When the ‘Fantastic Beasts’ debuted in 2016 it was a wonderful return to the wizarding world. It gave us a colorful cast of new characters and delivered an expanded world of magical animals that were quite endearing. And left audiences excited to see where things might go from there.
The sequel squandered quite a bit of that good will. Not because it was a terrible movie or had terrible characters. There was just too much of everything and not enough time to flesh everyone out. I just kept feeling like there was an entire back story to so many things that I was completely missing. Which left me feeling unfulfilled when it was over, but eager to see what was going to happen next.
Well, Covid pushed that whole thing back a few years and I actually forgot a lot of the already thinly written subplots before I came into this latest sequel. So, I will openly admit that I’m not the best job of flow or continuity. Still, I can tell you that many of the same problems that plagued ‘Grindelwald’ still plague this one. It’s just not as bad.
However, it is certainly darker. In fact, part of the issue I felt in this film was it’s odd tonal balance. For instance, one of the better sequences in the film has Newt (Eddie Redmayne) going into a prison of sorts to save his brother and having to act like a crab. Which is kind of funny, but when the crabs kill someone it is really dark and feels at odd with the silly shenanigans that Newt is getting up to.
There is also a ton of backstory involving Dumbledore (Jude Law) that I am having a bit of a hard time keeping all together. The part I resonated with the most was the connection to Ezra Miller’s Credence Barebone. His character is finally given the arc that fans of the series have likely been waiting for. Although, Mr. Miller has clearly hurt his image in the public eye. So, perhaps fans don’t care. I’m not sure.
The real problem with this series just continues to be that these movies feel like they were designed with so much more in mind, but a limited running time prevented Rowling from delivering the whole story. It probably would have been better if she would have written them as books and let someone else adapt them. Still, this movie is okay for what it is. We just deserve better from the Wizarding World.
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