When the first Fantastic Beasts came out I was one of the few people who I know who loved it. Sure, the plot was kind of thin, but it was the lovable characters who brought it to life. It had a slow whimsical magic to it that felt right at home with the HP saga. But not everyone wants a slow magical movie, so the Grindelwald saga needed to be attached to this and this movie is it's true stepping off point.

This one leaves off 1 year after the previous movie with Newt banned from traveling, Tina off in France hunting Credence, Queenie and Jacob back together with some complications. The start is really strong and you are ready for another 2 hour adventure with the gang from the first movie, but then they introduce 8 more characters and their stories. There's Leta and Newt's brother pursuing the dark wizard, the ministry vs Dumbledore (again), Credence and his new friend Nagini trying to find his mother, Grindelwald starting his revolution, and a mystery man who Tina meets. This movie has no less than 5 plots going on at once.

Infinity War this year showed that a movie like that with 4 different groups of characters can work if paced and written well. Crimes just has too much going on for what should be a simple story. You'd think that the lead characters of Newt and Tina would be one of the focuses of the movie, but with the 4 other stories going on they feel relegated to tertiary characters.

That said, there is still bits of that same magic that made the first good. Jude Law as a younger Dumbledore is spot on casting, you can see bits of him becoming a future Michael Gambon. It's sad he gets so little screen time with them having 4 other stories going on. The original characters are still good, but there's just so little of them. There are some fun moments with Newt's beasts, the nifflers are back as well new ones like the Kappa.

Overall it's not a bad movie, it just got a little too much going on to be a great one. With 3 more planned movies, I'm kind of hoping that JK lets someone else take over the screenwriting duties with her making the story and giving input. She is a great novel writer, but a so-so screenwriter. The next movie just needs to focus itself a bit better and it will be a much more complete package. The magic is still there, it just needs some refinement to be truly great again.