Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald doesn't hit theaters until next weekend; however, a lucky few people have already gotten to see the movie. Overall, reactions to the second flick in the Fantastic Beasts franchise have been positive. Still, if you head over to aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes, the movie is scoring lower than every single flick in the Harry Potter universe.
At the time of this writing, reviews for Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald are running at 60% on Rotten Tomatoes, which aligns with roughly how our own Eric Eisenberg felt about the flick. This means the movie is at least slightly fresh and not rotten, which is great news for the studio. It's always better to see a shiny red tomato than the green splat, although in recent years audience perspectives have become just as big of a deal for the site as critics reviews have.
When compared to Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, the numbers aren't super far off. The first Fantastic Beasts movie runs at a 74% on Rotten Tomatoes, meaning that plenty of people like the movie or mostly liked the movie and fewer people straight up disliked it.
When comparing The Crimes of Grindelwald to the various Harry Potter movies that have come out over the years, currently Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald is also running somewhat lower. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1 and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix are the lowest-rated in the universe after Crimes of Grindelwald, ranking at 78% and 77% respectively. The rest of the movies featuring Harry Potter are in the 80-90s percent range, score-wise.
Of the rest of the movies, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2 ranks the highest. It's at a whopping 96% on Rotten Tomatoes, indicating near-universal acclaim. That's the final movie in the set with character deaths and the defeat of Voldemort, and it's no wonder that critics seemed to latch onto the flick as the best one.
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, the flick introducing Sirius Black, unsurprisingly ranks as the second highest, scoring a 90% on the aggregate site. The third book in J.K. Rowling's series is often a fan favorite, so it's not surprising the big screen version also did well with critics.
It is worth noting that so far only 35 reviews have been put up on the aggregator site. As we approach Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald's November 16 release date, more reviews should be added to the sum total. Whether that means the movie may dip below the fresh range or increase to an even fresher level remains to be seen.
As we wait for the movie to actually hit theaters--which is becoming more and more arduous by the day thanks to the teases about the movie's ending--you can also keep an eye on other aggregate site Metacritic, which actually is also running at 60%. On IMDB the movie has an 8.8, although with 553 reviews, it's unclear how many people have seen the movie yet.
That said, clearly there is anticipation for Warner Bros.' Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them sequel. You can catch Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald beginning on November 16 and read up on what we know about the project right now.
