Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald (DVD 2018)

The next steps in the story of Newt Scamander and the people he has drawn to himself and the fight with Gellert Grindelwald and we get to see the younger versions of several characters in later stories. There's bravery and betrayal and an amazing Art Nouveau set for the Paris office.

In 1927, the Magical Congress of the United States of America (MACUSA) is transferring the powerful dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald to London to be tried for his crimes. Grindelwald escapes, helped by Abernathy. Three months later in London, Newt Scamander runs into Leta Lestrange, an old Hogwarts

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classmate now engaged to his Auror brother, Theseus. Newt's American friends, Queenie Goldstein and Jacob Kowalski, visit him unexpectedly. Jacob has retained most of his memories from the 1926 Obliviation order in New York. Queenie tells Newt that she and Jacob have followed her sister, Tina, to Europe; Tina is searching for Credence in Paris. Queenie says that Tina believes Newt is betrothed to Leta Lestrange. In Paris, Tina searches for Credence at the Circus Arcanus. Credence and a circus freak named Nagini escape after causing a distraction. While searching for Credence's birth mother, he and Nagini locate the servant who put him up for adoption. Newt and Tina infiltrate the French Ministry of Magic for documents that can confirm Credence's identity but the pair is discovered by Leta and Theseus. Grindelwald preaches against laws forcing wizards to be hidden from muggles, and utilizes future images of World War II to call for worldwide wizard supremacy and domination. At Hogwarts, Newt gives Dumbledore a vial stolen from Grindelwald. It contains the blood pact that Grindelwald and Dumbledore, once close friends, made with one another in their youth.A baby bird that Credence had been caring for is revealed to be a phoenix, a bird associated with the Dumbledore family.
Review: Exciting and intriguing, the story continues the adventures of Newt, although this time with very few beasts. I hated it that Queenie and Jacob are estranged.

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Did no one have the courage to tell JK Rowling her screenplay stunk? That no amount of talented actors or special effects can make up for the lack of a decent plot? That the rule for writing a screenplay is "show, don't tell"? More than anything, this reminds me of Peter Jackson's bloated,

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worthless Hobbit trilogy, which appears to have been stretched out to interminable length for no other reason than to make money. Perhaps Jackson is even more to blame, since he has proven that he CAN make good movies if he wants to. I guess the actors in Grindelwald couldn't rebel--I hope they were paid well. Katherine Waterston should be especially POed. She went from costar to basically a minor player in this one, and she has the worst outfit of anyone! I won't fault Johnny Depp too much. HIs character talks way too much and looks pretty stupid, but I blame Rowling for that. At least he comes up with a nice British accent and has some amount of presence--actually, it's a shame he didn't play Voldemort, who could have used a little more charisma. But again, to reiterate, the absolute worst thing about this film is that despite all the action, all the plot happens with people talking and giving these long explications of things that only the most devout Harry Potter fanatic could care about. All the human interaction and playfulness of the first film is gone. And of course, all it does it set us up for another sequel. I'm afraid, however, that rather than getting the comeuppance she deserves, Rowling's megalomania will only expand. Perhaps she will direct the next picture, also. I won't be watching if she writes OR directs.

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A big, satisfying step up from the OK-but-nothing-special first installment. Scamander actually gets to be cool and impressive, Dumbledore is awesome, and Grindelwald is a hundred times more interesting than Voldemort ever was. The movie struggles a bit with its central mysteries and plots all

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hinging on the same dull and uninteresting character of Credence, and like the first one has moments where you feel it gets lost in its pointless parade of magical creatures in a desperate attempt to live up to the (otherwise completely irrelevant at this point) series title. But other than that, I was quite happy with it, and I didn't expect to be (so note the low expectations -- they obviously played a part. But my expectations were low for the first film as well.) I'm surprised to say it, but I'm now looking forward to volume 3!

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This was often very confusing - who was who, what it was all about. I enjoyed the first film a lot but what I liked about it Newt's compassion and kindness was downplayed in this. Disappointed.