Two years after the premiere of “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,” Potter fans everywhere had the opportunity the magic once again. The first movie came out with a 74 percent Rotten Tomatoes score in Nov. 2016. Filled with a cast brimming with A-List actors and a worldwide box office of $814 million, the Harry Potter prequel demanded a sequel.
After bringing in $62.2 million during its opening weekend and disastrous reviews, “The Crimes of Grindelwald” leaves audiences feeling apathetic. The movie attempted to stretch the limits on ways to follow-up an original. Director David Yates intended the movie as an ensemble film rather than focusing on Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne). The result is a disappointing attempt at character development while haphazardly introducing new faces.
Fan favorite actor Ezra Miller commented on the new film’s complexity. “The department heads… were all like ‘it’s not good enough. It has to get better; it has to get way better.’ [Crimes] is a serious push by some of the greatest artists in the game,” Miller said. Despite his hopes for a groundbreaking movie, the film only presents questions and feebly digs into the wizarding world. By trying to develop multiple characters, it ended up failing at developing any of them. While a pondering audience usually indicates a positive sign for a franchise seeking a trilogy, “Crimes” created confusion throughout the whole film. Fans see the overall ending from the beginning. Yates tries to distract with plot twists, but he could not outmaneuver the inevitable: the film was predictable. Now, fans of the wizarding world hope the third and final addition of this film set does not end up a disappointment like “Crimes.”
