Above: Katherine Waterston & Eddie Redmayne
Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald (2018 Warner Brothers Pictures)
Directed by David Yates
Screenplay by J.K. Rowling based on her Novel
Rated PG-13 / 134 minutes
CAST: Johnny Depp (Grindelwald), Kevin Guthrie (Abernathy), Eddie Redmayne (Newt Scamander), Zoe Kravitz (Leta Lestrange), Katherine Waterston (Tina Goldstein), William Nadylam (Yusuf Kama), Callum Turner (Theseus Scamander), Jude Law (Albus Dumbledore), Dan Fogler (Jacob Kowalski, Alison Sudol (Queenie Goldstein).
The second Fantastic Beasts is an astonishing feat in that the script is deficient and yet the film manages to muddle through with a good measure of panache. Kudos must go to the wonderful players, incredible sets, and special effects.
Eddie Redmayne continues his role as Newt Scamander without missing a beat or changing a hair. Dan Fogler is back as Jacob Kowalski and is almost as funny as he was the first time, but he could have used some help from the script. He manages nicely with his reactions to bring the much needed comedy to the scenes. He’s an asset to the series as is his witch girlfriend, Queenie Goldstein (Alison Sudol) who is tempted by the dark side because she thinks it will allow her to marry Jacob. Zoe Kravitz as Leta Lestrange keeps us guessing with her fluctuating moods (she was Newt’s childhood love but is now married to his brother).
Yates (who directed four of the Harry Potter films) has every angle and shot reflect the look that has made the franchise glorious, but somehow he wasn’t working with the dialogue. The problem is that the screenplay slips into prose as it piles exposition upon exposition and after a while, I stopped trying to follow and just enjoyed the visuals. There was too much setting up for future film plots (three more Fantastic Beasts have been announced), and not enough knocking down of the plot that was unraveling amid a cascade of characters that came and went between battles and revelations. Jude Law is an inspired young Dumbledore and Johnny Depp is malevolent as Grindlewald.
