movie thoughts: Fantastic Beasts 2 (2018)

[orangerful]

So, this happened today.

I sat down to watch Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindlewald. I steeled myself because I knew the reviews for this were all over the place. But something about it bugged me right off the bat and I ended up sort of live-tweeting my viewing:

Why do storytellers who have created well-loved worlds have so little faith in

Comments

[qwentoozla]

That sounds so frustrating! Definitely glad I skipped it. I just really didn't want to see Johnny Depp, and also wasn't a huge fan of the first one. I really don't see what they're going to do with THREE more.

[orangerful]

No idea. I can't imagine this being dragged out for three more films and having anything coherent by the end.

[rogueslayer452]

It undoes pretty much everything I enjoyed about the first movie.

Precisely. As I mentioned in my comment in your other post, I was rather meh about Fantastic Beasts initially because it wasn't something I was that interested in, but I did enjoy the first movie, despite the flaws and issues here and there I had. It was a nice setup. But the second movie just seemed to completely ruin everything about that completely

[author_by_night]

I have a theory that originally this was supposed to have been merely a stand-alone movie focusing primarily on Newt going on one of his worldwide travels with magical creatures and just being a simple self-contained story, but Warner Bros intervened and proposed to make it a full-fledged movie franchise (because Hollywood is franchise-obsessed and money hungry) to kind of recapture what the HP franchise was in terms of it being larger-than-life, and thus and it went from a single movie to a trilogy to then a planned five movie franchise.

That... would actually make a world of sense. In fact, I think that's very likely it. In which case it isn't entirely JKR's fault, if she was pressured into turning it into a trilogy - then a five movie series - when she only signed up for one or two movies.

I mean, the same thing happened with The Hobbit, right? They turned a single book into a trilogy. And it flopped. Hollywood doesn't see that people are fine with one movie being one movie.

trying to ride on that success with the whole "but

[rogueslayer452]

I mean, the same thing happened with The Hobbit, right? They turned a single book into a trilogy. And it flopped. Hollywood doesn't see that people are fine with one movie being one movie.

As someone who adores The Hobbit trilogy, I do acknowledge that they kind of messed things up initially since it was originally supposed to have been, I believe, only two films (the first with Bilbo joining the adventure, and the second one with the battles and him returning home). And while I liked that they had more time with developing the characters, you can tell that it was only done this way to make it on a grander scale like LOTR was, again for the nostalgia which, yeah, definitely backfired, which was disappointing.

New fans could catch up, and current fans had their interests maintained while they waited. We don't have the same writing that made the books work so well here, and the movies are tacked onto a book series that ended twelve years ago.Exactly, there was a good balance there. Here, however, there is nothing to go off of. Even

[orangerful]

The more I think about it all, it makes me think of Lucas writing the Star Wars prequels. He was too close to it. He didn't understand what connected with fans, what had survived over time as The Thing that made Star Wars not just an 80s movie, but part of pop culture.

I feel like JK might be in the same space. She's trying to recapture something that she doesn't really understand anymore. She doesn't realize many of the original HP fans are adults now. I really don't think her poor writing is out of malice, but more that she just doesn't get it anymore.

Maybe in twenty years, we can get a Force Awakens moment, with a Wizarding World movie or book made by fans that get it, that know the strengths and weaknesses of the stories and create something better.

[author_by_night]

It really IS frustrating.

And all along, I've really felt that JKR mostly did this because Warner Brothers asked if they could make a movie, and she jumped on it so they wouldn't destroy her world. Which, at the time, I actually really respected from the POV of a writer. Except now... as much as I hate to say it, I almost wonder if she should've just let them run with it, let them do the work.

I think one of the problems is that JKR is such a character writer, and a movie doesn't really allow time to have that nuance. I feel like if she'd just written another series, she could've stuck with the misadventures of Newt Scamander while also having all the other stuff in the background. Instead, she brought it all front and center, and moreover, because we don't get much time with the characters we miss a lot.

. Or what about the random rape story that is tucked away as a flashback? Oh sorry, he *enchanted* her.

To be fair, I took it as intended to be a rape story, and very upsetting. I think there's always been an underlying message

[orangerful]

No on one screen was horrified enough at that moment. And no one said in the movie "OMG he raped her!" it was all "oh he used a spell" paralleling Queenie's spell with Jacob which also led me to worry that she had also committed rape at some point since it was unclear as to when she enchanted the man.

And, also, it was a shit-ton of random story dropped into an already convoluted story so it just felt completely wrong.

JKR is an okay author, she needs an editor and she should definitely not be writing scripts alone. Though blame has to fall on Yates too because, as a director, he could have made some calls here.

I'm getting a very prequels vibe here - the way Lucas just didn't understand what made Star Wars popular. I think you're right, it would have been better in the hands of Harry Potter fans. Maybe in another twenty years.

[eiffels]

The second film was definitely all over the place. I chalked it up to the fact that they had a lot to set up for what’s to come but it’s could have been much smoother.

[orangerful]

I'm concerned this hasn't all been plotted out in advance. That maybe JK has an endpoint but she doesn't know how to get there exactly. And she is fumbling around, creating characters when she needs them (to bump off, torture, act as red herrings) and making her established characters do things that don't quite fit just to get from plot point A to B. It's just too sad. And it's giving me Star Wars Prequel PTSD.

[thistle_chaser]

I think I never saw the second one, though I really enjoyed the first one. Took me forever to see it, since I thought I'd dislike it. Thanks for saving me a couple hours! I'll skip this second one.

[orangerful]

Yes just remember the first movie and pretend that is where it all ends. or read the fanfic as i've heard that's better LOL