Photo courtesy of Warner Bros Pictures
Author: Joel Dull
Amongst fan girls and fan boys alike I sat there with my ever so professional movie critic facade hiding the giddy child, with arms wrapped around the blue kitchen broom and his Bob the Builder goggles sitting slightly too high on his face, pretending to be a quidditch player.
When the first Fantastic Beasts movie came out I had set my expectations very low. It was coming out far after the Harry Potter series had ended and seemed like (what my high school drama teacher called) “a mortgage movie” (i.e., the last two Pirates of the Caribbean films). Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them shoved those words right back down my throat, but I still kept the bar low for the second installment of the series, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald.
The ever recognizable first eight notes of “Hedwig’s Theme” cued an applause from the crowd before a much darker chanting brought everyone back to a hush. James Newton Howard certainly played his part in making a stunning film. With a brief tribute to the original scores of John Williams at the open, Howard creates a beautiful soundtrack that scores the action as well as the slower paced scenes. I want to highlight the fact that the tribute was brief. No beating of a very dead horse (*cough John Williams* *cough Imperial March*). Howard gives all of the fans what they want whilst also giving them what they don’t know what they want.
Wonderful score aside, let’s sit on the subject of visuals for a moment. Wow. The shining star of the film is its visuals. Whirling action scenes that pulled me out of my seat left my eyes opened wide in amazement. A variety of visual affects immersed me into a beautiful world, and the truly fantastic beasts did not disappoint. A wonderful array of the ferocious and absolutely adorable.
Though, there were distinct times when the affects team got carried away; occasionally the whirling became a little too whirly and I was left unsure of what I had just seen. Particularly in the opening sequences, the frame became so filled with rain, spells, and other moving pieces I was left trying to comprehend everything going on. The chaos was at times beautiful, but the frustration of losing part of the action persisted. Thankfully the movie was not all high-speed action sequences—it balanced the action with well thought out stagnant and slower moving shots.
Busy frames were far from the worst problem of the film. J.K. Rowling’s novel-based writing style made a few appearances, and not in the best of ways. Juggling multiple merging and diverging groups of characters has become popular among movies as of late (i.e., The Last Jedi and Infinity War), and this being Rowling’s second time without a whole novel to do so caused for some confusion. By the end of the movie I did not have any pressing questions about serious plot wholes, however, part of me wonders if I simply forgot them due to the immense amount of information that was thrown at me in little over two hours.
Rowling did, however, juggle differing emotions throughout the scenes quite well. The intenseness of Grindelwald, the hilarity of the nifflers and Pickett the bowtruckle, and the cute dopiness of Mr. Newt Scamander. I even heard a few tears being shed over Newt’s adorable love for a certain someone. Eddie Redmayne and his fellow cast took an overall well written script and continued to develop a whole new batch of lovable characters (and did I mention the nifflers!!)
Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald is certainly a movie I want to see again. Is that because I liked it? Partially, but I’m also curios how much I missed in my first viewing. As a whole though, Rowling’s second stab at screen writing was a success. It was not without its flaws, but it is a movie that will please die-hard fans as well as be interesting for people just looking for a good movie.
JOEL DULL | Catch me daydreaming about nifflers and bowtruckles | KXSU Arts Reporter