Are you looking forward to Fantastic Beasts 2 and what do you think of the subtitle?
I have very mixed feelings about subtitles in general, but I'm not a fan of this one for a couple of reasons.
First, it's very blunt. 'The Crimes of Grindlewald'. Ok. It sounds so flat and dull. It reeks of 'set-up', as though this film only exists to establish plot points for later films. I know it technically does since they've already got three more films planned, but advertising that fact is a turn-off. It sounds like a necessary chore, not an exciting film in its own right.
Second, 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them' is going to work less and less as this series goes on and the focus shifts from Newt to Dumbledore. The main title being less appropriate compounds on the off-putting nature of the subtitle. 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them 2: The Crimes of Grindlewald' is a terrible title to me. It makes me think of fanfiction and sours my initial disposition to the film.
As for the film generally... eeehh. I'm going to see it, and will probably enjoy most of it, but I wouldn't say I'm excited. The first movie was a very mixed bag. It lacked focus, the plot wasn't engaging, most of the characters weren't interesting, and the tone was an utter mess. There were individual scenes that were so bad I was kind of stunned to watch them, and the ending was so convenient that the film lost me right when it was supposed to have me in the palm of its hand.
Also, Ron Perlman was a goblin but they did him in CGI instead of extensive makeup and prosthetics. They had a perfect chance to put a big rubber nose on
Ron Perlman and they threw it away. Unforgivable. 0/10. Cancel the franchise.
It was clear at every moment that this is the first time Rowling has written for screen, and that's not a good thing. The film was so rough and disjointed that I'm surprised the script didn't get at least a once over from a professional script doctor. Maybe it did and they just deferred to Rowling. Some supervision or collaboration on the script would have done wonders to make the film much better than it was.
I don't like the casting of Jude Law and Johnny Depp as Dumbledore and Grindlewald. Flat out think both choices are bad and will hamper my enjoyment. Jude Law is a decent actor but I don't feel he's right for Dumbledore. Johnny Depp is a flat out
bad actor who I earnestly believe is only popular because goth girls will go insane over a handsome man in eyeliner. Grindlewald looks terrible and is being played by a bad actor, so the film has an uphill struggle to make me care about the villain of this entire franchise. Maybe that's not fair, but that's the case for me.
All that said, this is take two. Rowling might have learnt a thing or two about screenwriting, the story might be more focused with a specifically defined antagonist, maybe it'll be better.
Fantastic Beasts lacked what made Harry Potter special to me, but it was nowhere near as bad as
Cursed Child. My expectations certainly aren't high, but they're not particularly low, either.
