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A return from the Wizarding World BY IAN VAN ORDEN ARTS. & CULTURE -EDITOR Warner Bros. The W izarding World has returned w ith the second installm ent o f the Fantastic Beasts series. “ Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald” serves as the second film in a planned five film series that began with the release o f "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” in 2016. F o llo w in g th e ecce n tric ad ven tu res o f N ew t Scamander, portrayed by Eddie Redmayne, the series sees the wizard reluctantly pulled into the story’s larger conflict against the evil wizard Gellert Grindelwald, portrayed by Johnny Depp in a brief cameo at the end o f the first movie and prominently in the sequel. “ Fantastic Beasts 2” picks up a short while after the events o f the first movie and sees the return of most o f the original cast. Grindelw ald,w ho had previously been captured by Scamander near the end of the first film , escapes his confinement and sets to work creating a conspiracy to elevate wizards above their m uggle counterparts. M uch of the plot revolved around the search for Credence Barebone, portrayed by Ezra M iller, as he is believed to be from a powerful bloodline. Grindelwald seeks him but to take advantage of his pbwer, while the others, including Scamander attem pt to keep him out o f the villain’ s hands. O f the main cast, the standout role is easily Redmayne, who continues his excellent portrayal of the character from the first movie. He is able to perfectly embody the character’ s quirky personality, from his love of the magical beasts he cares for, to his awkward interactions With love interest Tina Goldstein, who also returns in "Fantastic Beasts 2 .” Jude Law’s Albus Dumbledore is also noteworthy,, though his part in the movie is still relatively b rief, portraying a younger, though equally troubled, version of the character. • . Qn the other side of the spectrum, several characters did not perform quite as w ell. M iller was one of the worst, though it is not entirely Miller’s doing. The movie reveals Barebone to be a character of some importance, buf in doing so creates a mess of unnecessary twists that in the end feel very contrived. The character itself is also fairly flat, following his single motivation no matter the consequences. Even after finding a companion who he seems to connect With, he throws everything away to follow a dark path that will undoubtedly lead to oblivion. The movie also includes a number of characters that feel superfluous at best and lore-breakirig at worst. One of the m ost prom inent, the m aledictus N agini, who eventually goes on to become one of Voldemort’ s companions in the Harry Potter series, is included, but never seems to find a real reason to be there. The most questionable inclusion is that of Minerva M cG onagall. Though only seen in passing during a brief flashback set in Hogwarts itself, the inclusion introduces an odd tim eline issue. It had previously been established that McGonagall would n o t be born until the mid 30’ s in the universes tim eline, but somehow appears in a flashback set before the events of the film ,, which itself takes place in 1927. A common com plaint that has been made regarding the movie is its lack of narrative substance. Much of the movie is spent setting up the upcoming sequels, and the m ovie’ s narrative suffers for it. There is very little payoff during the movie’ s climax, which instead serves to draw the lines between the upcoming factions in what is inevitably going to become a war within the wizarding com munity. Because, many o f the m ovie’ s twists feel forced or unnecessary, it can leave the movie feeling a bit empty. This is particularly unfortunate because there is a lot of charm to be found in "Fantastic Beasts.” Especially following the first movie, which brought new life to the Wizarding World and, in many ways, brought magic to life in aw a y never before seen in the m ovies, th is m o vie’ s failin gs, feel even more pronounced. f , The movie is good, but it could very easily have been great. Much of the blame is likely to be fairly placed on J. K. Rowling, who wrote the script fo r the movie. The w riting itself seems to be the cause of m ost of the m ovie’s failings, after all: ■ \ The movie is one that casual fans are likely to enjoy, though, and hardcore fans are likely to find infuriating. Unfortunately, fans will have to wait for the release of the next entry in the series before it can be decided if this m ovie’s setup leads to a satisfying payoff. COMING SOON TO THEATERS Boo Pictures SilvertongueFilm s "PREPARE TO BE BLOWN AWAY* “A STUNNING PIECE OF CINEMA TlkUHOC-S WU'.WiASiE.‘ !T>iAS'rAK«iOlffF«.M TOH-4K6T,!«:CAMHiSF!UiKSWA!. >- M£MC3A3UM«»CA>iV7W!.«««TO KIT* . f • A W OP FILMMAKING MIRAC|£JHAT8OGGIESTKE MR®.’ . . 'TACKIM NADINE LASAKIW apernaum iec.14 Mortal Engines Dec. 14 Clackamas Print th e c la c k a m a s p rin t.c o m _ BumbleBee Dec. 21 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ Novem ber 2 1 ,2 0 1 8
