Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald review – "JK Rowling's incredible imagination gushes off the screen"

The Harry Potter series has long been the crown jewel of Warner Bros Studio, and this extraordinarily rich fantasy adventure is another magnificent gem in the wizard franchise.

And once again JK Rowling's extraordinary imagination exploded from the screen in a whirl of magical action and powerful emotional moments supported by extraordinary players who worked from the great script.

Oscar winner Eddie Redmayne is again full of shy and naive charm as witch Newt Scamander, who returned home in England and was somewhat embarrassed after being involved in destroying parts of New York in the previous film.

But Newt sneaks into France in pursuit of fellow witch Katherine Waterston, Tina, where she becomes involved in the evil plans of the dark witch, Grindelwald.

This is a very lacking performance played by Johnny Depp as a persuasive villain, who tries to build a new world order with himself at the peak. Emphasizing his humanity made him a far more interesting bad person than Lord Voldemort who was very strong from Harry's day.

At the center of his plan was Ezra Miller & # 39; s Credence Barebone, a disturbed and vulnerable young man who descended and exited in Paris, and was also being sought by the oppressive Ministry of Magic.

In the meantime, Jude Law gives a subtle interpretation of the wizard Dumbledore, we tease with the full nature of his relationship with Grindelwald.

There is no shortage of cute creatures or fancy costumes as we are brought from New York to London and even to the halls of Hogwarts, which will surely delight fans.

And after directing the last four Harry Potter films and the first Fantastic Animals, David Yates is the safest hand when he handles magical chaos easily.

Rowling acknowledged that her audience had grown up and had changed her writing to reflect it, so while the first Harry Potter was a PG certificate, this was really 12A and might be too dark in tone for very young children.

I am far from hardcore Potter fans and I am fascinated.

Cert 12A

Running time is 134 minutes