So I watched Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald opening night last week. I have been putting off writing a review because this is a difficult one to write for me. I am a big Harry Potter nerd so I am a tad bit biased when it comes to the franchise. That being said trying to be as objective as possible this was not a great movie. It was not bad, but it had many glaring errors.

The plot of the movie of course follows Newt Scamander and his gang as they attempt to solve a mystery and save the day. Macguffins are introduced, battles are fought, mysteries are solved, and characters develop and change. Of course the actual conflict of the movie deals with the escalation of Grindelwald and his militant force and the wizarding world. The plot certainly has a very dark tone and has ample amounts of magic and intrigue to keep any Potter fan entertained. There are also a few Harry Potter lore Easter eggs that were fun to spot. The movie provided a number of twists and turns that no one could see coming and has really made me want to see how the series ends.

Unfortunately the plot was also a mess. The film tries to do entirely too much in the span of two hours. The film introduces a wide and almost unnecessary assortment of cast members that just convolute the narrative. At any time there are multiple storylines being told that all come together eventually, but it all feels too big for a screen and unnecessary. This jumbled narrative really created a pacing problem that slowed down and made parts of the movie boring. Boring is something that should never be synonymous with the Harry Potter world. I don't want to ruin anything for anyone, but there were just too many parts of the movie that felt unnecessary and unexplained. Ultimately this film wanted to be Empire Strikes Back, but it felt more like the Attack of the Clones.

As I said the also film introduces a large assortment of secondary cast, but very little is put into explaining who they are or their motivations. I would have preferred a smaller cast that we could really focus on instead of a rogues gallery of characters we don't care about. Ultimately a few characters and their motivations never really materialized, so the viewer is just left guessing.

It should be noted that the story was written by JK Rowling. A lot of the flaws in this film come from the fact that it would have done so much better as a book. JK Rowling just wrote herself into a corner with a jumbled plot line that feels entirely too much like a segment of a larger movie than a complete story. It's tough because I'm sure a lot of these questions and characters will be fleshed out in the next film. As it stands though as a stand alone film it suffered from many of the same errors as the first Fantastic Beasts.

That certainly doesn't mean it wasn't fun at times. I absolutely love Newt as a character. Eddie Redmayne is a great actor and he really brings Newt to life as the neurotic and withdrawn hero. I also genuinely find his gang of allies to be funny and likable as a whole. It was great seeing the development between Dumbledore and Grindelwald. Of course their conflict is what we are all sticking around for. The film did flesh out both of these characters a bit more making them feel human and relatable. There is not a Harry Potter fan on the planet that will not have their heart melt when Dumbledore looks into the Mirror of Erised. Turns out Dumbledore desires more than a nice pair of socks.

There was also some excellent World building done in the movie. One of the reasons I love the Harry Potter franchise is the world that it creates. The settings of the film were wide and diverse and were a treat to see. Seeing the Ministry and the other wizard cities was all around fun and immersive. We also got to finally visit Hogwarts again which is always nice. The movie certainly expands on that World by introducing and building a upon establish lore. The movie also had a giant twist ending that will leave any Harry Potter fan begging to know more.

I actually liked Johnny Depp as Grindelwald as well. He was a Magneto style villain who did bad things, but you could almost understand his reasoning. He wasn't like Voldemort, he didn't rule by fear but by charismatic authority and pushing Wizards superiority. He wants to stop the unwanted death and destruction that mankind is capable of in wars like WW2 and protect Wizards from destruction. He was overall a great complex villain and I look forward to seeing more of him in the series.

Directing wise the movie was well done overall. David Yates has been at the Harry Potter franchise long enough to know how to capture fun and interesting magic. There were truly some very interesting uses of magic in the movie that we have never seen before. Grindelwald in particular showed why he is such a feared adversary with his brutal magic skills.

Animation and sound were spot-on as always. The Fantastic Beasts were quite fantastic and helped to immerse you into the world. The score also provided a nice range from whimsical to dark and tense. I really can't complain about any of the technical aspects of the movie.

So all-in-all the movie was a bit of a mixed bag. I loved the world building and the conflict between Dumbledore and Grindelwald. The movie provided some much-needed lore building and established an overarching central conflict. As a fan of the world I really like what the series could evolve into, but as a standalone film it really drops the ball. Unfortunately the movie was also a tad bit too ambitious and it just had too much going on for its own good. While it was an improvement over the first Fantastic Beasts, it still fell short of the magic of the original Harry Potter series. A 6.75 out of 10.