at times, unless you were a true Potterhead. In order to fully understand The Crimes of Grindelwald, the writers expected you to remember some pretty nuanced details from the earlier films. The first Fantastic Beasts movie came out two years ago, and the last Harry Potter movie came out seven years ago. It seems a little unreasonable to expect viewers to remember so much considering how much time has passed.

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald was released in the U.S. on Nov. 16. It is rated PG-13 and received a 40% on Rotten Tomatoes. It is still being shown in most movie theaters, including in IMAX and 3D.

I would give this movie a 2.5 out of 5 rating because of its revelations into the Harry Potter universe, but inaccessibility to most viewers.