Just to get this out of the way, I love Harry Potter and the wizarding world. It has been a huge part of my childhood and I will fawn over all things Harry Potter related. With that said, I do not agree with the comments of the author. I can love the work, and dislike the author, and that’s my opinion.

Moving on to the movie. Spoilers included. The first Fantastic Beasts movie was amazing. I loved the story, the creatures, and Newt Scamander is my spirit animal. The second one was all right, but I had some problems with it. Mainly, Queenie’s character choices. I didn’t believe she would go over to Grindelwald at all, considering he wanted to wipe out Muggles and she wanted to marry one. This movie was better than the second for sure.

I found it funny that the movie opened on a scene involving Grindelwald to ensure the audience knew who it was. I won’t lie, it took me a moment to realize that’s who it was. I didn’t know who they replaced Johnny Depp with so it confused me at first, until Dumbledore revealed the blood pact thing. Now, this scene was interesting, but the imagery made it almost seem like it wasn’t real. But, this scene did a good job of setting up the inevitable conflict and duel between the two that will happen in the later movies.

I would watch a show of just Eddie Redmayne as Newt Scamander searching for magical creatures. I love Eddie and I love Newt, and I love animals. Perfect mix. I, however, did not sign up for animal death. Newt goes searching to find a very rare species, the Qilin, who has the power to look into one’s soul to see if they are good, and see the future. And can I just say, I want a Qilin. They are adorable creatures, and I want one.

Anyway, Grindelwald sent Credence and several others to steal the baby Qilin, which resulted in the death of the mother and the baby Qilin being handed over the Grindelwald, who killed it to use its powers. Is it bad that this is the part that really made me hate Grindelwald? Touch an animal and we’ve got problems. Unbeknownst to Grindelwald, the Qilin mother gave birth to twins and the second was safe with Newt.

I really liked how the Qilin became a major part of the story, bringing the fantastic beasts back into the plot, rather than having them just be there in the background. Grindelwald’s plan was to kill the Qilin, bring it back to life with necromancy, and have it select him as pure of heart to basically rig an election for the Supreme Mugwump of the wizarding world. To thwart this, Dumbledore gathered a group of people, including Newt, his brother, Newt’s assistant, a professor from Ilvermorny, and Jacob. Basically, he assembled Dumbledore’s Army. Since Grindelwald had the ability to see snatches of the future, Dumbledore’s plan was to confuse him with multiple plans, which included giving Jacob a wand.

I love Jacob in this. You can see his pain over losing Queenie, and yet, he brings the humor and heart this movie franchise needs. Speaking of Queenie, I was glad to see her come to her senses. Like I said, I didn’t believe she would join Grindelwald, so it was nice to see her acting intelligently again. And her only giving select information about Credence to Grindelwald was a good way of showing she was trying to figure out a way to slow things down. The acting during the dinner scene when she saw Jacob was amazing, and I could just feel the pain and fear she was feeling. She couldn’t go to her love and had to pretend to be on Grindelwald’s side. If she had gone over as a spy, this scene would have been perfect. But alas, it was slightly marred by Queenie being the reason for the separation.

Credence’s new style gave me such strong Kylo Ren vibes, though also some Snape vibes with that hairstyle. In the last movie, Grindelwald said Credence was a Dumbledore. I thought it was just a lie, meant to get Credence angry. I was wrong. It turns out that Aberforth, Albus’ brother, had a baby with a woman who was not named and it was Credence. This still left a lot of confusion. What happened to the mother and how did Credence end up in America to be adopted by the Barebones? And how did Aberforth find out? From what we’re told, the mother was sent away and somehow, Credence was adopted in America. Yet, Aberforth and Credence are communicating through mirrors? I feel like there was some information there I would like to have to follow all of this. And that confrontation scene between Credence and Albus was very cool to witness, with the trippy imagery, but I was confused why Credence just believed Albus. Though, Credence, at that point, was already wary of Grindelwald so probably anything would have helped sway him towards the right side. But still, an amazing twist would be Credence wasn’t actually a Dumbledore at all, and Aberforth just claimed he was his son. Imagine that.

Also, Credence is dying, and the phoenix knows it. Why exactly is Credence dying? He finally released his power, so the obscurus shouldn’t be affecting him anymore. At least, that’s what I thought. I would’ve liked a bit more information about Credence and his history. Maybe we’ll get more out of the next movie. But, he’s dying too, so not sure he will make it that far.

The secrets of Dumbledore weren’t really secrets if you’ve paid attention and read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. It’s revealed officially that Dumbledore and Grindelwald were in love, which was extremely obvious with the subtext in the books, and the author said it in an interview, so not a secret. The death of Ariana Dumbledore was also revealed in the books. Though, in the book, Albus said he, Aberforth, and Grindelwald all drew wands, but in the movie, Albus said just him and Aberforth while Grindelwald laughed. And it’s not clear who killed Ariana, but it weighs heavily on the brothers. Oh, and it was revealed that Ariana was an obscurus, which people theorized after learning about them in the first movie. So, I guess that was sort of a secret. The biggest one was Credence being Aberforth’s son. Everyone assumed the secrets would have to do with Albus, but it does seem the real secrets were those of the Dumbledore family, and not Albus himself. So, that was a good fakeout.

My favorite moments:

1. Newt dancing like the little shrimp/crab/whatever things and telling his brother he’s not swiveling right.
2. Teddy the Niffler and Pickett the Bowtruckle just existing.
3. The Qilin being adorable.
4. Jacob getting the wand.
5. Jacob interacting with the Hogwarts kids.
6. The Harry Potter music that gave me absolute goosebumps.
7. Newt carrying the photo of Tina around with him.
8. Newt being awkward around Tina.
9. The marriage between Queenie and Jacob.

Overall, this movie is so much better than the second one, and definitely moving the plot forward. I heard that there isn’t a draft for the next one yet due to all the issues with this movie, but I hope it gets moving.

If you enjoy the wizarding world, I highly recommend it.