History YMMV / FantasticBeastsTheCrimesOfGrindelwald

* RootingForTheEmpire:
** Unsurprisingly, a lot of fans found Grindelwald's call for the Wizarding World to rise up against the Muggles and prevent them from committing atrocities of their own to have some valid points. It helps that Grindelwald comes off as less-prejudiced compared to the Death Eaters, since does not outwardly express the same issues with blood purity that Voldemort has. His charisma and style might be a contributing factor as well.
** It doesn't help that Grindelwald's stated goal is to stop the Second World War, and with it, ''as shown in the movie with an explicit scene,'' '''[[UsefulNotes/TheHolocaust the fucking Holocaust]]'''. Rationally speaking, he could stop it ''without'' violently subjugating the Muggles (his other goal), and you could go for AlternateCharacterInterpretation and say he doesn't truly care and is only trying to manipulate people to join him...but the movie does not argue either of those cases ''nearly'' well enough to counteract the emotional weight of, again, the ''fucking Holocaust''.

* KudzuPlot: One of the main criticisms of the film. There are too many subplots running around simultaneously for the audience to follow and for some, the inclusion of the deleted scenes just made things ''even more convoluted''. According to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zccnq-VvEx4 Filmento]], it is implied that this was due to was having Creator/JKRowling write the movie's '''screenplay''' like a '''book'''. The result was many important details being left to a non-existent narration, leaving viewers lost.

* RootingForTheEmpire: Unsurprisingly, a lot of fans found Grindelwald's call for the Wizarding World to rise up against the Muggles and prevent them from committing atrocities of their own to have some valid points. It helps that Grindelwald comes off as less-prejudiced compared to the Death Eaters, since does not outwardly express the same issues with blood purity that Voldemort has. His charisma and style might be a contributing factor as well.

** Creator/JohnnyDepp's involvement in the franchise became this due to 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 generated a significant amount of negative press from audiences, critics and media alike. To make this even worse, Johnny has since been fired from the role due to these allegations, even though said allegations were proven to be false with numerous evidence pointing out that Amber is the real abuser.

** Creator/JohnnyDepp's involvement in the franchise became this due to 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 generated a significant amount of negative press from audiences, critics and media alike.

** Creator/JohnnyDepp's involvement in the franchise had become this following the (at the time) allegations that he abused his ex-wife Creator/AmberHeard. While his appearance in the first film was relegated to a surprise cameo and wasn't hit by this very much, the fact that he's so prominent in the sequel created a number of PR headaches for the creators and audiences alike. However, a few months after the movie was released, Depp sued Heard for defamation, alleging that she was abusing him, and things got a bit more in his favor when audio leaked of Heard admitting to abusing him.

** A meta example: Criticisms went about due to Creator/JohnnyDepp's involvement with the franchise due to the allegations of him being abusive to his ex-wife Creator/AmberHeard. A few months after the movie was released, Depp filed a lawsuit against Heard for defamation, alleging that she was abusing him. Later on, audio tapes were leaked that confirmed that Amber was indeed the abuser.

** A meta example: Criticisms went about due to Creator/JohnnyDepp's involvement with the franchise due to the allegations of him being abusive to his ex-wife Creator/AmberHeard. A few months after the movie was released, Depp filed a lawsuit against Heard for defamation, alleging that she was abusing him. Each has accused the other, and the lawsuits continued to grow more and more tangled, with more evidence on both sides.

** A meta example: Criticisms went about due to Creator/JohnnyDepp's involvement with the franchise due to the allegations of him being abusive to his ex-wife Creator/AmberHeard. A few months after the movie was released, Depp filed a lawsuit against Heard for defamation, alleging that she was abusing him. [[Administrivia/RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment Each is now accusing the other and the lawsuits have only grown more tangled, with more evidence on both sides, and that is all we will say about that.]]

** A meta example: Criticisms went about due to Creator/JohnnyDepp's involvement with the franchise due to the allegations of him being abusive to his ex-wife Creator/AmberHeard. A few months after the movie was released, Depp filed a lawsuit against Heard for defamation, alleging that she was abusing him. Some months after that, an audio showing Amber admitting to the abuse was released.

** It doesn't help that Grindelwald's stated goal is to stop the Second World War, and with it, ''as shown in the movie with an explicit scene,'' '''[[UsefulNotes/TheHolocaust the fucking Holocaust]]'''.

* AssPull: Credence's true identity as [[spoiler:a long-lost member of the Dumbledore family. There's no build up or foreshadowing and it comes out of nowhere]]. The family's history would seem to not contain any chance for this to happen, and it doesn't seem to have any effect on the Wizarding World by Harry's time. The information comes from a ConsummateLiar though, making it ambiguous on whether or not it's the truth -- especially since the extended cut reveals that Grindelwald's obsession with Credence is fueled by vision he had of an Obscurial killing Dumbledore.
* 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.

