Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald - review (3 out of 5)

I felt a bit lonely two years ago when the first Fantastic Beasts film appeared, as many critics were less than kind and some outright anti the movie.
Fantastic Beasts 2Fantastic Beasts 2
Fantastic Beasts 2

However, I rather enjoyed it and got caught up in the story and the final reveal.

I can’t say that enthusiasm is quite matched with this second instalment, though.

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We’ve moved away from concentrating on the fantastic beasts and turned more to the exploits of Grindelwald as he attempts to turn the world into a place solely for magicians.

There’s also the continuing story of who Credence Barebone is as everyone seems to be either keen to get him on their side or bump him off.

Some of the other characters from that first film reappear but feel a bit more incidental.

This definitely seems to be aimed at the Harry Potter purists as names and incidents are mentioned that will have some scurrying to JK Rowling’s books to check the references.

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There’s plenty of amazing special ‘magical’ effects and great action scenes and the cast certainly come up trumps with Eddie Redmayne (Newt Scamander) and Jude Law (Albus Dumbledore) leading the charge.

Johnny Depp (Grindelwald) is menacing and unusually reserved which is good for the role.

Overall, there’s plenty to commend this part two of the saga and sets the scene for what should be an exciting third movie.

Film details: Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald (12A) 134mins

Director: David Yates

Starring: Eddie Redmayne, Katherine Waterston, Jude Law

Screening courtesy of Horsham Capitol