Being a fan of the Harry Potter film franchise for as long as I can remember, I've been looking forward to this expansion of this Wizarding World that has been created by J.K. Rowling. I enjoyed the first film, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, but I was looking for a little more material to latch onto. It felt a little too light on the story the first time around. Sadly, I have to say that Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald does the exact opposite of that, overstuffing storylines that will definitely confuse many average viewers. I understood most of the references throughout the movie, but I believe this an example of an extremely talented writer who's trying to expand her world while also trying to stick to her roots, which may hurt this new franchise as a whole.

Grindelwald (Johnny Depp) is hunting for followers, a young Dumbledore (Jude Law) confides in Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne), Credence (Ezra Miller) searches for his belonging in this world, Jacob (Dan Fogler) struggles to fit in, and countless additional storylines all clash together to form the plot of this film. It almost feels like an episode of Game of Thrones, as the movie constantly jumps from location to location, focussing on each of these characters, which didn't really work as a feature film. This movie tries very hard to be a faithful sequel to Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, while also trying to introduce new elements, but also getting caught up in tying into the Harry Potter franchise. It's almost as if J.K. Rowling was worried about not pleasing enough of the fans, so she kept returning to her script and adding more elements for future instalments. This brings me to my biggest complaint.

Rowling clearly knows where she wants this story to go, but the fact that this movie is a series of loose ends that are all still left unanswered by the time the credits began to roll was quite frustrating. The worst movies in a series of films are the ones that solely feel like a set-up for future instalments and that's honestly all I felt this film was. We got to know a little more about each of the important characters and then the film ended. Revelations conclude this film and leave you wanting more of certain story arcs, and even though I'll be in the theatre for the next film, based solely on my curiosity, this particular film didn't work very well for me. The story going in so many directions made it a pretty boring experience in my opinion.

Eddie Redmayne, Dan Fogler, Katherine Waterston, Alison Sudol, and Ezra Miller all return and work very well in their respective roles, but it truly was the additions of Jude Law and Johnny Depp that stood out to me. Although Depp isn't as revered as he used to be by fans, I thought his performance was very enjoyable. I thoroughly enjoyed Law's portrayal of Albus Dumbledore as well, but there wasn't enough of him. For how much this story ties into his backstory, I figured his screen presence would be much larger. This film advertises itself as an instalment with the majority of it taking place back at Hogwarts, but that's simply not the case. Only when the story demanded it was it to be shown, which was a letdown in my opinion.

In the end, the ambitions of J.K. Rowling still leap off the screen and will dazzle many audiences around the world, the score stood out as a highlight to me, and the promising future for this franchise is definitely felt throughout the final moments of this film. That being said, there are too many plot lines to fully enjoy this experience and too many new characters that take away from the story that was set up in the first film. As a standalone movie, it doesn't work at all, but it's a fine watch if your knowledge of every previous film is the first thing on your mind throughout your entire viewing experience. Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald is a film that promises a lot in the future, but doesn't quite work as its own film. I walked out pretty disappointed, but also hopeful.