A die-hard Harry Potter fan's review of Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald

It's easy to be really looking forward to this film. There are many reasons. The first one was good, and when JK Rowling announced that there would be five in the piece, and when you find out that Dumbledore will start playing a big role in a series that is likely to culminate in the defeat of the dark lord Grindelwald (hope that's not a spoiler) as early as in film 2, along with the fact that it's Rowling who is writing all of it, there's almost a Harry Potter-size adventure in store! 

Laying The Trap

The big-budget high-franchise trailer-makers these days have really refined the art. Of course the Ministry of Magic of the US cannot keep a hold of Grindelwald for very long! It's almost a case of them thinking they've got him when it is, in fact, he who has got them. That the action shifts across the Atlantic is welcome, closer to home, and ol' Grindey explodes into the film about his crimes as though he was annoyed to have been charmed to look like Colin Farrel in the first! 

Charm can also be used to describe Newt Scamander -- though he doesn't live in a charming world. Familiar. But not charming. His brother's basically a Bill-Percy hybrid, and is marrying the woman he (Newt) may love. Theseus is overbearing and also represents the Ministry, but in a twist, appreciates his beast-loving brother's ability. Leta, on the other hand, has a real mystery about her. It's not dark, as the Lestrange name may invoke, but you know it'll come into play. And then there are the oldies -- Tina, Jacob Kowalsky and Queenie, as well as the bowtruckle and niffler and all the others! Very soon, there's almost a gang together, with good, bad and bureaucrat all represented, before it's across the Channel to Paris.

His Plot, Her Feel

While the first film had an anthology feel to it, because it had to be seen as a spin-off of a larger more significant story, this one picks up in the thick of things. Grindelwald's threat is more political and ideological than Voldemort could ever manage, though his ends are just as evil. Dumbledore, for once, feels inferior. He may be more powerful, but he's also less influential, hamstrung and sequestered in his distant castle. That's not to say he has any less magic about him! Fans would insist that even then he should have been wizened, but Jude Law's Albus is a strapping glinting man - similar in disposition to Lupin at a moonless time of the month! He's also plotting. He knows the stakes, he knows the man -- and his man for the job is Newt.

Pacing had always been a problem in the Harry Potter films. This one deals with it much better. In Paris, bad things are afoot. And at the center of it all is an Obscurial who is searching for his past. This is not a world populated by kids shouting Expelliarmus at each other -- there's a lot of magic around. Fantastic beasts and black veil tornados appear wantonly on streets crowded with Muggles, without a wizard so much as bothering to hurl an Obliviate Totalum. There's a man who is hundreds of years old, with a familiar object in his cupboard. And there's another blast from the past that's somehow incredibly tragic -- a woman who would eventually turn into a snake, then a horcrux. 

As everyone galavants through Paris, with a lovely sequence in the French Ministry of Magic being one of the most Harry Potter-esque bits in the film, their paths begin to entwine. Heroes meet other heroes, villains meet other villains. They generally avoid each other, however, because everything has been one grand plan by Grindelwald. He essentially wants to spark a war, and his means, when revealed, are genius. 

Beyond The Veil

There are moments through the film that stretch things. The complex light show at the end is very DC Universe and it's still hard to be sure where Leta Lestrange fits into the grand scheme of things. Some continuity questions would also be hard to answer. And in a time and place where there's a lot of 'pure blood' debates going on, where are the Weasleys and the Malfoys? But from the perspective of delivering a stand-alone story while also planting plenty of seeds, Crimes of Grindelwald does the trick. There's also meaningful emotion. Love, which Dumbledore famously regards as the highest form of magic, is abundant, and so is loss -- thanks to fire, water and non-verbal green curses. 

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald is a constructive film. It poses questions and gets you to know the characters. It invests viewers in tightly knit family drama and there are many secrets. And it delivers a tantalising prospect at the end, namely, 'Is it fathomable that Dumbledore (Albus) should be running scared?'

Cast: Eddie Redmayne, Katherine Waterston, Ezra Miller, Zoe Kravitz, Johnny Depp

What works: A compelling villain, a low-key hero with lovable friends, a magnificent world, and hope for the future.

What doesn't: Abandoning tactics-based dueling for strength-vs-strength, and the convoluted past of Leta Lestrange -- high up there with RAB as the most controversial character in the series.

Rating: 4.25/5

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