* EvilIsCool: Say what you will of the film as a whole, but Grindelwald shows why he is the most dangerous wizard before Voldemort. He’s an accomplished wizard that absolutely oozes style in his spells, with a charismatic personality that inspires loyalty more than fear and a silver tongue that draws people to his cause, [[spoiler:including Queenie]], and even has to have his guard changed three times while he was imprisoned because they were swayed by his words. And even then he wasn't truly imprisoned to begin with, only waiting for the right moment.

** The French Ministry having a whole department of genealogical records; French nationalists are infamous for their obsession of "jus sanguinis"- right of blood to prove they are "legitimately" French by way of their family trees, not unlike pure-blood wizard supremacists that exist in Rowling's world.
** The chupacabra that helps the manipulative psychopath escape from custody is wearing a muzzle akin to that worn by Hannibal Lecter. What's the name of this chupacabra? [[Creator/AnthonyHopkins Antonio]].

** Nagini’s death in the ''[[Film/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows Deathly Hallows]]'' also quite possibly becomes more tragic with the reveal, depending on whether she was a willing accomplice to Voldemort or not.

* HoYay: Vinda meets Queenie using tactics right out of the StrangerDanger playbook. She finds an attractive, vulnerable young woman all alone and invites her home. Queenie gets uncomfortable and tries to leave but Vinda pressures her to stay. She also keeps pouring Queenie tea even after she refuses, mirroring how real life people manipulate politeness to [[SlippingAMickey slip someone a spiked drink]].

* 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.
* MoralEventHorizon: Corvus Lestrange is revealed to have crossed it years ago [[spoiler:when he used the Imperius curse on a married witch to have her for himself, having a child with her in what is essentially rape.]]

** Creator/JohnnyDepp's involvement in the franchise had become this following the (at the time) allegations that he abused his ex-wife Creator/AmberHeard. While his appearance in the first film was relegated to a surprise cameo and wasn't hit by this very much, the fact that he's so prominent in the sequel created a number of PR headaches for the creators and audiences alike. However, a few months after the movie was released, Depp sued Heard for defamation, alleging that she was abusing him and things got a bit more in his favor when audio leaked of Heard admitting to abusing him.

** It doesn't help that Grindelwald's stated goal is to stop the Second World War, and with it, *as shown in the movie with an explicit scene,* THE FUCKING HOLOCAUST.

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

* SlowPacedBeginning: A primary criticism of the film is that the movie takes its own sweet time dealing with subplots that hurt the movie’s pacing, and it’s only until the third act does it finally pick up.

** 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 becomes a recurring supporting character in future movies, [[spoiler:if only they didn't kill her off at the end.]]
* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: For a movie that’s titled ''The Crimes of Grindelwald'', the movie doesn’t do much to explain on Grindelwald’s backstory or motivations (at least for movie-goers not too familiar with the series lore). Instead, the movie dabbles in sub-plots that instead unnecessarily pad out the movie. In fact, Grindelwald doesn’t have much focus in the first two acts of the movie, only being the center of the third act.

** Minerva [=McGonagall=] showing up as a teacher at Hogwarts; she has never been given a canonical birth year but was implied to be much younger than Dumbledore.

** Many viewers and critics pointed out just how uncomfortable Leta's backstory is, [[spoiler:since her Senegalese mother is abducted, magically enslaved, raped, and impregnated by a white man]]. This is of course portrayed as absolutely reprehensible in and out of story, but the RapeAsBackstory elements and the close association that narrative has with the history of slavery struck many as not being handled with much grace in the context of a subplot [[spoiler:that turns out to be a false lead for the real twist anyways.]] [[https://www.bustle.com/p/leta-lestranges-storyline-in-the-crimes-of-grindelwald-is-the-last-straw-for-me-as-a-black-harry-potter-fan-13170432 Some have even argued that it casts Leta in the role of 'tragic mulatto,']] [[spoiler:who only finds peace in death]]. (Also, the backstory being so convoluted comes off like the writers thought there needed to be a complicated justification for a biracial character's very existence.)

** Many viewers have also felt rather uncomfortable that Queenie, who is [[AmbiguouslyJewish coded Jewish]], [[spoiler: would join Grindelwald, who is fashioned after Nazis.]] See [[https://www.heyalma.com/why-crimes-of-grindelwald-is-bad-for-the-jews/ here]].

** Newt, Tina, Theseus, Nicolas Flamel, Yusuf and all the surviving Aurors casting protective spells to contain and combat Grindelwald's Protego Diabolica curse and prevent it from destroying Paris.

* 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.

* 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.

