Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald review – A beast without a roar

Is your wand ready? Well, it might get flaccid soon.

While there’s no denying that the second instalment of the Fantastic Beasts franchise delivers magic, more beasts, and the rise of the dark arts – whether you’re a calm Hufflepuff, a clever Ravenclaw, a brave Gryffindor, or a shrewd Slytherin (or just a normal muggle living on planet earth) – it also stumbles on its own hype.

The film feels like a slump in the franchise, where there’s so much more about the wizarding world we deserve to know, but instead, more time is spent setting up the rest of the story, not allowing viewers to enjoy this instalment.

It certainly has a number of aspects that makes it charming, starting, of course, with Eddie Radmayne’s lovably bumbly Newt Scamander, who is tasked by Albus Dumbledore to fight against the dark wizard of the time.

While the new adventure reunites Newt with Nogmag Jacob, Queenie and Tina Goldstein, it’s still ineffective. These characters who made the first instalment so much fun and gave it so much heart, almost becomes props.

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald. Picture: Warner Bros

It’s sad because most people are already familiar with them and, instead, a lot of the film’s run is spent giving backstories to other characters, creating an odd rip between the first and second film.

In The Crimes of Grindelwald, the core story is focused on Ezra Miller’s character Credence Barebone (Miller is a hot commodity in Hollywood so, of course, he’s resurrected) and Gellert Grindelwald and the good against evil show-off between Scamander and the rest of them.

There are twists, turns and dragon rides – which are all impressive – but in terms of the story, this one is almost as cold as a Hogwarts winter.

This year can easily be known as the year of the blockbuster, with films like Avengers, Ant-Man and the Wasp and Incredibles 2 showing how sequels should play out – expanding on a story most already know – instead of almost starting a new storyline entirely.

One thing David Yates did deliver is a film that again shows how imaginative JK Rowling’s world is.

Info

Rating: ★★★☆☆
Starring: Eddie Radmayne, Ezra Miller and Johnny Depp.
Director: David Yates.

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