History YMMV / FantasticBeastsTheCrimesOfGrindelwald

* HarsherInHindsight: The reveal that Queenie cast a love spell on Jacob to force him to marry her, which is treated more sympathetically than Corvus Lestrange's similar use of the Imperius Curse in his backstory, becomes this given Rowling's increasingly transphobic posts, a number of which indicate a bigoted attitude towards men by stereotyping them as predators.

* HarsherInHindsight: The reveal that Queenie cast a love spell on Jacob to force him to marry her, which is treated more sympathetically than Corvus Lestrange's similar use of the Imperius Curse in his backstory, becomes this given Rowling's increasingly transphobic posts, a number of which indicate a bigoted attitude towards men by stereotyping them as predators.

* HarsherInHinsdight: The reveal that Queenie cast a love spell on Jacob to force him to marry her, which is treated more sympathetically than Corvus Lestrange's similar use of the Imperius Curse in his backstory, becomes this given Rowling's increasingly transphobic posts, a number of which indicate a bigoted attitude towards men by stereotyping them as predators.

* EveryoneIsSatanInHell: So many interpret Grindelwald's ultimate goal is to prevent W.W.II and the Holocaust given he shows his vision of the war, "if they do not act." But Grindelwald actually uses the vision of the War and the atrocities to emphasize how dangerous the Muggles are and makes a SlipperySlopeFallacy that the humans discovery of the Wizarding World is inevitable and they will commit the same levels of atrocities on them as they do on themselves. Grindelwald is making loads of presumptions that the later story of Harry Potter demonstrates he is wrong as the Wizarding World is still unknown 70 years later.

* TheWoobie: Poor Jacob has it hard in this movie. Just after getting his memories back, he ends up scuttling his relationship with Queenie because of his own fear that she would be persecuted for their relationship, not helping matters is that he spent most of the time under the influence of a love potion. [[spoiler:He also discovers from Grindelwald the possibility of another World War (mind you, he was a World War I veteran), and loses Queenie, who joins with Grindelwald.]] By the end of the movie, he looks absolutely broken.

* EvilIsSexy: Vinda Rosier looks like a fashion model and no matter how evil her actions as Grindelwald's most prominent supporter, it doesn't take away from her appearance.

* MisBlamed: Upon release, the film was considered poorly written and most people blamed Creator/JKRowling for it being confusing and hard to follow. However with the release of the extended cut, the main criticism of the theatrical cut was that it is poorly edited and to a lesser extent poorly directed. Most people who’ve seen the extended cut will blame Creator/WarnerBrothers and then CEO Kevin Tsujihara for forcing a mandated runtime at the last minute and tying everyone involved’s hands rather than the creatives themselves.

* ImprovedByTheReCut: The film was heavily criticized on release for its confusing and crowded plotting. The extended cut available on the Blu-Ray has several expository scenes that add some vital context and help out with the pacing, especially in the second act.

* MisBlamed: When the film first came out, Creator/JKRowling bore a brunt of the criticism for its failures. However, with the release of the extended cut, more of that criticism has shifted onto director Creator/DavidYates and editor Mark Day for making choices to cut short but vital scenes that add more emotional weight and much-needed exposition that make it more coherent. There was also an edict from WB mandating the film be under 2hrs 15 minutes, tying Rowling, Yates, and Day's hands about the final product.

** Creator/JohnnyDepp's involvement in the franchise became this due to the allegations made by ex-wife Creator/AmberHeard of abuse. While his appearance in the first film was relegated to a surprise cameo, the expansion of his role (and replacement of Creator/ColinFarrell) in the second film initially generated a significant amount of negative press from audiences, critics, and media alike, although his role was mostly praised once the film was released. However, in early November 2020, Depp lost a libel against ''[[UsefulNotes/BritishNewspapers The Sun]]'' for calling him a "wife beater." The judge ruled that while she was abusive to him, she also proved that he abused her in 12 of 14 instances, meaning "wife beater" was not libellous. He ended up leaving the role of Grindelwald altogether after this, at Creator/WarnerBros' request.

* TookTheBadFilmSeriously: WebVideo/JennyNicholson felt that Creator/JudeLaw was the saving grace of the film; absolutely nailing Creator/MichaelGambon's mannerisms and being very believable as a young Dumbledore.

* ImprovedByTheReCut: The film was heavily criticized on release for its confusing and crowded plotting. The extended cut available on the Blu-Ray has deleted scenes that add some much-needed pacing and context.
* MisaimedFandom: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMP4sR3zgRY This video]] offers the idea that various scenes were meant to contrast Grindelwald as a {{foil}} to Voldemort, such as being unable to kill a baby himself when the latter did (tried to, anyway) with no hesitation, but flew over peoples' heads (likely because they watched the original movies so long ago they had forgotten the details).

** The reveal of Claudia Kim's character's name: Nagini. No, it's not NamesTheSame. She's ''that'' one.

* AuthorsSavingThrow: In the original books, [[ChildByRape Voldemort's origins]] endured some flak from certain readers, as they seemed to insinuate that being conceived through a loveless union would automatically make someone a sociopath with no understanding of love or empathy. While it may not have been intentional, the issue is rectified in this film by establishing Leta Lestrange to be a morally-upright, albeit flawed individual, who displays great love and devotion toward Newt and his brother [[spoiler:and even sacrifices herself to save them from Grindelwald]], despite being born and raised under circumstances eerily similar to those of Tom Riddle himself.

** Leta Lestrange, for some people. It seemed to be that they were setting her up to be both a romantic rival to Tina and, if not an antagonist, then a morally ambiguous WildCard whose story arc and internal conflict would span most—if not all—of the pentalogy. But in this film, there doesn't seem to be much trace of the person Queenie describes. She's unambiguously TheAtoner and the DarkSecret is far and away in her past (although it does affect her and the story in the present). Her one interaction with Tina amounted to an awkward hello, and although she gets her backstory, it's burned through in the space of one film with all the subtlety of a drunk mountain troll, with little explaining how the girl Newt knew in Hogwarts became the woman we finally meet in the second movie — or, for that matter, how she ended up [[SettleForSibling engaged to Theseus]], who she likely wouldn't have known at Hogwarts as he is 'several' years older than she is. It wouldn't be as bad if she became a recurring supporting character in future movies, [[spoiler:if only they didn't kill her off at the end]].

** Leta Lestrange, for some people. It seemed to be that they were setting her up to be both a romantic rival to Tina and, if not an antagonist, then a morally ambiguous WildCard whose story arc and internal conflict would span most of, if not all of, the pentalogy. But in this film, there doesn't seem to be much trace of the person Queenie describes. She's unambiguously TheAtoner and the DarkSecret is far and away in her past (although it does affect her and the story in the present). Her one interaction with Tina amounted to an awkward hello, and although she gets her backstory, it's burned through in the space of one film with all the subtlety of a drunk mountain troll, with little explaining how the girl Newt knew in Hogwarts became the woman we finally meet in the second movie — or, for that matter, how she ended up [[SettleForSibling engaged to Theseus]], who she likely wouldn't have known at Hogwarts as he is 'several' years older than she is. It wouldn't be as bad if she became a recurring supporting character in future movies, [[spoiler:if only they didn't kill her off at the end]].