its kind of fascinating how this movie is almost universally recognized as the beginning of the end for harry potter's goodwill among the general public despite the main reason people don't like harry potter having almost nothing to do with why this movie is bad
The series has strayed so far away from the whimsical magic and mysteries that made the earlier stories so engaging. This movie goes to show you JK, and later David Yates, tried to make them more gritty and political without putting in the work to make those things work. "While the series got darker, it never really grew up." Well said, well said, Dan. Glad I could be a part of this video is some small way! Loved it!
I think Rowling, like George Lucas with Star Wars, actually worked better when she had people who could put her in her place and tell her no. While yes, the original book series was her creation, she wasn't the only one in charge. There were publishing companies like Bloomsbury and Scholastic that had to have the final approval, and even likely suggested removing things that probably wouldn't work. Heck, some characters had to actually be altered because they wouldn't work in the overall narative, at least in their original form, like Luna Lovegood for example, or, as she was originally called briefly in the first book "Lily Moon", and had to be pushed back to the fifth book with the name we know her as, because she wouldn't work being introduced in the first book, as it hadn't descended into darkness yet, meaning a whimsical loner like her wasn't needed. And the eight films based on the books did a good job of cutting out things that wouldn't work in a film format, like the Death Day Party, or would get some backlash to say the least, like the scenes involving SPEW, because Rowling wasn't involved in much of the production, say for maybe the casting. But, in this film, the studio forgot that, and made her in charge of the screenplay, and, there were many scenes that wouldn't work in a film that had no influence on the plot, like weird eye creatures, and long flashbacks that slow down the film and make it way too unfocused, and the less said about the McGonagal inconsistency, the better. If Kloves had been there to edit the script to remove these pointless editions, trim down the flashbacks, and remove the McGonagal inconsistency, then the film could've been somewhat decent. And, the reason I bring up the George Lucas comparison is, like Rowling, had pointless scenes that wouldn't work and had to be cut out, thanks to his now ex-wife Marcia who edited the film to make it more simplified. But, once the prequels came out, people forgot that and made him the one man in charge, and, guess what, his old habits came back and we got stuff that made the films unbarable to watch, like the bad CGI, Jar Jar Binks being stupid, and scenes that dragged on and on, and that, had someone more level-headed came in and cut those out to streamline the film (Like the rumored Imax version did.) then it would be a little bit better. Basically, it's if you give one person too much power in the scripting or editing phase, it'll probably ruin a whole film, and a franchise as a whole. Which is what happened with Crimes of Grindlewald and Attack of the Clones. And in both cases, both Rowling and Lucas should've been put in their place and told no at least from time to time, and had some of their bad and pointless ideas removed to streamline each film.
Discworld is better, Owl House is MUCH MUCH better, Heck even Hocus Pocus 2 is better than this one. At least it feels like the stupid parts of it feel intentional and it is fun sometimes (or maybe it is just me).
Here are my two cents, if I may. I loved "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" : sure, it was choke full of problems (death sentence given without a trial, the ridiculous reveal of Grindelwald played by a bleached off Johnny Depp, etc...), but the simple story of a man who just tries to protect magical creatures was charming. I especially loved Newt, first autistic protagonist I saw played in a charming way, Queenie, the deeply humane woman who managed to stay kind and caring despite having access to the thoughts of everybody around her, and Jacob the muggle who was propelled inside a world he knew nothing about and showed sincerity, authenticity and strength where he should have been so powerless. Then arrived Crimes of Grindelwald. I saw it in theaters because my father invited me to see it, and when he asked me at the end what my thoughts were, all I could muster was "It was... pretty, I guess ?". The new magical beasts are uninteresting or barely used, Newt has no motivation to act, Jacob is shoved in the back, and the character of Queenie has been thoroughly assassinated : the charming, kind and even intelligent (sometimes despite the appearances) woman was replaced by a self-centered slaver with no empathy or intelligence. It felt like somebody made an dessert, nothing to fancy but appealing nonetheless, and then poured salt and vinegar on it.
im pretty easy to please, but i remember this being the first time i saw a movie and actively thought it was bad. most of the time, i go "yeah, it was pretty good" if theres one thing i like in it. with this one, i just thought it was bad
I think HP worked because it was on that school year structure, fantastic beasts I had no idea if it was weeks of events or a couple days because nothing was interconnected.....hot dumbledore and cool blue flames thats pretty much all I liked
7:57 But the entrace to the Chamber of Secrets, the chamber specifically built by Salazar Slytherin himself when the school was being built... IS IN A BATHROOM
I'm glad you recommended this to be the first video I checked out on your channel. Honestly, most of... If not all... These points are ones I'd agree with you on. Setting something as an alternate history of our world always comes with the "if wizards/demigods/heroes/etc... Were in our world, why were they letting the horrors of the world happen?" Argument but with this movie in particular it either should have left grindelwald and creedence out and just been Fantastic Beasts 2, or had something that tied more to Newt's personal interest... Like if Grindelwald was using magic to force magical beasts to serve his army and be shock troops or tormented seige engines, that would be something to motivate Newt into joining the team right away because he would likely know how to defeat these beasts without killing them so they could heal and return to their original habitats.
