Non-spoiler summary version:

Overall I enjoyed it and found it entertaining.  My main complaint is that there was SO MUCH going on that no one arc or story actually got much depth, I feel like any one subplot could have carried a movie in its own right just from the amount of content.  We had a lot of interesting characters, but not much opportunity to get to know them organically, or to catch up with the original cast.

With that said, spoilery thoughts below the cut:

I feel like a lot happened in the months leading up to this movie that we didn’t get to see, which would have helped a lot in making the story more natural.  Queenie and Jacob for instance – Queenie was in a state in this movie, and I wish we could have seen the lead up to that.  Putting a spell of Jacob seems like it should have been the climax of a story about her life in New York, what she endured trying to make their relationship work, how she was torn between familial and romantic love, the stress building and building – maybe even a close call with the law which Tina had to get her out of?  Which led to their argument and Tina leaving for an assignment in France – until she felt like they had escape and didn’t have any other choice.  Instead it was the first plot point we got with them and we learned about it through a brief argument in the street.  I find Queenie’s choice to join Grindelwald really intriguing and not unrealistic, but a lot would have been added if we’d seen the real build up.  She seemed, well, seriously off balance from the start and I want to know why.

I loved Newt’s apartmentzoo.  It makes sense that he’d have a more permanent place to house his creatures and just take the ones who needed the most personal care while travelling, and though Bunty, yeah, didn’t have much to do at all, it personally puts my mind at rest to know someone else is there to look after the creatures when Newt is indisposed for whatever reason.  Like seriously, I worry about this in just about every fic I write.

I liked Newt and Theseus’ relationship, where they clearly cared about each other but had different priorities and worldviews which makes their interactions difficult.  Neither of them came off seeming unreasonable, just caught in different situations.  And Newt hugging Theseus at the end, even though it was pretty clear Newt isn’t fond of hugs – I loved it.  He sees what Theseus needs in that moment and meets him at that level, the same way he does with the creatures.  I have to say though, that while Theseus’ actor did a fine job, he seriously does look younger than Newt to me and it threw me off.  I definitely still prefer fanon Theseus in that respect.

Theseus and Leta’s relationship was… meh.  Newt didn’t seem all that affected by it, Theseus and Leta themselves didn’t interact all that differently that close colleagues would have, it seems like it was there purely so Tina could get confused about the newspaper clipping.  Which, yes, Newt and Tina not talking was annoying.  We all know it’s annoying.  Moving on.

Leta herself was wonderful.  I feel like she actually got the most character depth with seeing her time at school, the events on the ship, her reactions to being back at Hogwarts… we could actually see how events and choices shaped her as she grew up and how she became the adult woman she was.  There’s a ton to dig into there.  (I’m still confused about how she ended up planning to marry Theseus, but.)

Speaking of what happened on the ship – that’s… that’s some heavy stuff.  …Even if it didn’t all quite make sense, Why was Leta sent to America too?  Her father didn’t love her, so was she also supposed to be adopted?  But clearly she wasn’t.  Who sends a young child on a transatlantic trip for the hell of it?  Was it because her nanny was going and they couldn’t find anyone else to take care of her?  Also, why did she decide that while the ship was sinking was the best time to wander over and pick up another baby if she really didn’t intend to switch them?  Present-day Leta seemed pretty adamant about that, and while I fully believe she didn’t intend for Corvus to die the scene makes a lot more sense to me from the lens of little-Leta actually intending to switch the babies even if she wasn’t sure about going through with it before she was pulled away.  And I have to assume they decided to take advantage of the shipwreck and say Corvus didn’t survive (even though the nanny thought he had) for extra protection?  Because Yousuf seemed pretty certain Corvus didn’t make it, as in, it sounded like there were official records listing him as a casualty.

And why, why in the hell, if Corvus’ father actually loved him, did he end up with Mary-Lou Barebone?  Even if they didn’t know she was abusive, she made it pretty damn clear she hated magic, so knowingly handing her a magical child seems like a huge fucking mistake.  Was Credence just given to an American adoption agency and the Lestranges didn’t actually know where he ended up?  Wouldn’t someone with the power and influence of Lestrange Sr. make sure his beloved son ended up somewhere he’d be loved and taken care of?  Maybe he did, but something happened to that family too and then Credence ended up with Mary-Lou?  I feel like the events between “lifeboat” and “adopted” are still a mystery.

Yousuf, though – I don’t quite know how I feel about his revenge mission, but I did like that when push came to shove he was right there alongside the rest of the characters in going wait, no, killing everybody in this room is not okay and neither is destroying Paris.  I feel like his story wasn’t as tightly put together as it could have been, but I’m intrigued.

Also, why couldn’t Queenie find Tina at the Ministry?  Was her presence in France classified, or…?  Literally nothing else suggests she wasn’t there on an official mission, she was prepared to go to the ministry as soon as she had information, the newspaper clipping Newt had stated she was still an auror, she didn’t act like anything was wrong…?  But then also, why couldn’t she just go and say, “I’m from MACUSA and we need to see the records for the Lestrange family?”  Idk.

Credence and Nagini, I feel similarly to how I do about Queenie and Jacob in that we could have used more build up to their situation.  Credence presumably works at the circus as an entry point into the magical world…?  Nagini is clearly treated badly, but how did they bond to the point where they escape together and stay together afterwards?  And as others have said, Nagini really wasn’t given much to do.  I hope we see more of her in future movies where she actually gets some development, because as it was she mostly seemed to be there so Credence had someone to talk to.  Credence… also didn’t seem to have much to do, weirdly?  His quest to find who he is was absolutely believable, but for being essentially the center point of the movie that everyone else was looking for it didn’t seem like we got much else from him.  I would have liked to see more of him pulling himself together after the subway battle, being alone and “free,” as it were, for the first time, discovering his powers and learning to control (or not, that wasn’t clear to me) the obscurus, learning about the magical world and trying to find his place in a culture he knows he belongs in but is completely foreign to.  How he survived was also pretty thoroughly glossed over, as was how so many people knew he survived.  Kinda like, there wasn’t actually much point to it seeming like he didn’t survive at the end of the last movie.

And Grindelwald – I’m not sure how I feel about Grindelwald yet.  On the one hand, I can’t wait to start writing fic with him being the gloriously manipulative bastard he is, but on the other hand, I didn’t feel like the writing or performance in the movie brought all that much depth or newness to him?  (Also, side note, for a movie called “The Crimes of Grindelwald,” Grindelwald himself committed surprisingly few crimes.  I suppose it could have been in reference to “answering for his crimes in Europe,” but that clearly didn’t happen either.)  He wasn’t exactly disappointing, but I’ve seen fanon portrayals that brought a lot more depth, charisma, and danger to him. So I remain undecided, but definitely look forward to seeing more fandom content for him.

Dumbledore was fun to see, but I don’t have strong feelings about him.  His characterization felt consistent with how we see him in HP, but he didn’t have much to do other than be vague and give warnings people, for the most part, didn’t listen to.  Hopefully we see more of him in future movies and he gets more exploration.

And yes, I would have liked to see Percival Graves.  Other people have dug into it already, but I’ll always be confused why a key government figure is never mentioned by anyone in the government, and I definitely feel like it would have fit for him to be looking for Credence just like everyone else was.

Overall the movie had good parts and not so good parts, but as a writer my main criteria for evaluation is “does this movie give me more to write about,” and it does.  So overall, it comes out on the positive side for me.

If you made it through all 1600 words then thanks for listening to my ramblings, and I’m definitely up for discussing!  I want to hear your thoughts!