I don't know, Taure's theory seems like a bit of a stretch. While certainly possible it would mean Depp would probably have to make a cameo in this movie.

 

Spoiler

Johnny Depp is making a cameo in this movie. That was point 1.

 

Taure's theory makes sense to me. WB could also use it to introduce the idea of a Grindelwald movie on its own.

 

Indeed. On further reflection that is point one.

Okay I can see that.

 

Just got back from seeing it. Wasn't much of a fan at all. Big spoilers below:

Spoiler

Way too much CGI. Other HP films had plenty of CGI but no where near as much as there is here. Boring villain with Ezra Millar, Taure was right with the Colin Farrel/Grindlewald twist which was just super lame too. Very cheesy moments too - J.K has definitely lost her touch. The muggle (No-Maj) companion was nearing Jar Jar Binks territory imo and all the romance shit was handled awfully. Newt Scamander seemed pretty boring too. Just overall not a fan.

 

Just got back. My friend thought it was amazing, and I was more like meh, it was okay. I thought eddie redmayne did a good job, but somehow the story line just did not do the trick for me I guess, I thought it was a bit flimsy...

Spoiler

Although I really like Jonny Depp as an actor I did not like his cameo as grindelwald, the twist was not really that interesting. Also, I thought I saw a bit of that trademark Depp "crazy" in there, which he used brilliantly in other roles but is (for me at least) not what I wanted to see in Grindelwald.

 

Well, I guess I'm in the minority here then, but I liked it quite a bit. Just got back from the theater, and I was very pleased. And I'm generally pretty critical of the Potter movies with a handful of exceptions. Eddie Redmayne lived up to the expectations I have for him. Collin Farrell was also quite good.

Spoiler

That's why the big reveal (Taure being right) was disappointing. It wasn't bad, necessarily, but I'd have liked to see more of Graves in the sequels. The fight scene right before the reveal was interesting. It showed Grindelwald/Graves as more than a match for a squadron of aurors until one of Newt's beasts intervened. He also performed a ton of wandless magic throughout the film, something I don't think we've ever seen much of in any of the original series.

Anyway, I enjoyed it. The capacity crowd at the theater was really engaged in it. And I'm looking forward to the next one.

 

Not being that much of a fan from the previous Hp movies, I was pleasantly suprised how much i enjoyed this I think this is partly because there weren't any books to compare it to and that the script was intended for film. I really enjoyed most of the moments with the beasts even if the CGI was shaky at some parts.

The characters were hit or miss for the most part but do have potential for future movies even if some didn't really work, I really liked Newt more than I expected and don't understand some people saying that he is a flat character he was charming, fun and there are hints about his past that seem interesting and he actually seemed far more competent wizard all around than Harry besides it's fun to have a MC who atleast has some real passion for something.

Tina didn't really have much of a character to her and seemed kind of like a Hermione type, Jacob was more there so characters could infodump for the audience and comedic relief, didn't really care for him. Queenie was really fun, flirty and cute though I have a few problems with her which I write in the spoilers.

My favourite was Percival Graves which is suprising because I never liked Colin Farell but he was suprisingly subtle and nuanced more about him in the spoilers.

Spoiler

In general the reception of the film seems mixed and I kinda understand why it sometimes feels like two seperate movies and there are many tonal shifts I really could have done without some scenes of humour especially the Erumpet trying to bang Jacob... I also really didn't dig the romance it makes no sense whatsover for Queenie to fall immeadiately for someone like Jacob but Rowling never was the best at romance.

Also a bit dissapointed about Grindelwald being played by Depp I thought Graves would have been awesome as Grindelwalds right hand or if Farell would have been just Grindelwald, there is also the possibility of the real Graves returning because Grindelwald was using him for Polyjuice, though I am not sure if you can just cancel polyjuice with a revelio.

Also the magic seems really beefed up in this movie a simple reparo from some random wizards able to repare whole buildings and streets, accio also carying a person at super speed and this whole Obscuro(?) stuff, magic trunks having practically whole fucking landscapes in it I thought there were some limits to expanding charms, wandless magic left and right.

