In an effort to thwart Grindelwald's plans of raising pure-blood wizards to rule over all non-magical beings, Albus Dumbledore enlists his former student Newt Scamander, who agrees to help, unaware of the dangers that lie ahead. Lines are drawn as love and loyalty are tested, even among the truest friends and family, in an increasingly divided wizarding world.
Director: David Yates
Cast: Eddie Redmayne, Katherine Waterston, Dan Fogler, Alison Sudol, Ezra Miller, Zoë Kravitz, Callum Turner, Claudia Kim, William Nadylam, Kevin Guthrie, Jude Law, Johnny Depp
Release Date: November 16, 2018
Genres: Adventure , Family , Fantasy
Rated PG-13 for some sequences of fantasy action
Runtime: 2h 14 min
Review:
I’ll start with a disclaimer; I’ve never been a die hard Harry Potter fan. It’s a series that I warmed up too as the stories got more mature but I’d be lying if I said I loved them. I appreciate them on multiple levels but if I never saw another film in the universe I’d be ok. I enjoyed the first Fantastic Beast film because it was an enjoyable jaunt with some likeable characters starting with Eddie Redmayne’s Newt Scamander. In this entry, Redmayne has clearly nailed the character and he’s even more likeable this go around even though he’s not the primary focus. A large cast of returning faces and new faces, like Johnny Depp’s titular Grindelwald and Jude Law’s Albus Dumbledore, make this film feel much larger and busier than the first entry. The movie is never uninteresting but it does feel like there are multiple story lines jammed into this entry with a hefty amount of exposition setting up future entries. David Yates film clearly suffers from being a middle entry in a much larger story which leaves this feeling incomplete by design. Still there is a lot to like and fans of the series will find plenty to like.
B-
