Franchises. Everyone has one that is near and dear to their heart. Star Wars, Back to the Future, and The Lord of the Rings are just a few. While the list can go on and on, at the heart of all of them is the fandom that keeps them alive and thriving. Fans that have invested their time and love into these characters and the overall universe that has been built. So, not unlike these, when the Harry Potter franchise came to a close in 2012, fans were left in withdrawal until Warner Bros. released Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them in 2016. This new prequel-verse is set to span five films and with that, we have the latest release, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald.
This highly anticipated sequel is a marvel to look at. The effects and action onscreen carry with them the same stylistic display of the Harry Potter films that came before it. The audience even gets to feel the nostalgia when they see Hogwarts on the big screen and during a young Albus Dumbledore (Jude Law) teaching his students.
Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald picks up right where we left off in the first film. Newt Scamander is on the hunt for the notorious dark wizard, Gellert Grindelwald. As we follow Newt on his hunt, the flow of the film feels consistent for the most part. There are a few continuity errors: one of them being a young Professor McGonagall making an appearance at Hogwarts. This was supposed to be a cool moment in the film, except the flashback in this scene takes place in 1927 at a time when the no-nonsense Professor has not yet been born (she was born in 1935) let alone teaching at the school (she didn’t start until 1956 based on the script from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix). It was a piece in the movie that was supposed to be a fun moment, but instead wound up being a clumsy error that shouldn’t have made it to the script nor the big screen. The next glaring error is the identity of Credence Barebone (Ezra Miller).
Editor’s Note: Spoiler Alert! Skip ahead to last paragraph.
Throughout the whole movie, we are led to believe that Credence will be revealed to be a member of the Lestrange family, but Grindelwald reveals to Credence and to the audience that he’s not a Lestrange at all. He is in fact a Dumbledore. This appears to be proven when a Phoenix appears to Credence. This caused many raised eyebrows among Potter-heads mostly due to the fact that there is never any mention of another Dumbledore relative in the canon story up until now. Naturally so, fans have been split right down the middle, but let’s take a minute to explain why it’s not out of the realm of possibility.
Albus Dumbledore is one of the most beloved characters of the Potter-verse. Any fan of the famous wizard understands that the man is a mystery, particularly when it comes to family affairs. After all, we weren’t even introduced to Aberforth and Ariana Dumbledore until long after Albus is dead. So if Albus Dumbledore had no intention of ever bringing his family’s history into the forefront, why would he ever bring up a long lost brother, whom (depending on where the series is going), he may have had to potentially kill? He was private enough about Aberforth and Ariana, so it’s safe to say he’d play Credence even closer to the chest. What we get here is an origin of yet another family secret that Albus Dumbledore will have taken with him to the grave, all while fitting into his private personality perfectly.
Spoiler Free!
Was Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald as good as its predecessor? No. The sequels seldom are. Given the continuity errors and challenges to the established origins of this universe, it’s not uncommon for die hard fans to be displeased with the film but a big issue for me is Credence’s story. Revealing his identity the way the writers did felt like a lazy attempt at a twist ending. Despite these flaws, the film, while messy at times, to put it best, was a fun watch. Johnny Depp performed well as Grindelwald and there is still much to be answered with the remaining three films for which I think the series is pushing it. We really could have done well enough with having this be a prequel trilogy.
