There's a new movie in the Fantastic Beasts franchise. I went to see it, and it was an interesting experience.
If it's not a good game or Catholic...who do you call?...why Pokematic "hi."
If you didn't know, I'm a fan of the Harry Potter series (see Truth About Harry Potter, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 and Part 2 reviews, Everything Wrong With Cinemasins Harry Potter, and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them review). I also really enjoy "world building stories" for franchises I enjoy; yes, the story of a boy wizard who has to take down the most evil wizard in the world is quite interesting, but we only ever really see the school with very brief glimpses at the world J.K. Rowling built. The whole "here's the world outside of Hogwarts" thing along with "here are skilled adult wizards who aren't still learning magic" thing is what made me really like the original Fantastic Beasts movie. So with this new entry in the Fantastic Beasts franchise, I was really interested, so lets see what was in store for us.
So with this movie, I'm very torn. Like, super SUPER torn as to if I like this or not. On one hand, I think it's a great world building film that showcases some familiar characters long before Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone with excellent world building, but on the other hand it's a real mess of a film. And this isn't just me saying "should I be a good critic and say it was bad, or should I be a good Harry Potter fanboy and say it was good?" No, I'm not about that; I give you my opinion and don't try to please a fan group whom I belong to by being disingenuous. No, I am really REALLY torn as to if I liked it or disliked it. So let me break this down.
As far as the like goes, I really liked the world building. As I said earlier, the Harry Potter books and movies are good, but they only really take place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (or forests if you're Deathly Hallows). We briefly see the world outside Hogwarts when they go to Diagon Alley, or the Ministry of Magic, or other single areas, but we don't really see what magical people do outside of going to school, or how they interact with Muggles/No Maj's. With Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, we see the adult world of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and it's great. In this movie, we get more of that. We're back with Newt Scamander, the eccentric wizard who has a real fondness for magical beasts, and his fantastic beasts and animals. He travels to various different real world locations (like France) to deal with the story's conflict. We also have a return of Jacob Kowalski, the American No Maj who befriended Newt and fell in love with Queenie, who provides some good comic relief and acts as the audience for the exposition of world building with how the different magical things work. So far all of this is really awesome. We also get duels between experienced adult wizards, which makes for some REALLY awesome fight scenes, because "they're experienced adults; these aren't kids yelling simple spells at each other that don't cause major damage." The stakes are much higher in this film compared to pretty much the first half of the Harry Potter series (and maybe all the way up to book/movie 6).
Now there's the call backs. I'm not spoiling anything when I say a younger Dumbledoor is in this movie (he's in the trailers). In the Harry Potter movies Dumbledoor is this old and powerful mentor figure to Harry who knows a great deal but doesn't really do much beyond imparting some words of wisdom at key points in Harry's learning (at least in the first 4 books/movies), and is rather distant in terms of his relationship with Harry (again, at least for the first 4-5 books/movies). With this Dumbledoor, while he doesn't do a whole lot either (side character, not main character), not only do we learn more about his past, we also see him in a "less super powerful" light. Yes, he still has this air of power, but it's not "I'm the head master of this school, I do whatever I want because my word is law." He's a friend of Newt, and they talk as equals. He disagrees with authority figures, and he's not really able to say "you have no power here, get lost." There are also brief mentions of his past that were only discussed in the books, which was a nice touch to the loyal fans. We also see at least 2 other familiar names, just either with a younger face or a face for the first time. We also see many major plot elements from Sorcerer's Stone show up as cameos. That was really cool.
Now for the bad, which SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS
So this movie is about...I really don't know. It starts out as a story about tracking down the escaped criminal Grindelwald, who escaped in transport, and that lasts for a good 10 minutes. Then it changes focus to this "side show freak" (that's what his job was, he worked in a traveling side show as one of the displays) and what his past is, and if he's a "chosen one for evil" person with the Ministry of Magic going after him and trying to kill him. Then it starts going on about Leta Lastrange, who's marrying Newt's brother and Newt was her only friend back in Hogwarts and her story or something. An then it starts talking about Grindelwald and how he's not necessarily evil because he isn't shown hurting anyone maliciously, it's really the Ministry of Magic and Aorer's that are the bad guys. And about 2/3 of the way through the movie I just asked myself "what is going on?" Like, I'm generally really good at following stories, but I just reached a point where I'm just like "isn't this movie about Grindelwald?" Like, OK, I can buy that Voldemort doesn't do much in the Harry Potter series except for right at the ends, and the Harry Potter titles generally didn't do a whole lot with the entry as a whole (the sorcerer's stone was the end McGuffin, the goblet of fire was just something to aid in the tri-wizard tournament, the deathly hallows was a story in a book that gave some hints to what Voldemort was up to but not much, etc.), but to call this "the Crimes of Grindelwald" and have it open as it did was just a little confusing if you ask me. It just kind of goes in too many directions and tries to develop too many character stories if you ask me. It does somewhat come together but I just don't really get it.
SPOILERS OVER.
I don't know, maybe if I watch it again I'll be able to figure out what's going on. I might need to rent it when it comes out on home media. It's really hard for me to say "you should see this" or "you should pass on this." I guess if you're a "serious movie viewer with a critical eye," then you should probably pass on this one. I guess if you're a major fan of the Harry Potter universe you'll enjoy seeing familiar characters and an expanded world outside of Hogwarts and should see it. However, if you're somewhere inbetween, maybe wait for a rental or see a cheap matinee? I mean, I think I got my $5 worth. I don't know. What I do know, is it has been WAY too long since I've been to non-fathom movies. This has been Pokematic, signing off, and bu-bye.
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