Honestly, it was supposed to be easy. J.K. Rowling was back. The Wizarding World was expanding. Fans were literally vibrating with excitement when that first trailer dropped in 2016. But here we are, years later, and the Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them series feels more like a cautionary tale about franchise bloat than a magical triumph.
What went wrong? Or better yet, what went weird?
If you look at the original 2001 "textbook" that Newt Scamander supposedly wrote, it was just a cute, 42-page charity book for Comic Relief. It had doodles from Ron Weasley and Harry Potter in the margins. It was charming. It wasn't a five-film political epic about the wizarding equivalent of World War II. Yet, that’s exactly where the studio tried to take it. We started with a guy looking for a runaway Niffler in New York City and ended up with a convoluted plot about blood pacts and secret Dumbledore siblings. It’s a lot to process.
The Identity Crisis of Newt Scamander
Eddie Redmayne is great as Newt. He’s awkward. He avoids eye contact. He’s exactly what you’d expect from someone who prefers the company of a Bowtruckle to a human being. But the Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them series never quite decided if it wanted to be his story or Albus Dumbledore’s story.
In the first film, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, the focus is tight. Newt arrives in 1926 New York with a suitcase full of magical creatures. We meet Tina, Queenie, and the lovable No-Maj Jacob Kowalski. It felt fresh. It felt like a new corner of the world. Then, the ending happened. Percival Graves turned out to be Gellert Grindelwald, and suddenly, the "Beasts" part of the title felt like an afterthought.
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By the time we got to The Crimes of Grindelwald in 2018, the creatures were basically just plot devices or background noise. The story shifted toward the rise of fascism in the wizarding world. While that's an interesting topic, it didn't really mesh with the whimsical tone of the first movie. You have Newt trying to track down a Zouwu while also being caught in a high-stakes international manhunt involving Leta Lestrange and the French Ministry of Magic. It’s messy. It’s like trying to bake a cake and a lasagna in the same pan.
The Grindelwald Problem and Production Woes
Let's talk about the elephant in the room. Well, the dark wizard in the room. The role of Gellert Grindelwald was played by three different people if you count Colin Farrell (who was technically playing Grindelwald in disguise). Then you had Johnny Depp, who brought a rockstar-vibe to the role, followed by Mads Mikkelsen in The Secrets of Dumbledore.
Mikkelsen was fantastic. Many fans actually preferred his more grounded, menacing portrayal. But the constant shifting of the central antagonist made it hard for the audience to stay grounded in the narrative.
And then there were the scripts. J.K. Rowling is a novelist, not a screenwriter. There’s a difference. In a book, you have 800 pages to explain a complicated family tree. In a two-hour movie, if you spend twenty minutes explaining that Credence is actually Aurelius Dumbledore (wait, what?), you lose the audience. The pacing of the Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them series suffered because it tried to do too much world-building without enough character payoff.
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Where the Series Actually Succeeds
It’s not all doom and gloom. Seriously.
The production design by Stuart Craig is breathtaking. The 1920s aesthetic—the flapper dresses, the cobblestone streets, the Art Deco Ministry offices—it’s gorgeous. And the creatures! The Niffler is a masterpiece of character design. The Erumpent sequence in Central Park? Pure magic.
Also, the relationship between Jacob and Queenie in the first film was arguably more compelling than any romance in the original Harry Potter books. A baker and a mind-reader falling in love in a world where it’s illegal for them to even be friends? That’s high stakes. It’s human.
The Canon Contradictions That Irked Fans
If you're a die-hard Potterhead, the Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them series felt a bit like a fever dream.
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Remember Professor McGonagall showing up in The Crimes of Grindelwald? The timeline says she shouldn't have even been born yet. Or the "Blood Pact" between Dumbledore and Grindelwald, which felt like a bit of a convenient way to explain why they didn't just fight immediately.
Then there's the Portkey usage. In the books, Portkeys are described as being incredibly jarring and unpleasant. In these movies, people just sort of walk through them like they’re stepping through a doorway. It sounds nitpicky, I know. But when you build a world with such specific rules, breaking them for the sake of a "cool shot" tends to pull people out of the experience.
The Future of the Franchise
As of now, the five-film plan seems to be on ice. The Secrets of Dumbledore (2022) didn't exactly set the box office on fire. Warner Bros. Discovery has been pretty quiet about a fourth installment. Instead, the focus has shifted toward the upcoming Harry Potter television series on Max.
Does this mean Newt’s story is over? Maybe on the big screen. But the lore remains. The Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them series succeeded in showing us that the Wizarding World is massive. It’s not just London and Hogsmeade. There’s Ilvermorny in America, the Great Wizarding War in Europe, and untold stories in Brazil and Asia.
Actionable Takeaways for Fans
If you're looking to dive deeper into this specific era of the Wizarding World without just rewatching the movies, here is how to get the most out of the lore:
- Read the Original Screenplays: Rowling’s screenplays for the first two films include stage directions and internal character thoughts that didn't always make it to the screen. They clarify a lot of the confusing plot points in Crimes of Grindelwald.
- Explore "The Case of Beasts": There are several behind-the-scenes books that detail the creature design. If the biology of the beasts is what you liked, these are better than the movies themselves.
- Check Out the Wand Designs: The prop team went all out for this series. Each wand is made of materials that reflect the character's personality (Newt’s has elements of bone and shell). It's a level of detail that deserves appreciation.
- Wait for the Reboot Energy: Keep an eye on the Harry Potter TV show news. While it's a retelling of the books, the creators have hinted at incorporating broader Wizarding World lore, which might finally give some of these "Beasts" elements the breathing room they need.
The series tried to be a historical epic and a whimsical zoology documentary at the same time. It didn't quite land the jump. But for all its flaws, it gave us a glimpse into a world that’s still worth visiting, even if the map is a little bit messy.