Fantasy

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald 3D

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Magical as expected but longwinded and confusing.

I was raised in the height of Pottermania and I am a proud Slytherin 😊

Me

I used to love the build up before a new book and later on with the movies, so I know the characters inside and out, just like a lot of my fellow Potterheads.

As soon as the film starts with the faint notes of Hedwig’s theme, the Goosebumps began.

You can tell the heads of production have remained the same, David Yates stayed as director and J K Rowling wrote the screenplay, so I expected the film to be true to its origins. But my advice is to not see it in 3D, there is no need. I think I actually enjoyed it more in 2D than 3D.

We have the usual group back in the driving seat and I am glad to see them return.

But we also have new (ish)characters such as Nagini, Dumbledore and of course Grindelwald.

So now comes the WARNING if you haven’t seen it yet.

SPOILER ALERT!

The film starts just a few months after the previous film ends. 1927 Grindelwald in jail, he escapes, you know the jist. But the main things we learn are that:

  1. Credence isn’t dead – he survived the previous film
  2. Grindelwald and Dumbledore used to be friends (lovers??) They have a blood pact so cannot fight each other.
  3. Leta had a brother who she unintentionally killed
  4. Credence Barebone was born as Aurelias Dumbledore

Credence and Nagini

Of course, nobody really cares about anything of this expect. Who the hell the Aurelias Dumbledore?

Just like many fans I went straight to the books to construct the Dumbledore family tree…. Yes, I am that sad.

Family Tree

This looks perfectly fine until you add the dates.

1881 – Albus born

1883/1884 – Aberforth born

1885 – Ariana born

1891 – Ariana was attacked by muggles. Percival took revenge on the boys and ended up being imprisoned in Azkaban.

1899 – Ariana accidently killed her mother as she couldn’t control her powers. Albus looks after his siblings.

Aurelius is supposedly born in 1901. So, at best he could be a half brother if you believe that Percival was able to either escape or have relations in Azkaban.

Another issue in the timeline is Professor McGonagall being a teacher at Hogwarts in 1927, when she isn’t born until 1935?

I am a traditionalist and it annoys me that the story and timeline has been changed just so that they can make more money. It is a cinematic marvel as all the films are, but I find the story a bit lacking. It is all the build up to the next film and at 2h 15mins I am not surprised children couldn’t keep their attention throughout.

I did like the little Easter Eggs hinting back to other films such as:

  • The bucket being a portkey
  • The flash of green light – The Killing Curse (Avada Kedavra)
  • The Imperius Curse (Imperio)
  • Phoenix
  • Philosophers Stone
  • Polyjuice Potion – Twitching on the face

Over all the casting was fantastic and I am really looking forward to the next instalment of the franchise. But I can’t say I am sold on how this is going to work into the timelines.

4/5

film-reelfilm-reelfilm-reelfilm-reelfilm-reel Outline

Director:  David Yates

Cast: Eddie Redmayne, Johnny Depp, Jude Law, Katherine Waterston, and Ezra Miller.

Crew: J K Rowling (Screenwriter)

Genre: Fantasy

Rating: 12A

The Shape of Water

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A Mesmerising Del Toro Classic

Before I even start my review, lets just go through the nominations this film has achieved already:

  • 13 Academy Awards nominations
  • 7 Golden Globe nominations – (Won BEST DIRECTOR and BEST ORIGINAL SCORE)
  • 12 BAFTA nominations

From this alone I already had high expectations.

The first thing you will notice from this film is how the main character Elisa is a mute, but that doesn’t mean she is a flat character. Sally Hawkins (a brit by the way!) has amazing emotive energy and definitely deserves her Best Actress nominations. The on-screen chemistry between Elisa and the Amphibian Man – or as he is referred to in the film, the Asset, is a marvel. Having two characters that are mute makes every move they make that much more meaningful and emotive.

In an interview with IMDB Del Toro stated that “words lie but looks don’t” and this is why he focuses a lot on the fingers. Psychologically our hands can give away our true feelings and this film uses that. At the beginning when the two characters meet, we see them touching fingers through the glass of his tank. This develops throughout the film to a full touch of the hands. The full touch is warm and affectionate whereas touching fingertips shows less affection.

Fingers

There are also a lot of noticeable similarities between Del Toro’s most well-known 2006 film Pan’s Labyrinth. Both stories are told in the style of a fairy-tale about real life times of struggles. Pan’s Labyrinth is set in the time of Spanish Civil War and The Shape of Water is set during the height of the Cold War in the early 1960s.  This is a trait of Del Toro’s cinematic storytelling and is a refreshing insight into telling a story, giving a childlike wonder and the cool tones of the colour pallet.

Image result for pan's labyrinthLight

It is clear where Del Toro got his inspiration for the character of the Amphibious Man. Originally the film was going to be a reboot of The Creature From The Black Lagoon, and you can see the similarities between the Asset and Gill Man. I personally hate reboots and I am glad they took a different route.

I give this film 5 out of 5. It gripped my attention, I loved the characters and the story. Typical Del Toro film.

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Works Cited

Arnold, J. (Director). (1954). Creature from the Black Lagoon [Motion Picture].

IMDb. (2017, December 13). Guillermo del Toro Explains Symbols in ‘The Shape of Water’ | IMDb EXCLUSIVE. Retrieved from Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yb-MzoMFtWo

Toro, G. d. (Director). (2006). Pan’s Labyrinth [Motion Picture].

Director:  Guillermo del Toro

Cast: Sally Hawkins, Michael Shannon, Richard Jenkins, Michael Stuhlbarg, and Octavia Spencer.

Crew: Alexandre Desplat (Music) Dan Laustsen (Cinematographer)

Genre: Fantasy

Rating: 15