Great video! I do think it's worth holding onto the value of the books, and especially the value they had to you as a child, but I agree that the warning signs were always there, and get more and more prominent as the series goes along. By book 7 I already felt like the world had fallen apart, so I never bothered with the Fantastic Beasts films, but thanks for helping to provide a little extra closure!
My Friend played Cassius Bell! He said he had a scene with Johnny Depp that was cut, but at least he got to be the one to start the wizard war. How cool is that? :) Shame the film blows, and actually everything JK ever did was awful - the true magic was making us think it wasn't
And THIS is why I never watch sequels unless the first one was great/really good. They so often get lost. I often wonder if the writers just say, “screw it, we’ll figure it out as we go.” Which is not the recipe for success. Thanks for the awesome video, it reassured me I made the right choice giving this movie a wide berth. So glad I found your channel!
20:46 …So what you’re saying is that this fantastic beast, who helps our main character (known for taming fantastic beasts) out of the prison cell without attacking him or his friends, is somehow not related in any way shape or form, despite answer B being a perfectly logical reason for its existence?
I mean seriously, the way it was filmed makes it look like Newt was behind it, with his shadowy silhouette looming in the background. Did they honestly think it would be too morally grey without even batting an eye towards the lady literally forcing someone to have her children?! With Hollywood’s circlejerk mindset I don’t think that’s out of the question…
Your videos deserve way more views. This critique is really well-written and has a nice flow to it. (The way you speak is a touch slow-paced for my tastes, but I have ADHD, so I can't fault you on that one.) I just subscribed, and I'm looking forward to seeing more of your work. Cheers!
I literally had the exact same experience watching this movie! I remember leaving the theater and just standing outside in shock reevaluating how much I used to love the series. And then also promptly falling into a Lord of the Rings obsession 😂
I've been wanting to do one, but I want to wait until I can say something unique about them. At the moment my script for it would just be "The trilogy is amazing, Fellowship of the Ring is my favorite." I want to wait and find a particular angle or insight for that. But, I'll see if I can prioritize that more. :) Thanks for watching!
Me who has never seen any Harry Potter media other than the ride at Universal Studios: *Ah yes, I know what is going on* Also, if Jacob still loves, what was her name, what was the point of the whole brainwashing? Or is he still under some mind control that Newt overlooked?
The more you look into the world building of the wizarding world the more it starts looking like a magical version of our own world and despite the villains being fascists the inherent inequality of social classes is never questioned
It's a mess that's for sure. Too much bloat, too many characters, too much 'retconning' of the first movie, etc. There are some interesting ideas in it but the screenplay is bad.
For me it was the opposite. Rowling's actions and political views really soured the entire franchise for me, because i began to see it reflected in her work. The antisemitism, the transphobia, the gross misunderstanding of oppression and wealth disparity. Hell, she even got nazis wrong. Nazis! How can you get nazis wrong? CoG was the final nail in the coffin. She has not changed, and she's not interested in bettering herself or her craft. She's only interested in making herself look good and winning social brownie points by retconning and tacking on extra info in twitter threads about the series that no one asked for. CoG is the symptom of a much much bigger root problem; Rowling cares more about looking good than doing good, and she cares more about saying things to make her the good guy than about saying things that matter.
its kind of fascinating how this movie is almost universally recognized as the beginning of the end for harry potter's goodwill among the general public despite the main reason people don't like harry potter having almost nothing to do with why this movie is bad
"It got darker but not smarter" well said mate...well said
The series has strayed so far away from the whimsical magic and mysteries that made the earlier stories so engaging. This movie goes to show you JK, and later David Yates, tried to make them more gritty and political without putting in the work to make those things work. "While the series got darker, it never really grew up." Well said, well said, Dan. Glad I could be a part of this video is some small way! Loved it!
