The movie is called Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald. I have two major issues with that title. Firstly, this movie doesn't have anywhere close to as many fantastic beasts as it should; and secondly, (aside from escaping prison in the opening sequence) I'm not particularly certain what Grindelwald's crimes even were. Isn't these two supposed to be prominent elements given that they make up the title. But no, that's not what this movie is about. What this movie is about is getting from film 1 to film 3. One of the major problems is that this movie is packed full of plots and sub-plots to the point where you couldn't always understand, or even care, about what was happening. There are so many characters, each of them with their own underdeveloped storylines, that it became difficult to follow. Even when there was a major reveal at the end of the film, It was supposed to be a huge moment, but by that stage you didn't really care anymore. There was so much exposition! The performers, sadly were not served well by the script. Some of them managed to still give good performances nevertheless. Zoe Kravitz I enjoyed very much as Lita Lestrange. I thought Jude Law was an excellent casting as the young Dumbledore. Johnny Depp as Grindelwald was good too. I was, however, very disappointedwith Eddie Redmayne as Newt Scamander. he's just a rubbish character. I was also disappointed with Ezra Miller as Credence. His character's journey to discover his true identity is arguably the most important plot in the film, yet he was totally devoid of any charisma. As for the likes of Tina, Jacob and Queenie their returning characters have odd sub-plots that don't really go anywhere. They felt like characters that, having featured in the first film, had to be there, but play no major role in the main story.

Despite all of the problems that the film possesses, there were some positives the film also provided. I thought the score was very good. In particular there's a sequence when we see flashbacks to Hogwarts, where the old familiar music played. That was nice nostalgia. In fact the whole sequence at Hogwarts was great. I also liked the little twig-like creature called Pick that Newt carried around in his pocket. The movie's greatest strength however was most certainly its visual effects. there are some scenes on the streets of Paris which looked magical. I thought the opening escape sequence was really good. There was also a big flame based sequence near the end of the film which looked amazing. Overall, if not for the film's entertainment value, there's nothing interesting as the story was pretty much all filler.