Misplaced stories and what to do with them. (Fantastic Beasts spoilers)

First off…

Spoilers ahead…

You have been warned…

So in my Fantastic beasts review I mentioned that there were some minor scenes that felt out of place… .. . These where any scene that contained the unmasked Gellert Grindelwald aka Graves. They literally bookend the story and have no impact at all. This is very much a done story being shoehorned in to a multi movie narrative. Now before someone says to them self “that filthy muggler has no clue of how important Grindelwald is to the story” This is partially true, it has been close to 10 years since I read the last in the core series and have not really revisited them since. Sure I did watch all the movies but they never stuck. So in many ways I had but the vaguest grasp of Grindelwald going in to this movie, add to that my active avoidance of spoilers and previews. I was as close to a blank state as I have ever been going in to a franchise movie. (compare with my encyclopedic knowledge of Marvel and DC lore that have me going in to any such movie with more knowledge than I care to think about.) So I did not really care about the opening scene and once the end scene comes rolling around it was more of a… dafuk… But I am aware of the importance of Grindelwald, I was just expecting them to push that in to the next movie.

And this is where my main gripe comes in, I think the people making the movie had the same idea until some focus group came in and had their say. The scenes with Grindelwald are sloppy and pointless. They serve no purpose at all in my mind and while I get that people new to the franchise need some anchoring for this character seeing how it is obscure to say the least, and that trying to launch an entire movie series built on him would be risky. They did not have to be so bleeding lazy about it.

I still love the movie that sits between these bookends and I think that a movie about Grindelwald will be interesting especially if they perhaps play up the by fans suggested romance between Grindelwald and Dumbledore. Mostly because it would explain a few things about ol´ Albus. It just pokes me the wrong way that this was the way we got introduced to the character.

It was also fun to see Ezra Miller seeing how he is the new Flash, trying to fill the place that Grant Gustin have in my heart… 

Fantastic beasts: A spoiler free review

First off, sorry about the lateness of this post but i simply fell asleep before i could write it up. It is also good to digest a movie a bit before writing about it in my mind. 

Fantastic beasts and where to find them, for the people unfamiliar is the latest movie in the Harry Potter universe. It is a prequel of sorts and is set during the roaring 20´s. As the title suggest it is about the the author of the in universe book "Fantastic beasts and where to find them". This book has been presented as a end all be all source of best knowledge. I am going to leave the story of the movie at that and simply say that it is a very good story. 

Now the movie it self is well crafted, if one discount a handful of scenes, but these does not really impact the movie so that is something i am willing to overlook. Both the female and male lead are likeable and especially Redmayne have that perfect adrokable vibe. But as good as they are they are almost upstaged by the supporting cast, human and beast alike. It is also nice to see the movie break a few tropes that plagues most average blockbusters. 

Now no movie is flawless, and in the case of this movie, outside of those errant scenes most problems in this movie have to do with how the action scenes are cut, they are messy and the use of a first person view in some of them really does not work. Add a rather lackluster use of 3D and you have what sometimes feel almost Michael Bay-ish. I´l go in more detail about my thoughts regarding what worked and not in my spoiler review. 

To sum things up i think Fantastic beasts and where to find them is a great movie and i felt my money was welt spent. But it does touch on some subjects that will leave people who have just read the books or even more just seen the other movies a tad bit confused. Go watch Fantastic beasts and where to find them, you will not be disappointed. 

/T