Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald
YA/Adult Urban Fantasy; By J.K. Rowling (Fantastic Beasts Screenplays #2)
~ NEWT (exasperated): Dumbledore ~
Letter Grade: A- (83%)
Grindelwald has evaded MACUSA and is rallying his troops. And Dumbledore cannot move against him…who better than Newt, reunited with Tina and Jacob, to stop Grindelwald from claiming Credence, a boy whose true identity may save or damn the whole wizarding world.
It was a thrill to see Newt Scamander again. I aspire to have his love for creatures – it just made him so pure, whilst reading the entire screenplay. He was quirky, shy, but also brave. Now I only wonder where I can get my own Niffler… Jacob and Tina were also fun to read about again, and I appreciated the budding romance between Tina and Newt, while seeing the parallel in Jacob and Queenie, the only difference between that their love – so sadly – fell apart. It was also a thrill not only to see a young Professor McGonagall (I didn’t care about her age discrepancies – I just went with it; she still the same old – err young – Minerva), but also to see a younger Dumbledore.
Just think that a decade from this book, he’ll go to that orphanage and speak to a young Tom Riddle, in the middle of the whole Grindelwald debacle. Let’s push for a kiss between Gellert and Albus, yeah? I definitely think that if we are being racially inclusive, there’s no reason not to show two men’s complicated romantic history. I hope that in support of this, producers and filmmakers alike look at the Mirror of Erised scene. I remember how my heart dropped when I saw that in the flesh, in theatres. Chilling, but at the heart of what promises to be an epic war.
N.B. Since Grindelwald is so adept at finding powerful children, I wonder if he’ll realize something special about Tom Riddle hmm…
And then there were new – and wonderful – characters, namely Nagini, Theseus and Leta. Personally, I could have done without Kama, but I had a funny feeling that he was only included for better ethnic representation, and not for the sake of having an interesting character. Just saying. I loved Theseus; he had many facets to him – through Newt’s eyes, he was the annoying older brother who ended up with the girl he had had a crush on while in school. Through the reader’s eyes, we see him as a doting older brother who has a job, a fiancée, and has an important role in the coming war against Grindelwald. And then there’s Leta: mysterious and misunderstood, with years worth of guilt on her shoulder, guilt that Newt-the-perfect-Hufflepuff was able to calm.
And I can’t believe that Leta’s journey is over so soon: she sacrificed herself for love (but whether she said ‘I love you’ to Newt or Theseus is still left to be seen – my guess is that she said it to Theseus because she had already told Newt that ‘there wasn’t a monster [he] couldn’t love’). I’m sad to have see her go out in a raging fire, but happy that she was able to get out the guilt of being the cause of her brother Corvus’ death. My biggest question though still relates to how Irma and Aurelius’ aunt could have known each other. And now Irma is dead…at the hands of Grindelwald…but still if they knew each other (according to the screenplay), I knew it should have played a role in the “climax”…
And then there was Nagini – WOW. When I first heard that she was going to be a part of the Fantastic Beasts screenplays/films, I was so excited to be there at the beginning of her journey. We all know she ends up by Voldemort’s side in eternal snake form, but the million dollar question is how that happens. Admittedly, I was surprised when she took Newt’s side against Grindelwald at the rally. It just speaks to what tragedy will befall her – besides the turning into a snake part. What happens that makes her so dead inside to become a Horcrux? It’s baffling, but one of the most intriguing things that Jo has woven into canon.
However, despite the amazing characters, this screenplay’s biggest downside was pertinent to the plot. I know it’s a screenplay, I know it’s fast-paced. But…it left me confused. I’d seen the film, and hoped that the issues would be solved in the screenplay. I knew it was common for things to be left out of a film that had been in an original screenplay (in this case, the one used before print publication). Though my confusion was not sated. Maybe a little. But not enough, in my opinion. And that’s where The Crimes of Grindelwald has its biggest drawback. What was the plot, anyway? Stopping Grindelwald before he started a war? Finding Credence before Grindelwald got to him for his immense Obscurus powers? Or discovering who Credence was? I didn’t see one that stood out against the rest, unfortunately. I think, based on the amazing cliffhanger ending, that the central plot should have been:
Grindelwald seeks Credence for his immense power. And he knows that he can get Credence on his side by helping him with his magical heritage, something that the boy has wondered ever since he discovered his magical abilities. But Newt and his friends must stop Grindelwald from succeeding.
I think the impending war aspect could have waited until the third instalment, although I admired Queenie’s journey so much (though it gave me so many tears) and the introduction of Flamel and the re-introduction of the Philosopher’s Stone.
Side Note: Queenie wanting nothing more than to marry a No-Maj without persecution broke me…because no one in the Ministries of Europe wanted to help her. And Jacob didn’t want to risk her getting hurt. And of course Grindelwald was there to promise Queen that with their kind of wizard on top of the world, she could be free to do as she wished. The screaming “come with me” broke me in the theatres. I would never forget it.
I really hope that the producers take note of the serious critiques of The Crimes of Grindelwald. Spoiler: I didn’t see any crimes? Other than Grindelwald killing the baby in the house he took over when first arriving in Paris…I know I have to have faith in this franchise, given the excellent first instalment.
Will Dumbledore be able to destroy the blood pact? Does he know about Aurelius and would he fight one of his own blood (supposedly)? What will happen to Jacob? Flamel? Nagini? Theseus? Newt and Tina? There are too many questions to answer, but the only saving grace is that there’s two years to write the third one to fix all these not-so-magical plot mistakes! Here’s to hoping – fingers crossed!
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