“The Crimes of Grindelwald” is the sequel to “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them”, both of which form the “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” prequel to the “Harry Potter” series. Therefore, while magic is a thing, humans are still the main focus of the main series, transferring to the beasts then back to the people in the “Fantastic Beasts” prequel series.

“Crimes of Grindelwald” starts with the main antagonist, Gellert Grindelwald, escaping from prison during extradition from American maximum security across the ocean to Europe via flying carriage, where he would then stand trial for his crimes of genocide. Abernathy, his follower, breaks him out, whereupon he uses the transfer carriage to escape to France.

As the movie progresses, it slowly becomes rather clear that characters get skipped over. A lot. It is almost never  certain where most of the minor characters are, and Tina, the love interest, is essentially never found for the half of the movie she is even in. The whole movie revolves around finding Credence, the mystery of the cast, but if the group has not found each other, then how can they be expected find him? It is also never quite clear why they’re looking for Credence, but, apparently he is the culmination of several different powerful pure-blood lineages.

The flashback is also really well done as the minor characters are explained to be half-brothers and sisters and a whole mess of other things. Credence, who has been desperately seeking his family, finally pleads of one of the minor characters, “Tell me my story, then you can end it,” Credence said.

The fire scene, immediately following the flashback, is quite simply put, the best scene in the movie, as Grindelwald finally proves he’s a master of magic. Throughout the movie he’s been subtly portrayed as a master manipulator, subtly nudging the different minions and innocents into the final climax, which is undoubtedly the fire scene.

Unfortunately for the movie, there was no score. There are so many things that make an atmosphere for the suspension of disbelief and music is often incredibly helpful with that. The whole thing was very, very confusing, as characters got lost and the web gets even more tangled with the addition of so many characters.

The many things I enjoyed about the  movie were the fact that, while yes, ninety percent of the characters was skipped over, you got to really connect with them. The house servant is warm and caring, the foil for Newt is ruthless, as you would expect, Grindelwald has the subtlety the role needs, but when the gloves, literally, come off, it is as amazing and dramatic as one could ever want. (In case you have not noticed, I am gaga for this movie) Dumbledore is also weird. He possesses enough of the subtle manipulation the role needs to counter Grindelwald, but is an untainted idealist that we never see in the main series. I would recommend that others go see this movie.