Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald is the second movie in the Fantastic Beasts franchise and continues to take place in the same magical world of Harry Potter, just in the early to mid 1900s. It all begins with a captured Grindelwald being sent to Europe in order to be kept permanently there. As one might expect, due to the wizard's great powers, Grindelwald finds a way to escape and manages to continue his plans of having pure-blooded wizards become in control of all other beings, including half-blooded wizards and witches. The almighty Albus Dumbledore, who happens to be one of the only people in the entire world capable of matching Grindelwald's powerful nature, decides to enlist Newt Scamander, who happens to be the same animal, creature lover from the first movie. Even though Newt is more than just a little skeptical at first, Albus manages to convince him to help the cause. Scamander soon is forced to go all across the world, while breaking numerous laws, in an attempt to fight back the woman he loves, Tina, meet up with old friends, like Jacob, help Credence, and finally stop Grindelwald from creating his cruel, upside-down world, but Newt has no idea how brutal the dangers up ahead truly are. 
 Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald is an intense movie that is packed to the brim with suspense and drama but feels more like a tool to set up the inevitable future movies for greater success. There is no true climax in the movie, and there isn't any real resolution. However, the movie manages to make audiences' hearts slam against their chests, as well as put viewers to the very edges of their seats. There are also a few plot holes that go against previously known information in both the Harry Potter books and some of the other movies, which makes certain parts of the movie slightly confusing for even the most dedicated of fans. 

 With that in mind, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald starts things off brilliantly and manages to immediately stay true to the name and be about the intriguing Grindelwald. Throughout the movie, Grindelwald's honest opinions and values are expressed in a manner that not only not make him look like a complete villain, but it also helps to demonstrate the thought process that leads to the true dedication that his followers have for him. The middle of the movie marvelously progresses the movie, but the enticing ending doesn't really conclude anything. Instead, more questions arise and even the few answers that are given to audiences begin to get questioned. However, this is not necessarily a bad thing. This helps to creates scores of emotionally rich scenes, and the amount of drama and suspense in future movies will most likely be off the charts high. There are thrilling twists and turns throughout the entire film, and they will genuinely shock even the most die-hard of fans. 

 Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald has the benefit of having some truly vivid, jaw-dropping visual effects that bring the magic to life, as well as add a fantasy-esque to the movie that is sure to make some watchers wish that they were wizards and witches as well. These superb special effects are a necessity to most of the scenes, and they absolutely do not disappoint. 

 Although viewers seem to be satisfied with the Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, certain critics did not feel the same way. Rotten Tomatoes gave the movie a surprisingly poor 40%, and Metacritic gave the movie an also low 53%. However, IMDb gave the movie a 7/10, which isn't great, but they are known to give generally lower scores. A very solid 87% of Google users liked the movie, and the users that didn't like the movie were most likely not that invested in the Harry Potter franchise, so they probably felt that the plot was overly-confusing and complicated. 

 Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald isn't perfect, but it manages to progress the franchise along, while setting up other movies in the series for greater success and manages to create an adventurous roller coaster that makes the Fantastic Beasts franchise so much more interesting. Although this movie is definitely not a good place to start for people who haven't already seen any of the other Harry Potter movies, for those who have, they will receive a movie that truly is entertaining and manages to make Harry Potter's magical world's history that much more fantastic.