J.K. Rowling's prequel-sequel Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald gets the Honest Trailers treatment in a new video. The Fantastic Beasts films take place several decades before the events of Rowling's Harry Potter novels (and their movie adaptations) and follow the adventures of magizoologist Newt Scamander, against the backdrop of the dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald's rise to power. Rowling has mapped out a story arc for five Fantastic Beasts movies total and the first one, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, hit theaters back in 2016.
The sequel - titled The Crimes of Grindelwald - was quick to follow two years after, but earned mixed to negative reviews and under-performed at the box office, compared to its predecessor. While it was still a commercial success overall, Warner Bros. and Rowling have since delayed production on Fantastic Beasts 3, in order to allow themselves more time to fine-tune the script (which Rowling is once again writing). In the meantime, it's Crimes of Grindelwald's turn to answer for its, er, crimes against cinema.
Related: Why a Fantastic Beasts 3 Release Delay is Likely
Screen Junkies has released its Honest Trailer for The Crimes of Grindelwald online, in the wake of the film's premiere on home video in recent weeks. You can check it out, below.
The Crimes of Grindelwald's Honest Trailer touches on most of the popular criticisms that've been raised about the film. For starters, people have taken issue with the sequel's many side characters and how they distract from the Fantastic Beasts franchise's alleged leads (Newt included). Rowling's script is also full of exposition-heavy conversations - or, as the Honest Trailer puts it, scenes of wizards talking grimly - that largely serve to set-up future entries in the series, but have little bearing on The Crimes of Grindelwald's central story. Then there's the matter of Grindelwald himself, who's brought to life through an uncharacteristically buttoned down performance by Johnny Depp. Problem is, his plot thread culminates in what's easily the film's most divisive moment: his horrifying vision of the second World War to come.
Beyond that: as the Honest Trailer points out, Wizarding World fans have grown increasingly frustrated with Rowling's expansion of and retcons to the franchise's mythology over the last decade - and that was even before The Crimes of Grindelwald reached theaters. Still, as this video illustrates, there are plenty of things for fans to take issue with in the second Fantastic Beasts movie on its own, setting aside their other criticisms of Rowling and the larger brand. With (in theory) three more of these films to go, we're just hoping that Fantastic Beasts 3 turns out better for everyone's sake.
MORE: Every Fantastic Beasts 3 Update You Need to Know
Source: Screen Junkies