Not sure what I think about the Credence stuff it kinda feels like Rowling about the whole not accepting yourself thing making you poisonous and i kinda liked the dark tone to it and loved how Grindelwald manipulated him but the smoke monster thing was far to overpowered he was untrained and if Credence wasn't like twice as potentially powerful as Grindelwald (which i presume he wasn't) a trained über wizard like Grindelwald should have bitchslapped him, though I hope Grindelwald just wasn't trying to hurt him and held back to use him instead of not being able to.

Besides the Queenie thing was bothering me she just seemed to be born a legilimence who couldn't turn it off instead of being a skill which comes through knowledge.

It was also intersting to see Grindelwald fight the Aurors he actually seemed to be just getting started and it feeled like he could have taken all of them down if Newts beasts didn't catch him off guard he also didn't seem to have the elder wand with him.

Do some of you also believe that Credence is still alive Newt seemed to have caught sight of some smoke still remaining and i also have the suspicion that Newt was expelled because he tryed to protect his former girlfriend who was a Lestrange and she just used him.

 

Surprisingly, I really enjoyed it. I was never the biggest fan of the movies, the divergences from the books always irritated me too much. But when I'm not constantly comparing what I'm seeing to a story I already know it's much easier to enjoy.

Spoiler

I particularly loved how it made magic seem fun and exciting again. And it was good to get away from the overbearingly dark mood of the last few HP movies.

The new characters didn't really bother me. Jacob was mostly there for comic relief, but that's not necessarily a bad thing and he was never annoying for me. The romance subplots were probably unnecessary, but they never got in the way of the story so didn't bother me.

I'm undecided on Johnny Depp as Grindelwald. I haven't really liked anything he's done in years but he does have the ability to be good. I would have preferred if they didn't have him played by an American though. One of the things the original series got right was having every character played by an actor of the right nationality.

Spoiler

I think the magic being beefed up could be explained by everyone here being competent adult wizards. In the original series most of the magic we see is being done by the kids. The guys we see repairing entire streets are all meant to be aurors, which is probably the most difficult job to get into we know of in the magical world.

 

I won't be able to see this movie anytime soon, can anyone spoil the Obscuro stuff for me? what exactly happens with Ezra Miller's character?

 

TL;DR enjoyed it a lot, liked the additions to canon, only disliked one element. 9/10

Spoiler

Nailed it!

Unfortunately I don't take too much satisfaction in my prediction because that was the one part of the movie I disliked. I admit there was a certain visceral joy is seeing Grindelwald advancing on 20-30 adult wizards and witches and laughing off their spells. However, there are two things I really dislike about it:

1. Graves was an interesting character and it would have been great seeing him working alongside Grindelwald as his lieutenant. The decision to make Graves = Grindelwald just shrinks the cast of interesting characters.

2. Even though we only saw him briefly, all my fears about Depp playing Grindelwald are feeling rather immediate. Firstly I really don't like the look of the character. Secondly it seems clear to me that Depp is going to play him as Jack "Grindelwald" Sparrow with his trademark craziness. That's a real disappointment given that Grindelwald had always seemed to be the thinking man's villain to Voldemort's crazy. He had an ideology that was coherent and arguable, he wasn't obsessed with immortality, and he was able to convince Dumbledore that he was right (for a time). Making him nuts just destroys all that and gives us another shallow villain.

However, other than that (which is more of a worry for the future of the franchise as it was only a small part of this movie) I loved it. I felt like all the characters were reasonably fleshed out and distinct, and none of my fears about magic were realised. I was mainly concerned that magic would be nerfed against Muggles but this did not occur, and indeed all the depictions of magic were more or less in line with my headcanon. Wonderful.

I particularly loved the way the movie expanded on magic as being much more than just spells, which the fandom is generally too focused on. Magic is a much more varied thing than the neat, ordered idea many have. The Obscurus is an example of this, as is Queenie's legilimency. Her being hyper-specialised in legilimency is exactly the kind of thing that I talk about in my headcanon document, where a person's "magicalness" doesn't just vary in power but also in specialisation.

