How I Feel About 'Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald'

SPOILERS AHEAD:

In the past two weeks, I've have read countless articles critiquing Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald in ways both good and bad. I've heard people sing the film's praises and I've also heard people question J.K. Rowling's sanity. I decided to put off proclaiming my feelings for a while as I wanted time to really develop them.

In my opinion, the biggest problem with most of these articles is that the writers are writing them immediately following their first viewing of the film. While this is not the case for all, it is for some. They are giving a reactive response to a story that they have barely gotten to know. This introduces my first of several points that I want to present concerning Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald.

1. Don't forget that this is afive-part series.

• The first film was brilliant. It introduced key characters, displayed fabulous new beasts, and gave us that magical Harry Potter feeling. The first film could definitely stand alone and viewers wouldn't feel like they were missing out on anything. The second one could not possibly be the same way! We can't have the first two films in a series both start and end wrapped up in a nice little bow. The second installment needed to dive right into the plot and throw lots of information and details at us. We need this set up to be able to continue on for three more films.

2.J.K. Rowling has shown us her caliber and we cannot throw that aside.

• For those doubting the work of the queen of magic herself, we cannot forget what she has done. She created a series so complex that there are books, podcasts, videos, websites, and conventions being formed around it to this day. With Harry Potter, we had the privilege of reading the books before ever seeing the movies. We had time and plenty of pages to take in every detail slowly. With Fantastic Beasts, all of the detail has to come from the film. There is no book to build up from. Doubting the power of Rowling is the biggest mistake that some are making.

Now moving into the lighter side!

3. Newt Scamander is perfect and we do not deserve such a precious human being.

• I did not think I could possibly love this character even more than I did in the first film but J.K. Rowling proved to me that I could. Between his reaction to Dumbledore's request for him to illegally leave the country to telling Tina she was middle head, everything that came out of Newt's mouth made me so so happy. He is the hero that none of us knew we needed. I am thrilled to be able to watch him in a five-film series.

4. We see a very real side to the Grindelwald crisis.

• One thing that has upset some viewers was the present ending to Queenie's story. This is something that I have desperately wanted to give my opinion on. Sitting in the theater, I found myself thinking that in a small way, Grindelwald had a point. What?? It blew my mind when I realized that he had actually almost convinced me that his motives were pure! And I even know how the story ends!! Then there is Queenie—poor Queenie who just wanted to marry her true love. Heartbroken and feeling abandoned in Paris, Queenie found comfort in the words of Grindelwald that he could free her from oppression. He could change the world so that she could love whoever she wanted to. It's hard to see a hero turn toward the dark side, but when you realize that she felt she had nowhere else to turn, it begins to make more sense. Besides, she can always come back!

5. Theseus and Newt are vastly intriguing to me.

• The only other brother/brother relationship that comes close to being similar to this one is the relationship of Fred and George Weasley with Percy Weasley. Considering how much fans LOVED that ending (aside from Fred's untimely death, of course), I am highly anticipating the future of Newt and Theseus. They seem to make a great team once they put their misunderstanding of each other aside. Perhaps tragedy will bring them closer than ever? I'm looking forward to finding out!

6. Albus Dumbledore is so very Albus Dumbledore in every possible way.

• Watching Jude Law portray this iconic character reminded me so much of everything I loved about Michael Gambon. While Gambon had his unfortunate moments, such as HARRYDIDYAHPUTYERNAMEINTHEGOBLETOFFIYAH, there were times that I watched him and realized everything I loved about Dumbledore. Jude Law brilliantly portrayed the haphazardly confusing ways of Dumbledore as well as the most endearing ways. I'm beyond ready to see him as a much more upfront character in the upcoming films.

My conclusion is simple: in J.K. Rowling I trust.

While some parts of the new film are confusing at best, I am aware that I do not have the whole story. I am confident in Rowling's ability and I fully believe that everything will become clear by the end.

In the meantime, I'll be coming up with and keeping track of every fan theory because two years is simply too long to wait between films!

If you agree with me, or even if you don't, share this article on social media with #CrimesOfGrindelwald!