Like most characters in this franchise, Credence had real impact and weight in the first film (the idea of an Obscurus and the dangers of repressing one’s identity remains a wonderful metaphor). The grand revelation of the second movie was that Ezra Miller’s Credence was secretly a Dumbledore nobody knew about (who somehow ended up in Queens New York.) So desperate was the franchise, in fact, that they literally invented a Dumbledore. All I could remember about it before going into this third (and hopefully final) one, was that there was something about a strained brother-sister equation that I couldn't for the life of me follow or feel for. In this case, the second instalment - Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Meandering Storytelling And Spectacular Miscasting Grindelwald -was a terrible fever dream of a movie. But it’s an honesty that dwindles and dissipates in their follow-ups, where a single movie’s story and characters get stretched beyond their limits, forced into trilogies they don’t need or earn. They feel like they come from a place of love for the world they set out to revisit. Not unlike the Hobbit movies, there’s an honesty and integrity to these ‘first movies’. While I’ll admit I only have fond memories of the first movie which allowed us to revisit the Wizarding World that many of us hold so dear and gave us a fresh crop of genuinely endearing characters. There’s already so much going against the tired, unnecessary, stretched-beyond-its-limits franchise, that it’s difficult not to be jaded before even a single frame flickers to life. Some franchises, like the Fantastic Beasts movies, make it challenging to hold onto that cautious optimism. (Also read: Flash star Ezra Miller's DC future has reportedly been put 'on pause' by Warner Bros after his arrest )īut some movies make it tough. You have to sit in that dark theatre every week and sincerely believe that any film could change your life.

It’s also on us to give every movie a chance. We’re supposed to give each release our entire focus and attention, be honest to our experience of it and attempt to have a meaningful conversation around it. While I wouldn’t necessarily call it easy, the role of a movie reviewer is a simple one.

First fantastic beasts movie