The pattern is familiar. Strike gold with a film slated to be the first in a series, proceed with said series to a satisfying conclusion, then attach more films—prequels, sequels, and reboots—until viewer fatigue sets in and a backlash ensues. Though J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series begat eight film adaptations, a theme park, and a fixed pop culture legacy, she seems to have taken the wrong lessons from her forebears. As the Hobbit trilogy, the Pirates of the Caribbean series, and Solo: A Star Wars Story have shown, just because one can append more films to a bankable franchise doesn’t mean one should.
Darting between the magical environs of New York, London, and Paris in 1927, the film hinges on Newt answering Professor Dumbledore’s call to find teen runaway Credence (Ezra Miller) before dark wizard at large Gellert Grindelwald (Johnny Depp) can weaponize the boy. Supposedly Credence is the last in a powerful, pure-blooded wizarding line and the key to Grindelwald’s final solution of pure-blood wizards ruling over half-bloods and nonmagical people. A twist ending, in the most generous use of that term, suggests Credence’s true lineage with an anticlimactic thud. This is because Credence, the franchise’s apparent linchpin, is a dull character, and Newt is so sweet and pure that he makes angsty, good-hearted Harry look like an antihero by comparison. Meanwhile, Newt’s adult American friends Jacob and Queenie (Dan Fogler and Alison Sudol) are equally unrelatable, cartoonish, and annoying in that they’re even more childlike than Harry’s school pals Ron and Hermione. Meatier characters played by Zoë Kravitz and Katherine Waterston are more interesting, but they deserve a stronger story than this.
Directed by David Yates. PG-13. 134 min. In wide release.
