The first Fantastic Beasts was probably the least cool blockbuster of recent years. I still remember how my sister despised all the heroes, saying that they were a bunch of weirdos with no sex appeal that she didn’t care about at all. This opinion is certainly shared by a lot of people, and it’s actually not surprising – traditional popcorn values really haven’t arrived. Of course, Rowling intended it that way, because the wizarding world has never been about models and models in lots of explosive situations. So we are talking about Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald.
Anyway, Fantastic Beasts is (like Harry Potter) about a bunch of outsiders who couldn’t be more robbed of the fate of the whole world and would just like to live their simple lives. But fate throws them into a game that is much bigger than themselves, and so they deal with the evil warlock and his nefarious plans during their mundane (mainly romantic) worries.
Where did this story go in the deuce? First of all, a lot of explaining, connecting and planning, which bores the viewer who wants straight entertainment to death. Few remember that Rowling announced five original movies, so we’re not even halfway through the story yet. This means that the end is far from hell, and that (as in most Potter films) the pieces on the chessboard are mainly moved and fateful secrets are revealed that will have a major impact on the next installments.
In the world of consumer blockbusters, which prefer to think of the two only in the subtitle scene, such an approach is almost heresy. But Rowling sees (and writes) Fantastic Beasts as another novel series that will be 100 percent finished, so there’s no reason to rush or simplify. In particular, the medium of the film suffers from this, without debate, because in it an army of characters solve secondary plot lines, the pay-off of which does not come until a scene or two later. However, a little patience is enough and in a few tens of minutes you will find out that everything was carefully prepared for giant plot twists and brilliantly exploited fateful moments.
Play the trailerSo you will only get real tension in the great ending, which is crowned by Johnny Depp’s best performance in recent years. Until then, Grindelwald’s crimes are a little more settled, but they still throw around the imagination and entertainment by the handful. If you enjoyed the stand-alone Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald in the first place, you’ll get a good start. If you are interested in the fates of the characters, you will take the next important step with all of them. And the most important thing – if you are still attracted to the wizarding world, to which Rowling adds one excellent idea after another, you are in for a real treat, as she does not skimp on details and eccentric superstructures.
The set itself is seriously famous here and puts most of the blockbuster competition in its pocket. Especially in IMAX 3D, you will marvel at every costume and elaborate locations, in which the trick background screams far less than is usual in today’s fantasy. You almost want to pause your visits to the magical locations to admire all the little things that Rowling has come up with. And I haven’t even gotten to the animals themselves, which this saga, thank God, doesn’t give up and once again uses them to sell the uniqueness of the protagonist.
That you don’t care about any magic tricks at all and we were bored to death last time? In that case, of course, stay home. Fantastic Beasts is quite deliberately a long-shot that coughs up compromises and you can see that Rowling is writing it a bit for herself. Actually, I feel that it is the exact opposite of The Last Jedi – that is, a film that, instead of a bold step forward that fans can’t get enough of, doesn’t cross the boundaries of the given world and plays 100% on nostalgia. And it won’t be any different in the future, because young Dumbledore is just warming up and at the end the door is being opened for major events that Potter book lovers should swallow like a raspberry.
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