Thanks so much for taking part in it! :D
I think Rowling, like George Lucas with Star Wars, actually worked better when she had people who could put her in her place and tell her no. While yes, the original book series was her creation, she wasn't the only one in charge. There were publishing companies like Bloomsbury and Scholastic that had to have the final approval, and even likely suggested removing things that probably wouldn't work. Heck, some characters had to actually be altered because they wouldn't work in the overall narative, at least in their original form, like Luna Lovegood for example, or, as she was originally called briefly in the first book "Lily Moon", and had to be pushed back to the fifth book with the name we know her as, because she wouldn't work being introduced in the first book, as it hadn't descended into darkness yet, meaning a whimsical loner like her wasn't needed. And the eight films based on the books did a good job of cutting out things that wouldn't work in a film format, like the Death Day Party, or would get some backlash to say the least, like the scenes involving SPEW, because Rowling wasn't involved in much of the production, say for maybe the casting.
But, in this film, the studio forgot that, and made her in charge of the screenplay, and, there were many scenes that wouldn't work in a film that had no influence on the plot, like weird eye creatures, and long flashbacks that slow down the film and make it way too unfocused, and the less said about the McGonagal inconsistency, the better. If Kloves had been there to edit the script to remove these pointless editions, trim down the flashbacks, and remove the McGonagal inconsistency, then the film could've been somewhat decent. And, the reason I bring up the George Lucas comparison is, like Rowling, had pointless scenes that wouldn't work and had to be cut out, thanks to his now ex-wife Marcia who edited the film to make it more simplified. But, once the prequels came out, people forgot that and made him the one man in charge, and, guess what, his old habits came back and we got stuff that made the films unbarable to watch, like the bad CGI, Jar Jar Binks being stupid, and scenes that dragged on and on, and that, had someone more level-headed came in and cut those out to streamline the film (Like the rumored Imax version did.) then it would be a little bit better.
Basically, it's if you give one person too much power in the scripting or editing phase, it'll probably ruin a whole film, and a franchise as a whole. Which is what happened with Crimes of Grindlewald and Attack of the Clones. And in both cases, both Rowling and Lucas should've been put in their place and told no at least from time to time, and had some of their bad and pointless ideas removed to streamline each film.
Discworld is better, Owl House is MUCH MUCH better, Heck even Hocus Pocus 2 is better than this one. At least it feels like the stupid parts of it feel intentional and it is fun sometimes (or maybe it is just me).
Here are my two cents, if I may. I loved "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" : sure, it was choke full of problems (death sentence given without a trial, the ridiculous reveal of Grindelwald played by a bleached off Johnny Depp, etc...), but the simple story of a man who just tries to protect magical creatures was charming. I especially loved Newt, first autistic protagonist I saw played in a charming way, Queenie, the deeply humane woman who managed to stay kind and caring despite having access to the thoughts of everybody around her, and Jacob the muggle who was propelled inside a world he knew nothing about and showed sincerity, authenticity and strength where he should have been so powerless.
Then arrived Crimes of Grindelwald. I saw it in theaters because my father invited me to see it, and when he asked me at the end what my thoughts were, all I could muster was "It was... pretty, I guess ?". The new magical beasts are uninteresting or barely used, Newt has no motivation to act, Jacob is shoved in the back, and the character of Queenie has been thoroughly assassinated : the charming, kind and even intelligent (sometimes despite the appearances) woman was replaced by a self-centered slaver with no empathy or intelligence. It felt like somebody made an dessert, nothing to fancy but appealing nonetheless, and then poured salt and vinegar on it.
im pretty easy to please, but i remember this being the first time i saw a movie and actively thought it was bad. most of the time, i go "yeah, it was pretty good" if theres one thing i like in it. with this one, i just thought it was bad
I think HP worked because it was on that school year structure, fantastic beasts I had no idea if it was weeks of events or a couple days because nothing was interconnected.....hot dumbledore and cool blue flames thats pretty much all I liked
7:57 But the entrace to the Chamber of Secrets, the chamber specifically built by Salazar Slytherin himself when the school was being built... IS IN A BATHROOM
I'm glad you recommended this to be the first video I checked out on your channel. Honestly, most of... If not all... These points are ones I'd agree with you on.
Setting something as an alternate history of our world always comes with the "if wizards/demigods/heroes/etc... Were in our world, why were they letting the horrors of the world happen?" Argument but with this movie in particular it either should have left grindelwald and creedence out and just been Fantastic Beasts 2, or had something that tied more to Newt's personal interest... Like if Grindelwald was using magic to force magical beasts to serve his army and be shock troops or tormented seige engines, that would be something to motivate Newt into joining the team right away because he would likely know how to defeat these beasts without killing them so they could heal and return to their original habitats.
