I know this has probably been said before, but the movie just isn't going to ever be Harry Potter. The reason that film was so interesting for so long is because everything was new, and the characters were kids. It's hard to follow a movie filled with adults that is based on a call to adventure with magic. The plot is just far too grown up for us to be enthralled.

Newt is a rather tired character and so are his creatures, there is only so far these characters can go before we grow weary of them. The biggest seller of the movie was obviously Dumbledore and the chance at seeing what the magic world was like long before the reign of the "Slytherin heir" comes. The problem is this really doesn't bring much insight into the world of magic any more than fantastic beasts did, at least for most of the movie.

There are parts in it that ramp up and they do a good job but it's not the same magic as HP delivers. Grindelwald however I feel did a great job and wasn't too over the top or hard to believe and I found the few twists that were in the story was interesting at least. I dunno...it just leaves you wanting more which is ok for being the second movie in an otherwise long series, but each HP movie always had an interesting story of its own to tell, where as this one didn't feel like it did, it was more of a continuation of the first and it's still not over with.

I wont give it a bad rating but I'd say it doesn't live up to any expectations and there were some plot holes that need to be filled. I would say the animation and effects were much better than the first one at least in some parts, so that's something to look forward to. I'm hoping moving forward this series really starts diving into core characters and gives them some serious development and backstory because they are far too interesting to leave out like they did in this one. Grindelwald is interesting sure but the other characters are basically forgetable aside from he and dumbledore.