The first part of this will be spoiler-free. I’ll explicitly mark when the spoilers do start.

Let’s jump right into this and start with the characters.

Loved the new characters. Hated what was done to some of them, not even going to lie there, but did love the characters and a lot of the development. Still loved all the old characters, too. NOT thrilled with a turn a few of them took (especially a certain someone who I REFUSE to believe would have actually done what they did, come ON), but man. I wanted to see more of what happened in Hogwarts with Newt as a kid, too.

The storyline? Well, that’s where a lot of my spoilers will come in, so I’ll save most of that for the end of the post. All in all, not as good as the first in my opinion, but we have five movies in total to tell this story, with three left to go. So. We have time for more, at least.

Now, my favorite: the cinematography.

Cinematography was, by far, the best part of the whole movie. I want nothing more than to feel like I’m there when I watch these movies and walk away wishing I could do the things they do, and this movie, like all other Harry Potter movies, did that easily. It’s such a pretty movie. The magic was on point and the creatures were wonderful and the little tidbits just made everything that much better.

Also! I love how they changed the uniforms for the kids, because they’re definitely not supposed to stay the same through the years! (I think this was originally just a reasoning for why they changed in the original movie line, but it makes sense to me!) All the little details to them were awesome. And McGonagall! I’m so happy we see McGonagall! Young! The casting was so good. Especially when it came to younger versions of Newt and Leta. That kid playing Newt was so like Eddie (Older Newt) in his acting mannerisms and face shape and everything that it legitimately looked like a younger Newt. I was so impressed!

AND NOW, THE SPOILERS.

VV SPOILERS BELOW VV

Okay, now, that ending? This is where the Rowling what the fuck really starts, because

ROWLING, WHAT THE FUCK?

Credence is a Dumbledore? Brother to Albus and Aberforth? (And Ariana but she’s dead.)

Um, how is that possible? Kendra (mother) Dumbledore died in 1899, right? Killed by Ariana (sister)? This movie takes place in 1927. You CAN’T tell me Credence is in his thirties. That’s just a no, they even said in the first movie that he’s in his late teens/early twenties/something like that. Percival (father) Dumbledore was put away in Azkaban, are we now saying he somehow had a child? Did he get out and get busy and Albus/Aberforth was none the wiser? Ariana died when she was a child, so not her. Was the mother fleeing to America for this reason? But if she were a witch, why did she just flat out drown with the baby? She’s magical, come on.

I think Grindelwald is just lying out of that coleslaw-headed ass of his. That, or that aunt that was like vaguely mentioned maybe had a kid. Did we ever find out what happened to her? Did we ever find out anything about her? (I honestly can’t remember — I should look that up.) But then who was taking the baby to America (and then drowned on the ship sinking), because nothing about her death/disappearance is ever mentioned, so was it her on that boat? Rowling better not have plot holes galore in store.

Regardless, I call such bullshit, either on the claim that was made on Credence’s heritage or on Rowling throwing this wrench in.

We won’t talk about the Nagini thing. I’ll let Twitter take that one and run, they love that kind of thing and frankly I am still salty over the fact she thought it was a good idea in the first place. Sure, good twist if a really bad decision otherwise, but ew, Rowling. Ew!

Also: I really, really hope Queenie is just undercover or something and this is a huge ruse. I love Queenie, and this just seems wrong. Tina also doesn’t seemed distressed enough over her sister walking to the dark side. Something has to be up!

Anyway. I liked it, but I will be so frustrated if all my questions aren’t answered.

Until the next installment…

Thanks for reading!