The first movie, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, resembled a Pokemon hunt – but with a lot of heart.
The sequel, on the other hand, lacks the heartwarming factor of the first but has more soap opera drama.
There are some scenes that are not necessary at all, and some of the CGI is rather ho-hum.
The story of Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne), the Magizoologist who gets dragged into a war between the Ministry of Magic and evil warlock Grindelwald (Johnny Depp), now has more references to the Harry Potter series.
A young Albus Dumbledore (Jude Law) seeks the help of ex-student Newt to stop Grindelwald’s plans to have the pure-bloods rule over the world of magic and the world of muggles – something that Dumbledore is powerless to stop himself.
The movie starts with a dramatic escape by Grindelwald, and Newt being summoned by the Ministry of Magic to help in their war against this evil warlock, as well as to help them find Credence Barebone (Ezra Miller), the extremely dangerous young wizard from the first movie.
Newt is content with his magical creatures, and is uncomfortable with his brother, Theseus (Calum Turner), being engaged to Leta Lestrange (Zoe Kravitz), a woman Newt once loved.
We also find that Credence is now in Paris desperately searching for his mother (his search is tied to an old poem that reads like a prophecy), and befriends Nagini (Claudia Kim) a shape-shifter.
Tina (Katherine Waterson), her sister Queenie (Alison Sudol), and Newt’s friend Jacob (Dan Fogler) are back in this movie but their roles lack the impact they had in the first film.
As a whole, the movie is entertaining, although its emotional core could have been handled better.
However, the ending delivers a big surprise.
