The most brutal crimes of Grindelwald

Fantastic Beasts: The Grindelwald Crimes is the second installment of J.K. De Rowling Fantastic beasts franchise; an arch of 5 films that takes us back to the wizarding world of his creation, focusing on the black wizard, Grindelwald, who comes to power. Rowling has been diligently trying to incorporate as many links to the Harry Potter possible universe, some links being more tenuous than others. Then there is the controversy around the casting of Johnny Depp in Grindelwald; something that does not sit much with much, given its off-screen turbulent behavior.

Rowling is also trying to tell several stories of characters at once. the complex relationship between Albus Dumbledore (Jude Law) and Grindelwald; Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) continued his research on the existence of magical creatures and the tortured existence of Credence Barebone (Ezra Miller). The result is that The crimes of Grindelwald has already become the worst magazine Harry Potter movie. Although the odds of success are good at the box office with dedicated fans, critics of the review are worrisome given that there are still 3 films to come. We have gathered some of the most severe criticisms.

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Mashable (Angie Han)

Crimes of Grindelwald feels half-assed at all levels, from the character's motives to building the world. This version of Paris has nothing specific or special about it. you will find a more magical representation of the city on any postcard at 99 cents. Our returning heroes feel less familiar than when they were introduced to the latest film, thanks to a series of bewildering decisions.

And even if it is possible, if you dive your eyes, to highlight some of the deeper themes at play here, such as the attraction of the family, the weight of regret and the dark attraction of fear, the true driving force behind Crimes of Grindelwald seems to be a burning desire to set up a sequel. If only he had had the trouble to make me want to see one.

IndieWire (Kate Erbland)

In its second outing, cracks begin to appear in J.K. Rowling's highly followed series Harry Potter, a franchise that is at the mercy of sloppy planning (these movies are concocted from various elements of the "Wizarding World", not isolated novels) and the kind of higher decree that promised five movies (five!) before the first one of the theaters to success. It's a long time to complete, and if the second film of the franchise gives a boost to his story, it is at the expense of an inflated and fuzzy scenario.

Rowling seems to play fans in the finest possible way, incorporating stories that require prior knowledge to fully appreciate them. The indoctrinated ones will be confused; the admirers, disappointed.

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Variety (Andrew Barker)

Unfortunately, even the most meticulous world building only accounts for half of the trip. you still have to populate this world with real characters and fascinating stories, and that's the second half of the equation that's missing in Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald.

The film sends us a lot of twists, loud noises and multicolored magic nebulae, but there is rarely a lot of tension, adventures or real aspirations, just the feeling of looking at a room after being moved. The Harry Potter saga was also likely to become more and more overloaded with intrigue plots in his latest episodes, but this series had the considerable investment that his audience had invested in watching these characters grow. – and in many cases grow with them.

Daily Telegraph (Robbie Collin)

But all about The crimes of Grindelwald is introverted and self-referential: it recalls an epic game of "join-the-dots" that is played through a multitude of unpublished appendices and footnotes. The result is one of the most serious cases of prequel-itis since Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, in which, instead of ordinary narration, a chess game of characters and objects is rearranged with agitation in the space of two hours plus changes, in order to pave the way for further events.

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i09 (Germain Lussier)

Things have been established. This must remain alone. He must have an interesting story with dynamic characters and only tangentially tease towards future movies that may or may not happen. However, Rowling's script goes in the opposite direction. Fantastic Beasts: The Grindelwald Crimes is even less anxious to tell a concise and satisfying story than his predecessor. What is worse is almost every turn, the film weaves broad strokes created solely to prepare the next film, some of which add to what is actually happening on the screen.

The crimes of Grindelwald do not care about the movie you are watching. It is filled with weird and boring coincidences or unexplained connections that feel unnecessarily lazy.

New York Times (Manohla Dargis)

On the page, Rowling is a storyteller emeritus, who creates universes so rich in population and dense texture that you can easily evoke them in your mind without ever having watched a single adaptation of his work. What sometimes drives it is the structure of the plot – the disposition of all its attractive and swirling parts. Steve Kloves, who wrote all but one book Harry Potter films, was gifted to give a cinematic form to Rowling's longer and longer novels, with all their detours and tasty details. However, here Rowling has submitted to her maximalist tendencies and has so cluttered the story that you spend too much time trying to unravel who did what to whom and why.

The primary comment of these critics is that Rowling did The crimes of Grindelwald too crowded, and the story suffered. To hear this is a disappointment. Rowling masters perfectly creating complex and captivating stories, but it seems that this time she has included too many characters and that it is too difficult to tell all their stories. The question now is whether it will keep all these characters in place or whether Newt, Tina, Jacob and others will play a less important role as Fantastic beasts does the franchise focus on Grindelwald, Dumbledore and Credence?

Next: Harry Potter's Fantastic Beasts & Different Grindelwalds: A Timeline Problem

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fantastic beasts and where to find them 2

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