First of all, I absolutely love the Harry Potter universe and liked the first Fantastic Beasts film. I love Newt, being such a unique and refreshing male lead and I was super excited about going to see the film. I was absolutely ready to be thrown back into this world and learn some new things about favourite characters. Saw it yesterday and left the cinema confused, disappointed and frustrated. I will try not to repeat what a lot of other people have said. There is no real plot, it's difficult to follow and even more difficult to care about any of the many characters which are being introduced and where each of their sub plots lead. The whole thing feel completely unrealistic (i know, it's a film about wizards, but it worked in Harry Potter didn't it?) and like someone has pushed a beautiful, moving story through the Hollywood action machine that caters for people with a non existing attention span and throws in an explosion every few minutes to keep them awake. More than being excited or shocked about a few reveals I felt like they are now meddling with the Harry Potter storyline just for the sake of it. The film had about 9 meaningful minutes, maybe less, and the rest was filled up with a bombardment of loud, messy and unnecessary action scenes that just didn't feel right. The subtlety that I love so much in the Harry Potter films, the feeling that this world could really exist and makes you feel all warm and home is completely extinct here. I give 1 Star to Eddie Redmayne and his amazing portrayal of a truly unique, non-stereotypical male lead character. 1 Star to Johnny Depp whose portrayal of Grindelwald (whenever he did get a little bit of screen time) was brilliant and his "speech" towards the end of the film was one of the only moments that really held my attention. And 1 star shared between a nicely acted young Albus Dumbledore and the Niffler! Who doesn't love the Niffler?

I wish the film had consisted of many more calmer, reflective moments. I could have listened to young Dumbledore for ages, I also would have enjoyed more tender moments of Grindelwald, showing his world and what really motivates him. If this had been 80% substantial character development and 20% action scenes it could have been a wonderful, moving film. Instead it's the other way round and felt like watching Godzilla who ended up in the Harry Potter world.