Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes Of Grindelwald is the sequel of the brilliant and entertaining Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them and takes the story forward. The mood this time is darker and it’s not as funny as the predecessor. But the film has some great moments that keeps one hooked from start to finish. The film gets better in the second half and lengthy climax is surely worth a watch. The Harry Potter nostalgia is also there in all its glory. On the flipside, there are far too many characters and too much happening and it takes a while to get the hang of things. Even then, it turns out to be a complicated fare. And as mentioned before, the humour quotient is less which is a bit of a downer. Talking of performances, Eddie Redmayne as always in his element. Alison Sudol has a much better role this time and does a good job. Dan Fogler is not as prominent but steals the show in all his scenes. Katherine Waterston is decent while Zoë Kravitz leaves a huge mark. Johnny Depp is terrific as always and Jude Law delivers a terrific performance. His entry scene would surely be loved. Ezra Miller, William Nadylam, Kevin Guthrie etc are fine. This is a must see for all the Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts fans while for the rest, it’s a fine one time watch!
My rating – *** out of 5!