Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald is the newest installment of the ambitious second movie of a five more series in the Harry Potter cinematic universe. Directed by David Yates and written by J.K. Rowling released on November 16. The film brings back its cast from the original including Eddie Redmayne as Newt Scamander, and Johnny Depp as Gellert Grindelwald. Along with new characters added such as Callum Turner as Theseus Scamander, as Newt’s brother, and Jude Law, as Albus Dumbledore.

The movie follows the events of the first and although many find the film as a cash grab, the story that was told was very interesting and told a new story while also incorporating the previous story and conflicts, while at the same time adding new ones to the narrative. There were many subplots in the film. Such as addressing the topic of Dumbledore’s sexuality. Giving the character more depth in the story. Which fans did not seem to be bothered by. Another subplot was a romance between two of the secondary characters that helped continue the plot of the movie.

As the title suggests, the creature design is very diverse in sizes, colors and personalities. And sometimes the beasts that are introduced are later used to progress the plot later on. A very clever way of featuring the vast universe of the wizarding world. Apart from the creature design, the computer generated images were alright. The images used to create the creatures were very stunning. But other than the few computer created creatures, the scenes with CGI weren’t always the best. There were some instances that it would be impossible to do some of the scenes without CGI, like many of the heavy magic scenes. But there is a scene that would have looked more impressive if it used special effects.

This was a very good sequel to the Fantastic Beasts series. But also shows a lot more darker plot including the main antagonist, Grindelwald, to create and urge wizards to join his new cult to take over the world against the people with no magic. Proving that Grindelwald isn’t just a wizard thug, but has the capability to have the same kind of wickedness that Voldemort, the antagonist from the Harry Potter movies, has.

Overall this is a very enjoyable movie and a good sequel. This movie receives 3 out of 5 stars and is recommended for Harry Potter fans over casual viewers as some of the subplots and characters will be confusing if you have not seen the previous movies.