Rich on characters, CGI effects

Film review: Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald

MANILA, Philippines — The second installment of the JK Rowling’s Fantastic Beasts franchise is like viewing a Bruegel or Bosch painting. There’s so much happening all over the canvas that you blink once, or lapse in attention, and you’re liable to miss some Easter egg or detail Rowling has conjured up in her world-building. Back as Rowling’s partner in crime is director Peter Yates. And in tandem, they’ve created a sprawling Part 2 that now firmly establishes who will dominate the rest of the story — the triumvirate of young wizard Newt (Eddie Redmayne), his mentor Professor Dumbledore (Jude Law) and the tyrannical but charismatic villain, Grindelwald (Johnny Depp).

In the first film, there were moments when we might have sensed that Eddie wasn’t all that comfortable in the shoes of Scamander. If we felt that the Goldstein sisters (Katherine Waterston and Alison Sudol) or even sidekick Kowalski (Dan Fogler), who are all back, were the more compelling characters, Eddie displays a confidence and brio here that firmly establishes him as the central character of the franchise. Jude and Johnny similarly impress, marking out their respective territory within the film’s landscape, and it’s great to see this strand of the narrative have a clear focus.

I mention focus on purpose because when it comes to the plot development of this strand, there isn’t all that much on offer within this second film. It’s like we’re still world-building, setting foundations and weaving webs for what will obviously follow in the remaining three installments. For those who aren’t hardcore Potter fanatics, this may be one source of frustration over the film. 

After the exhilarating, madcap first sequence when Grindelwald engineers his escape, mention is made right after of what Grindelwald’s plans are for the magicking world, how he wants them to rise up not just as equals to humans, but as the dominant, gifted race. So some two hours later, we watch a Grindelwald do his town hall meeting exhorting the wizards and the magical to join him — why that long, and to use it to bookmark the film escapes me, when it could have come much sooner.
To compensate for this dearth of substantive big picture plot movement, we’re given side trips galore. They could be trips to “meet and greet” the Beasts and there are truly wonderful ones we meet for the first time, or greet as returning friends. They could be side trips about peripheral characters like Credence (Ezra Miller) or Leta Lestrange (Zoë Kravitz), or there are side trips consisting of fiery action sequences and tight situations that Newt will find a way out of. Or side trips that have to do with Dumbledore/Grindelwald flashbacks. Filled with Easter eggs and Potter references, this prequel franchise should prove to be one big gift box to Rowling fans, who will have a glorious heyday deciphering the clues and hints of what is to come.
This is important as Rowling is effectively making the story up film by film. Unlike the Potter series, there is no book source material to rely on. We know that at the end of the fifth, the stage will be set for the Potter books to begin, but everything between this second film and that initial Potter point is all up for speculation.

Rich on characters and CGI effects, this second film should be a supreme journey for those ready to let Rowling take them by the hand.