Great video! I do think it's worth holding onto the value of the books, and especially the value they had to you as a child, but I agree that the warning signs were always there, and get more and more prominent as the series goes along. By book 7 I already felt like the world had fallen apart, so I never bothered with the Fantastic Beasts films, but thanks for helping to provide a little extra closure!
Her Editor must be amazing, and gradually lost control as time went by
My Friend played Cassius Bell! He said he had a scene with Johnny Depp that was cut, but at least he got to be the one to start the wizard war. How cool is that? :)
Shame the film blows, and actually everything JK ever did was awful - the true magic was making us think it wasn't
And THIS is why I never watch sequels unless the first one was great/really good. They so often get lost. I often wonder if the writers just say, “screw it, we’ll figure it out as we go.” Which is not the recipe for success. Thanks for the awesome video, it reassured me I made the right choice giving this movie a wide berth. So glad I found your channel!
20:46 …So what you’re saying is that this fantastic beast, who helps our main character (known for taming fantastic beasts) out of the prison cell without attacking him or his friends, is somehow not related in any way shape or form, despite answer B being a perfectly logical reason for its existence?
I mean seriously, the way it was filmed makes it look like Newt was behind it, with his shadowy silhouette looming in the background. Did they honestly think it would be too morally grey without even batting an eye towards the lady literally forcing someone to have her children?! With Hollywood’s circlejerk mindset I don’t think that’s out of the question…
Thanks to D.M. for the subtitles, they made my day!
26:22 I can confirm. That's also the only good thing in this movie
Your videos deserve way more views. This critique is really well-written and has a nice flow to it. (The way you speak is a touch slow-paced for my tastes, but I have ADHD, so I can't fault you on that one.) I just subscribed, and I'm looking forward to seeing more of your work. Cheers!
Thank you so much! I'm glad you're enjoying, and I got some really exciting stuff planned in the future.
I literally had the exact same experience watching this movie! I remember leaving the theater and just standing outside in shock reevaluating how much I used to love the series. And then also promptly falling into a Lord of the Rings obsession 😂
I would actually love to see a video on the lord of the rings
I've been wanting to do one, but I want to wait until I can say something unique about them. At the moment my script for it would just be "The trilogy is amazing, Fellowship of the Ring is my favorite." I want to wait and find a particular angle or insight for that. But, I'll see if I can prioritize that more. :) Thanks for watching!
28:35 cool flamingo guy :)
Thank you! His name is Flarry :)
Me who has never seen any Harry Potter media other than the ride at Universal Studios: *Ah yes, I know what is going on*
Also, if Jacob still loves, what was her name, what was the point of the whole brainwashing? Or is he still under some mind control that Newt overlooked?
From what I gather, Jacob was still in love with Queenie, but didn't want to marry her. She brainwashed him specifically to marry him.
@@DanielGoldhorn yeeee-ikes
Recommended was good to me today
The more you look into the world building of the wizarding world the more it starts looking like a magical version of our own world and despite the villains being fascists the inherent inequality of social classes is never questioned
34:40 Cassius Bell... As in Casus Belli which is a reason used to justify a war. And it WASN'T intentional? This movie is a god damn train wreck
It's a mess that's for sure. Too much bloat, too many characters, too much 'retconning' of the first movie, etc. There are some interesting ideas in it but the screenplay is bad.
I would argue that a certain mistreatment to a certain actor that played Grindelwald was one of the leading factors as well.
For me it was the opposite. Rowling's actions and political views really soured the entire franchise for me, because i began to see it reflected in her work. The antisemitism, the transphobia, the gross misunderstanding of oppression and wealth disparity. Hell, she even got nazis wrong. Nazis! How can you get nazis wrong?
CoG was the final nail in the coffin. She has not changed, and she's not interested in bettering herself or her craft. She's only interested in making herself look good and winning social brownie points by retconning and tacking on extra info in twitter threads about the series that no one asked for. CoG is the symptom of a much much bigger root problem; Rowling cares more about looking good than doing good, and she cares more about saying things to make her the good guy than about saying things that matter.
7:57 vanish me poopum
Aside from Rowling being a terrible person,Happy Pride Month💜💙🩷
A good way to start off pride month :3
Pride cometh before the fall
Or something edgy like that
nice fact checking lol, ready feed your view point
You have no rights
It ruined it because it had some the worst directing and honestly seemed like the crew just kept putting their own political views in the movie