Ok, I might be a bit biased as I’m a lifelong Harry Potter fan (both films and books) so I’ll try to be as objective as possible in my review of this film. Biases aside, I really enjoyed the second installment of Fantastic Beasts. Even though it hasn’t done as well in the box office as expected, It’s a well made film with a strong storyline. It picks up 6 months after the last film left us. WARNING: SOME SPOILERS AHEAD. Grindelwald is still being held by the America Ministry of Magic and is being transferred to a faculty with higher security. During his transfer he escapes and flees to Europe. What we are not aware of from the last Fantastic Beasts film, is that Credance (the obscurus) has survived. Credance is also in Europe looking for his real birth family. It becomes clear that Grindelwald’s objective is to get Credance to side with his cause. Credance who has survived so long as an obscurus (when most die before the age of 10) is a very powerful wizard. It is left up to the original team, Newt Scamander, Tina Goldstein, Jacob Kowalski, Queenie Goldstein, to help save Credance from those who want to destroy him and from joining Grindelwald’s Army.
The CGI is great! This film is full of wizarding duels and new fantastic beasts (as well as some old ones from the first film). Without CGI this film would be a bust and you would just have a bunch of actors and actresses running around with sticks. I have to mention that Grindelwald’s magical duels and spells are particularly outstanding. This film really casts the wizard in a dark light, showing just how powerful he is and how much of a threat he was to the wizarding world in the early 20th century. I wasn’t so impressed with the fact that they had casted Johnny Depp in the first Fantastic Beasts film as Grindelwald. He is such a well-known actor that I was worried we would be watching Johnny Depp instead of the character himself. However this wasn’t the case in the second installment of Fantastic Beasts. Johnny Depp was able to remove his trademark quirks and really become this terrifying wizard. NOTE: he will never be as scary as Voldemort. Sorry Johnny! Someone I did struggle to see past was actually Jude Law as Dumbledore. This might be because Michael Gambon’s Dumbledore is so iconic that it’s hard for anyone else to convincingly play him. I could see that Jude Law was trying to portray the mannerisms Gambon had used in the Harry Potter films so we could relate however it was lacking for me. I haven’t written him off yet though, I’m excited to see what Jude Law will produce in the third installment.
As always, I loved how they keep referencing the wizarding world that we already know and love. It brings a familiarity; a sort of comfort. The use of the word Muggles, references to characters like Nicholas Flamel, it all brings an instant understanding to the story for the audience. That is of course if the audience has retained as much detail as “diehard” Potter fans otherwise it would go straight over their heads. Something I did notice was that the wizards in Fantastic Beasts don’t seem to have to speak the enchantment of the killing curse. It was used quite a lot and they did keep the green flash that comes with the spell but not at any point did anyone actually speak the words “Avada Kedavra”. I’m not to sure about this decision but maybe there is an explanation that will come in time with the sequels.
Of course, I cannot finish this review without giving some sort of mention to the ending of the film. I won’t give it away but obviously the ending has caused a riffed amongst the Harry Potter fans. Some will love it and some will hate it. Those that hate it will claim that it can’t happen because it hasn’t been mentioned in the original books, etc. I for one do not hate it, I love it. Why? Because it’s exciting and it draws me in more to find out what has happened and what is going to happen. To those who think it’s nonsense because it hasn’t been mentioned sooner in the original Harry Potter books need to realise that these storylines have been in J.K Rowling’s brain since the beginning. There is so much she didn’t include in the original books because it would have made them even bigger than they ended up being. She is writing the stories for the Fantastic Beasts films, she is telling us the history of the wizarding world as she has always known it to be. These are her stories and she can tell them when she wants. So, I guess what I am saying is ‘Get Over It!’ and be thankful she is sharing with us this world she has created and is now inviting us in (again) to see.
Overall, the film was fantastic and I can’t wait to see the next installment. Word of warning though, the cinema was full of little kids some of which started to cry when it got a bit violent. The film is rated “M” for a reason, some kids shouldn’t see this at such a young age. Death is a big part of these films.
Mean Productions 