* ContestedSequel: A large portion of the fandom have decried this installment due to what they see as inconsistencies with existing lore, and problematic story decisions and character choices, not to mention many others. Still, it has its defenders, due to the complex and layered plot, prescient themes, excellent design and production value, characters, and the brief return to the Hogwarts setting. Some also feel that the film was the sort of inevitable misfire that every long running franchise is going to have.

** Minerva [=McGonagall=] showing up as a teacher at Hogwarts, who’s never been given a canonical birth year but was implied to be much younger than this would make her?

** Minerva [=McGonagall=] showing up as a teacher at Hogwarts, when in the canonical timeline, she shouldn't yet be ''born'' for another 14 years, certainly qualifies.

* ContestedSequel: A large portion of the fandom have decried this installment due to what they see as inconsistencies with existing lore, and problematic story decisions and character choices, not to mention many others. Still, it has its defenders, due to the complex and layered plot, prescient themes, excellent design and production value, characters, and the brief return to the Hogwarts setting.

* HolyShitQuotient:
** Credence's birth name is one of these. [[spoiler:No, he's not a Lestrange. He's a Dumbledore, and and the baby bird he's had throughout the film is a phoenix, perhaps even Fawkes himself.]]
** The reveal of Claudia Kim's character name: Nagini. No, it's not NamesTheSame. She's ''that'' one.

* SnarkBait: Creator/DavidYates' introduction to the extended cut, where he says the extended edition was put together to give audiences an insight on how he and the production team work as filmmakers and storytellers, since as many viewers have pointed out the scenes they left out of the theatrical cut ended up hurting it by making it less coherent.

* {{Misblamed}}: When the film first came out, J.K. 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 David Yates 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.

* SnarkBait: David Yates' introduction to the extended cut, where he says the extended edition was put together to give audiences an insight on how he and the production team work as filmmakers and storytellers, since as many viewers have pointed out the scenes they left out of the theatrical cut ended up hurting it by making it less coherent.

* ArcFatigue: With the controversial reception to this film, many have already begun to feel this for the ''Fantastic Beasts'' films, since there are still three films remaining, as well as nearly two decades of in-universe time since this film takes place in 1927 and Grindelwald won't be defeated until 1945.

** Creator/JohnnyDepp's involvement in the franchise has become this following the (at the time) allegations that he abused his ex-wife Creator/AmberHeard. While his appearance in the first film was relegated to a surprise cameo and wasn't hit by this very much, the fact that he's so prominent in the sequel created a number of PR headaches for the creators and audiences alike. However, a few months after the movie was released, Depp sued Heard for defamation, alleging that she was abusing him and things got a bit more in his favor when audio leaked of Heard admitting to abusing him.

* ContestedSequel: A large portion of the fandom have decried this installment due to what they see as inconsistencies with existing lore, and problematic story decisions and character choices, not to mention many others. Still, it has its defenders, due to the complex and layered plot, prescient themes, excellent design and production value, characters, and the brief returns to the Hogwarts setting.

* UncertainAudience: A common complaint from critics, especially after the underwhelming box office receipts came back. Unlike ''Harry Potter'', which focused on [=KidHero kid heroes=] and self-contained adventures with interesting lore and scope underneath, ''Crimes of Grindelwald'' is heavy on backstory, exposition, and lore, but does little in advancing its own story or major arcs forward. Thus, detractors of the film point out it lacks the elements that appealed to young audiences in the original films while also being downright impenetrable to anyone who doesn't have a [=Ph.D.=] in Wizarding World mythology. This is cited as one of the reasons Warner Bros. halted production on the third to give Rowling more time to figure out how to remedy this.

* UnsureAudience: A common complaint from critics, especially after the underwhelming box office receipts came back. Unlike ''Harry Potter'', which focused on [=KidHero kid heroes=] and self-contained adventures with interesting lore and scope underneath, ''Crimes of Grindelwald'' is heavy on backstory, exposition, and lore, but does little in advancing its own story or major arcs forward. Thus, detractors of the film point out it lacks the elements that appealed to young audiences in the original films while also being downright impenetrable to anyone who doesn't have a [=Ph.D.=] in Wizarding World mythology.

** Creator/JohnnyDepp's involvement in the franchise has become this following the (at the time) allegations that he abused his ex-wife Creator/AmberHeard. While his appearance in the first film was relegated to a surprise cameo and wasn't hit by this very much, the fact that he's so prominent in the sequel created a number of PR headaches for the creators and audiences alike. However, a few months after the movie was released, Depp sued Heard for defamation, alleging that she was abusing him.

* BetterOnDVD: The Extended Cut has been much better received than the theatrical version. It adds fourteen minutes that had been cut out that add a lot to the backstory and make the story comprehensible. Most don't consider the extended cut a great movie but it at least makes sense.