Fantastic
Beasts and the Crimes of Grindelwald has
been one of the most highly anticipated films of the year, promising
a magical cinematic experience and for fans of Harry Potter and
Rowling's wizarding universe it is a look into the past of the
beloved characters that we have only been vaguely informed of.
However, for all of it's brilliant visual effects and talented cast I
would be lying to say that I wasn't slightly disappointed with
certain aspects of the film.
On
the whole it does a wonderful job of introducing a myriad of new
characters, a notable number of which are familiar (if younger) faces
of characters from the Harry
Potter series.
But with so many personalities all crammed into one film, the
narrative gets bogged down in backstory, overwhelmed with flashbacks
and expository dialogue. Everyone seems to spend the majority of
their time talking, and it begins to feel as though little actually
happens. The focus seems to be placed more upon the characters'
interpersonal relationships than the Crimes of Grindelwald, with all
of the main characters having troubled relationships with each other
that they seem to be preoccupied with rather than facing the more
pressing issue of a dark wizard who seeks world domination. Speaking
of said wizard, whilst Johnny Depp is a questionable choice of poster
boy for the franchise, he is certainly due some credit for his
portrayal of the titular wizard Grindelwald. He does an excellent job
of exuding a threatening air whilst also lending a great amount of
gravitas to the role. Similarly Jude Law makes for an absolutely
fantastic Dumbledore, and if anything I felt it was a shame that he
didn't get more screen time during this film.
The
references that the film makes towards the Harry Potter franchise are
at times as frustrating as they are endearing. Watching Law's
Dumbledore train his students to repel a boggart is a nice little nod
toward David Thewlis' Professor Lupin and The
Prizoner of Azkaban. However
in the process of watching Fantastic
Beasts it's
sometimes hard not to wonder how many name drops are really necessary
in the span of one film, or even whether some of the new characters
needed to be included at all. Nicholas Flamel seems to be a
throw-away appearance that serves the purpose of mild comic relief
(that isn't even very comical), and the inclusion of Nagini brings
nothing to the film at all. Aside from the much debated issue of
Rowling editing her source material in retrospect with regards to the
character, Nagini isn't given even a hint of a backstory, is
extremely lacking in personality and is only present as a companion
for Credence. The character adds nothing to the story and it's
questionable as to why Rowling felt the need to edit a character who
is ultimately inconsequential to the film. Also, as endearing as
Redmayne's Newt Scamander is, in the presence of such strong
characters as Grindelwald and Dumbledore his mild demeanor threatens
to make him fade into the background. It is only Depp and Law's
notable lack of screen time that keep Newt Scamander a noticeable
presence in the film, as well as the antics of his lovable
companions, human and otherwise. Admittedly this is one of the films
strong suits, so if you're looking for more scenes of Nifflers
causing amusing amounts of mischief then you'll find many parts of
this film thoroughly enjoyable.
Despite
all of the flaws that this film has, it does set up for what looks to
be a very exciting sequel. By the end of the film many characters
have made extremely unexpected choices that leave us wanting to know
exactly what they'll do next. The
Crimes of Grindelwald isn't
a bad film in itself, but suffers from that fact that it ultimately
feels like filler, connecting the dots between the first film and the
next one. The franchise as a whole seems to be building up to some
explosive magical events, but this film is hampered by the fact that
it feels like the middle installment in a trilogy, where the
characters are just trying to get from A to B and as a result it
feels like it is overly concerned with exposition and not much is
achieved by the film's end. However, this film is enjoyable for
what it is, light entertainment with excellent characters and visual
effects, and at the very least it will leave you excited to see what
comes next.
