Well, it has been a long time since I watched a film (re-watching Ocean’s Eight over and over to fan over Lou Miller and being bored out of my mind with The Batman and not having much to say about Moonfall do not count), and I have to say, the third film in the Fantastic Beasts series wasn’t terrible.
Some of the things I liked: Tina Goldstein. Poppy Corby-Tuech’s character. The CGI. Mads Mikkelsen. The storyline between Dumbledore and Grindelwald. Ezra Miller’s long hair. More CGI. That new hair color of Queenie and her awesome new aesthetic (even if it is technically out of charter for her character. Ha. Get that?) And finally, Lally’s randomly mid-Atlantic accent that just seems so satisfying but also completely out of nowhere in this film, since all the other Americans just talk like we do now.
Some things I didn’t enjoy quite as much: Tina Goldstein having roughly one minute of screen time. The randomness of Creedence’s acceptance of his father and that family even after having been abandoned for so long, and just randomly betraying the person who basically had treated him well. The necromancy involved in the revival of the qilin just didn’t quite make sense. The way that so many of the fights happened in an almost alternative reality, which just makes me wonder if the entire time they were fighting the audience was just seeing them stare intensely at one and other. The way that the blood pact is somehow just broken because of… What? Love? And finally, the unfortunate lack of chemistry between Jude Law and Mads Mikkelsen. Honestly, my brother had no idea they were supposed to be past lovers until I told him, and if I hadn’t known I really wouldn’t have been able to guess either. I mean, that scene where they have their hands on each other’s chests listening to one and other’s heartbeats? It just seemed awkward.
I do have to say though, in terms of character development for Dumbledore, the film was a relative success. Not only do we get more backstory on the death of Ariana, Dumbledore’s sister, but we also get more touching moments between the brothers, and we begin to see why Dumbledore is so wise yet so lonely, with nearly no one he can call friend. Even Newt seems only like a work partner, and it all makes sense after you consider what happened to the people he loved: Grindelwald became a fanatic Muggle-hater, and Ariana was possible killed by his rashness. I also love the subtle touch added in the title of the film: the secret in the title alludes to not only Albus Dumbledore’s secrets, but also Aberforth’s, and even Credence’s.
I mean, I don’t know. The film felt like a wonderful visual experience, but it also felt like J.K. Rowling going “hey, this is my world and so whatever I write must be canon”. I get that that is technically how that type of classification works, but it just feels like she is trying too hard to make this world into a Lord of the Rings type world, and it’s not working. None of these films, at least in the Fantastic Beasts series, are able to really capture the essence of what made Harry Potter so popular, a combination of world-building and fantasy as well as an already thought out and well-planned story line. The Fantastic Beasts series, on the other hand, feels like Rowling making it up as she goes, and unfortunately, that means sidelining characters that were integral in previous films, such as Tina and Creedence. I don’t understand why so much time was spent on these two characters in previous instalments if they aren’t going to play a major role in the next films.
Apparently there will be two more films in this series, making a total of five films in this spin-off of Harry Potter? I mean, I don’t know, but if the writing and world-building of these films continue as erratic and random as this film, then I really don’t know how much of my love for the original Harry Potter films can translate over to the rest of these films. I love Harry Potter, and for that I keep trying to watch these films. Just, it would really make spending money to see these films in theaters easier if they were more interesting and coherent, ‘kay?
Anyway,
Happy Friday!!
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