Fantastic Beasts: Crimes of Grindelwald Review: Sequels Strictly for the Pottermores

So where were we?

When we left off in 2016s Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, a Harry Potter prequel from J.K. Rowling herself, Hogwarts magizoologist Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) the dude who keeps a menagerie of fantastic beasts in his enchanted suitcase helped capture the dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald (Johnny Depp) whod been running amok in New York. But the bad guy doesnt stay imprisoned for long. For this sequel, set in 1927, the evil shape-shifter is up to his old tricks trying to ensure the dominance of pure-blood wizards over humans with racist rallies (Trump allusions are strictly intentional). A mega-creepy Depp, blonded up and loving it, is Aryan brotherhood personified. What to do with this Nazi-like threat? Through the fog on a bridge in London, local boy Newt gets a surprise visit from a younger Albus Dumbledore a canny, charismatic Jude Law as the Hogwarts professor who gives our hero a mission impossible, if he decides to accept it: Go to Paris and end the Grindelwald menace.

In the second of her planned five-part, Fantastic Beasts franchise, Rowling is still heavily laying on the exposition. Unlike the first film, which cleverly used Newts alien creatures as an attack on Trumps anti-immigration policies, the sequel concentrates on building up Grindelwald as a budding Voldemort and Newt as his unlikely nemesis. Redmayne, acting with a bouncy mop of hair and a charming squint, still seems eons away from becoming the conquering hero. And what about that mountain of unfinished business he has at home in London? His brother, Theseus (Calum Turner), is now engaged to Leta Lestrange (Zoe Kravitz), Newts dream girl back at Hogwarts. So theres that, plus Newt getting together his team, which includes magic investigator crush Tina Goldstein (Katherine Waterston) and her flapper sister Queenie (a sassy Alison Sudol), a telepath beloved by Newts Muggle friend. Jacob Kowalski (Dan Fogler). Also needing finding is Credence Barebone (a moody, mesmerizing Ezra Miller) a half-blood whos drawn to the dark side by a parasite inside him called an Obscurus.

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If thats not obscurus enough for you, theres also Credences companion Nagini (Claudia Kim), a circus freak who can turn into a snake. Youll need a paddle to negotiate the tidal wave of characters and plot developments. But the scope of Rowlings imaginative reach cannot be denied. And as the film inches closer to Potter territory, the pulse quickens. High marks to the returning David Yates, who directed the firstFantastic Beastsand the final four films in the Harry Potter series, for trying hard to bring a cinematic force to the occasionally meandering storytelling. The visual effects improve on the first film, especially during Grindelwalds jailbreak with the help of a flying horse called Thestrals. Its too bad that the cutie-pie beasts of Bowtruckles and Nifflers are more fair to middlin than fantastic. But not you Kelpie, the seaweed dragon youre a keeper.

At 134 minutes, Grindelwald can feel like an overload of homework on which well we tested later. Fine for Pottermores, but a trial for us Muggles. Rowling drops intriguing hints that suggest livelier Beasts chapters to come. We were closer than brothers, says Dumbledore of his relationship with the villain, a teasing allusion to the profs homosexuality. And the themes of racism and dictatorship in this period between two World Wars resonate disturbingly for today. The twists get twistier as the film hurtles toward an exciting climax at Paris Pere Lachaise Cemetery. But the getting there, which should be half the fun, turns out to be a bit of a slog.