Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald - A personal review.

OK I actually finally managed just before they took it off the screen to watch Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald and I am so happy I did because man, that was something.

So let's talk about it, shall we?

First things first, I would to publicly declare that I would like to have JK Rowling's' imagination for myself. I mean, this woman and her imagination have been my companion for the last at least 10-12 years of my life, I think I now know more about the wizarding world more than that of our real world. 

I won't lie, I am one of those people who were terrified of the new extension added to the Harry Potter universe and venturing into the past and future of the series, I mean why mess with what's already pretty good, I thought it was a horrible idea.

But I mean, who am I kidding? I am a sucker for anything Harry Potter related so obviously I went with the flow.

And so far so good, I regret nothing. 

In fact, I am even more ecstatic about this decision than ever now after watching this movie. 

So let's break this up, I was pretty skeptical about this movie. I have watched and read several reviews that did not particularly make me as excited as I was and the fact that it ends on a cliffhanger is something I was not mad about. 

I remember liking the first movie in this series mainly because it took me back to the world I constantly miss and wouldn't mind going back to anytime. But also because it took us back and showed us new aspects of this world we know by hand now. 

And then, I went to see for myself. 

The first half of the movie was fine, exciting but filled with questions marks, things I felt where really unnecessary if you ask me and just contributed to time stretching. So while in awe of what I was actually discovering about this world I love so much, the back of my mind wasn't pleased with the time wasting and was shouting "get on with it already!"

But then, and I don't know the exact moment, my entire being was simultaneously saying 'give me more!" and "what the actual fuck", the latter quite out-loud much to a lot of people's dismay, I simply couldn't help myself.

The amount of detail delivered in the second half itself is enough to spin your head, you will find yourself going back and forth trying to absorb everything in, all the details about Leta Lestrange, her family, her two brothers, how she is compared to the Lestranges we know too well. How Lets herself ends up in the movie makes no sense to the future plot we all know.

Credence and the weird nature and story I don't quite understand if I am being completely honest, there is just way too many questions and obscured answers surrounding him, even his appearances in the movie made no sense to me at some points and gave me no answers. Like, why is he this powerful? Why is he the only one that can kill Dumbledore?

And I can't not mention that bomb dropped at the end. I mean I don't think it's true, I think Grindelwald was simply lying in the quest for his plan to be completed, but it was just TOO much to hear these words, I found myself still in my seat minutes after the movie has ended trying to understand and wrap my hear around what I just heard.

And what about Nagini? I have no idea how I feel about this plot line, as exciting as it is to see this aspect of what we have for so long simply known as Lord Voldemort's 'pet', I don't think I like it still, I did not see myself feeling anything towards this character, it had no dimensions and mad no sense, but maybe it will in upcoming movies we never know. one thing I know is that I am not about to feel bad for Nagini though.

Also, can we talk about how they made it look like Grindelwald was actually a lot worse than Voldemort? I don't know how or why but I strongly got these vibes and actually believed it towards the end, but this maybe because the crimes of Voldemort and his rise to power are something we only heard about but never actually saw for ourselves except for the last few books.

Dumbledore was also an aspect I enjoyed seeing from this angle, the Dumbledore before the one we know, the one we only heard rumors about. Funniest part? sending people out to do work that he can't do himself, rings a bell?

I must say that I was not really interested in the romance aspect of the story, I was very discouraged and uninterested in Queenie and her romance with Jacob, it just felt useless and one of the tools to drag the story on and on, but maybe that's just me. Not to mention, how much they dragged Queenie's character and made her a woman I can't quite stand not understand.

I would have liked to see a bit more of the story surrounding Newt and Tina as well as him and Leta as it was very much tossed to the side with a few hints here and there that only filled you in with enough to keep watching but not enough to actually know anything, when really Newt is the main character and I would be a lot more interested in this romance than that of Jacob and Queenie.

One thing I can't deny, I came out of that movie freaking exciting for the next one, adrenaline pumping and mind racing, so I can't exactly say it was a bad one because well, it wasn't. Just a lot of plot holes that I guess and hope would be answered and filled in the coming movies.

I do not really like rating movies as it is very hit and miss and no two people would ever give one movie the same rating, but if I had to I think I would give it a 7-8.5 out of 10, with a note to go watch it if you can.