Atram Noctem: an Obscurus is a malevolent magical force that is created when a magical person (the Obscurial) denies their magic and tries to bottle it up. From what I understand, in its early stages it lashes out of the person at random, but as the child gets older the force gets more powerful until it consumes and kills them. Credence in Fantastic Beasts had managed to contain it for an unprecedented amount of time and could in fact control it. Grindelwald/Graves wanted to harness his power whereas Newt and Tina wanted to help him by essentially curing him of it.

The worldbuilding was great in general. I particularly loved the look we got at a meeting of the International Confederation of Wizards (though I thought for a moment we might get a Dumbledore cameo there, but I guess he isn't on it yet). The speakeasy was also cool, as was the US magical death penalty. Also loved the mass obliviation at the end.

I didn't even mind the hints towards a Tina/Newt romance, which lots of people complained about as coming out of nowhere. I don't think it came out of nowhere at all.

 

Thanks, I've read something similar and was interested to know more about it.

Spoiler

It sounds similar to Ariana's story - it could be that the trauma of being harassed for her magic caused her to suppress it until she finally exploded. IIRC, Grindelwald and Dumbledore actually wanted to bring her along on their take over the world tour, which casts a somewhat more malevolent light on Grindelwald's intentions, seeing his interaction with Credence.

 

Spoiler

The similarity to Ariana was striking to me also, however it is stated that there had not been an Obscurus in hundreds of years. While we know that is incorrect - Newt had encountered one just years before in Sudan - one assumes that one occurring in somewhere as densely populated as England would have been noticed.

 

Spoiler

Just back from seeing it now, really enjoyed it for the most part.

I liked the portrayal of Newt, it fits the sort of person who would choose to spend their life searching out and learning about creatures rather than be around people.

Some fantastic world building as well. It was little things like Ukranian Ironbellies on the Eastern Front during WW1, there's an elder brother who's a war hero, the whole Lestrange thing. Presumably some of them will come up in the sequels, and that I'm looking forward to.

However, speaking of sequels. It felt like a reasonably well contained film in and of itself, I don't feel like it needs sequels. I'd probably prefer if they did another film a few years later with a different main character, looking at another Grindelwald situation. Do the trilogy that way, rather than a trilogy about Newt.

Did anyone honestly not get that Graves was Grindelwald? I hadn't read any of this thread, so had no idea what was being speculated. And I hadn't really watched many of the later trailers, just the first one. But I was speculating really quickly in the cinema that he was Grindelwald.

Not keen on Depp though. Obviously it was only a tiny clip, but...its just not how I pictured Grindelwald. Its not even slightly different, its a totally different characterisation than what I've imagined. So yeah...not sure about that.

 

Spoiler

I think you have maybe been a bit out of the loop. Firstly, it's now 5 movies not a trilogy. Secondly, they're not all Fantastic Beasts movies, but rather the 5 movies cover the Grindelwald conflict from 1926 to 1945. The next one is going to be set in a mixture of France and England. It's not clear if Newt is going to appear again or not.

Also, I just remembered one of my favourite lines:

Spoiler

"But we made them cocoa."

<3 Queenie

 

I just got back from watching the movie, and I have to say that it blew my expectations out of the water. As I cannot figure out the spoiler tag on my phone, any in-depth review from me will have to wait.

 

Spoiler tag is [ spoiler ] [ / spoiler ] only without spaces.

 

Thank you.

 

I just got back from the movie and I loved it. I loved all of the characters, but I particularly liked Queenie and Jacob and their whole relationship. I thought the movie was easily as good as the original 8 movies and their books. Rowling needs to stick with the HP universe and leave political mysteries aside.

Spoiler

I saw no problem with Depp as Grindelwald nor any other part of the story in general in fact it exceeded my expectations.
One thing that I did notice and maybe it's just me, but I kind of got turned off by the way MACUSA and muggles where portrayed. I couldn't help but feel that Rowling came across a bit heavy handed with the magic Vs. no magic world. Some may disagree, but I felt like there was a point where she was trying to say that MACUSA was for the most part a "White America" Vs. the rest of the world.

 

Thank you for correcting me