Best Review: Some time ago I wrote that the fantasy genre is a good opportunity to reflect veiledly on issues that are quite relevant to the real world as well. This thesis is fully applicable to “Fantastic Creatures” and the problem it raises, because the theme of the fight against absolute evil will never lose its urgency. Unfortunately, “Fantastic Beasts 3” failed to maintain the development of its key idea at the proper level, it abandoned the scale in favor of minor events, it refused to have a conversation in full voice, preferring to it a frightened whisper.
Although the film begins with a promising scene that continues the line of parallel events between the magical world and the muggle world, it is as if the writers of “Fantastic Creatures” were afraid to develop in earnest the story of an incipient inhuman ideology, strongly reminiscent of Nazism, in their cozy magic picture. But to overcome fear, to conquer the all-consuming horror, to understand the nature of absolute evil, one must look into its face. Green de Wald, a criminal who apparently committed crimes against humanity, in “Fantastic Creatures 3” appears not as an active, almost devil, but as a petty schemer who does almost nothing: neither opposing everything living and light, nor promoting his terrible idea. He is surrounded not by ardent supporters, but by a faceless gray mass, from which only a couple of wizards can be distinguished, and even they are not so much victims of a criminal ideology as hostages of circumstances or personal tragedy. The danger of leaders like Grin de Wald lies in the appeal of their populist ideas, in the conviction of a crowd steeped in self-deception, but Fantastic Creatures 3 lacks all of this, although it seems that such a thing was still in the previous installment. So the problem of the current villain is not in the replacement of the actor playing him, but in the lack of development of the image and storyline on the part of the screenwriters.
Declared in the beginning of the picture the concept of a plan consisting in the absence of any plan does not look like a good idea for the film, but a convenient excuse for the screenwriters who did not want to perform their duties properly. The lack of normal cohesion has made “Fantastic Beasts” look more like a patchwork quilt, where each patchwork-episode is significant in itself, but not important enough to the overall case as a whole. Also, while there aren’t many characters in “Fantastic Creatures,” the film leaves you feeling overwhelmed by them, especially given the low importance of just about every member of the rescue team. Even Newt, who rightfully has more screen time than everyone else, seems like a nominal protagonist rather than a real one, and even his actions are not crucial to the overall goal. In general, the film leaves the feeling that this goal is achieved by itself, in view of the circumstances, with only a small participation of a group of positive heroes – everything is so insignificant and incoherent.
The realization of the main intrigue of this film turns out to be as misguided as anything else. The peculiarity of the transfer of power shown here, the tradition of the ceremony with the magic animal, undermines the very essence of democracy, some semblance of which the picture tries to present. It is not for nothing that in many countries preliminary results are not announced before the end of voting: it is important for their objectivity that the voter is not influenced by anything. Here it is the opposite, and the choice of magicians does not look anything unpredictable, on the contrary, their list is shown as the norm, and this is not even an upsetting circumstance. But if so, then the population of the magical world is completely devoid of critical thinking, inner freedom and their own beliefs, if they can be influenced by the behavior of even an unusual, but still an animal. Such a script decision seems extremely strange. Perhaps the filmmakers simply decided to make their job easier, because a story about a normal political struggle, about convincing independent voters, about their opinions is much more complicated than the petty intrigue presented to the viewer. Or maybe the writers were really scared, because then they would have had to study willy-nilly the phenomenon of the attraction of Greene-Wald’s ideas and the thinking of his supporters, which could have seemed dangerous.
While I loved Johnny Depp’s work in the previous installment, I can’t help but admit that Mads Mikkelsen made sure his Green DeWald was just as creepy and ruthless, but perhaps a little more rollicking. No special relationship, even at a distance, with Dumbledore is inherent in “Fantastic Beasts,” and the longstanding bond between the two is nothing more than an onerous circumstance, but not emotion or feeling. Perhaps the viewer should be impressed by Dumbledore’s side family line, but it seems as underdeveloped as anything else in this film. Of the main problem-solving characters, there is no one to single out, not even Newt – there are too few circumstances for them to provoke any emotion.
