Harry Potter

• Title: Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald
• IMDb: link

The sequel to Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them spends most of the first half-hour getting the previous film’s major characters together once again. Mixing in a younger Albus Dumbledore (Jude Law) and introducing, but failing to develop, Johnny Depp as the villain Grindelwald, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald then attempts to steal a bit of the magic from the Harry Potter films.

While it provides more imaginative creatures and amusing awkwardness from Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne), the film is littered with problems including an awkwardly-structured plot, a ponderous opening act, a disinterest to do anything more than hint at the core relationship that fuels the plot, and a lack of any sort of conclusion.

Much like the previous film, The Crimes of Grindelwald offers fun, but mostly forgettable, entertainment. There are some nice additions here, including Law as the younger Dumbledore and Zoë Kravitz as a woman with feelings for both the Scamander brothers, but the script fails to make the best use of the talent at hand.

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• Title: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
• IMDb: link

Harry Potter Lite? Based on the spin-off novella by J.K. Rowling, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is the first Harry Potter movie without Harry Potter. Taking place decades before Harry’s birth, the story is set in New York with wizard Newt Scamander’s (Eddie Redmayne) arrival in the city with a suitcase full of magical creatures. When some of Scamander’s creatures escape he attempts to hunt them down with the help of some new friends.

The beasts themselves, in all shapes, colors and sizes, are certainly one of the film’s strengths. So to are Redmayne and Dan Fogler as Jacob Kowalski (the non-magical would-be baker who literally stumbles into a world of magic he never knew existed). However, the prequel isn’t without its problems.

First, the film is too long given its simplistic setup. Feeling every bit its 133-minute running time, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them drags in several spots with more than 45 minutes which could be trimmed from its bloated carcass. Even with all this extra filler the film doesn’t feel fully formed as half the work here is, of course, to set-up in inevitable sequels.

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