Rowling’s refusal to acknowledge that these two men are queer and have a complicated history is maddening. Crimes of Grindelwald centers on a proxy battle between Dumbledore and Grindelwald but only vaguely references that the two might have had a romantic relationship. Despite insisting in interviews that Dumbledore and the Hitler-esque wizard Gellert Grindelwald were romantically involved as teens, Rowling has never actually written that romance into any of her books or screenplays. Meanwhile, the one person the audience does recognize and care about-young Dumbledore, played enchantingly by Jude Law-gets the short shrift. But the revelation that one character will eventually become a snake or that another is a long-lost relative of Albus Dumbledore only muddles the canon. Rowling’s script tries to connect just about every new character it introduces in some forced, hackneyed and occasionally racist way to the characters we know and love from the original Harry Potter films. Instead Grindelwald plays like a cash grab. The Harry Potter prequel could have explored a whole new corner of the wondrous world Rowling once built. Zoë Kravitz and Johnny Depp in Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwaldįantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald embodies everything wrong with the continued expansion of the H arry Potter universe. Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald Warner Bros. Here is how we rank the Harry Potter films-at least for now. And Rowling’s commentary, political views and additions of the canon will no doubt influence any critic’s perception of the films, for better or worse.
It’s easier to assess the series as a whole now that the movies have become a true cultural touchstone. Many fans’ views have also evolved with the passage of time. Some critics preferred the quiet, contemplative moments spent in the forest during Deathly Hallows, Part 1, while others favor the action-packed battles of Deathly Hallows, Part 2.
Movie fans may love the cinematography of Half-Blood Prince, while book loyalists take umbrage with director David Yates’ adaptation choices. Some fans prefer the glee of those first movies, while others trend towards the darker entries later in the franchise. Look up fan polls and critics’ rankings, and you’ll find there’s no consensus view on how the original eight films compare. But the older films are surprisingly solid. True, the awful new Fantastic Beasts movies will easily land at the bottom of any Potter fan’s list (spoiler alert). The Harry Potter films prove more difficult to rank. But for the most part, every franchise has good movies and bad movies, and it’s easy to divide films into those two buckets. Most Star Wars diehards will tell you Empire Strikes Back is great, and Phantom Menace sucks Indiana Jones fans will assure you that none of the sequels lived up to Raiders of the Lost Ark and anyone who argues Dark Knight isn’t the best of the Batman movies is just trying to be contrarian. Typically, fans agree on favorites in a film series. And in my opinion nobody can touch that.” For many, the annual rewatch remains a tradition, albeit a fraught one.Īnd so, we find ourselves reassessing these adaptations, all eight of which are streaming on both Peacock and HBO Max as of Oct. In an open letter for the Trevor Project, he wrote, “If these books taught you that love is the strongest force in the universe … if they taught you that strength is found in diversity, and that dogmatic ideas of pureness lead to the oppression of vulnerable groups if you believe that a particular character is trans, nonbinary, or gender fluid, or that they are gay or bisexual … then that is between you and the book that you read, and it is sacred. Now, many fans strive to find a way to derive value from the material while rejecting its creator’s views.Įven Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe, who spoke out against Rowling’s anti-trans tweets, has wrestled with whether the story is irredeemably tarnished. Even some of her most ardent fans accused her of transphobia, at which point Rowling doubled down on her exclusionary brand of feminism. Rowling’s controversial comments on gender identity all the more disappointing. Harry Potter taught so many about the importance of fighting against prejudice, which makes creator J.K. While millions of viewers used to take comfort in visits to Hogwarts, these days, engaging with the series can be complicated. Blame ABC Family for playing Sorcerer’s Stone on repeat throughout the 2000s, but for many Millennials (and now, their children) a chill in the air demands curling up on the couch for a Harry Potter rewatch.