I watched Fantastic Beasts; the Crimes of Grindelwald with spouse the other night. That made the second time I’ve seen it. It left me with more questions, not fewer and, risking spoilers, I’m putting some of those here. If you have answers, or at least an opinion, please comment.
Warning: Spoilers
- What did Newt Scamander do that drove the plot of this movie? Did his actions direct the plot in any way?
- What did Jacob do that drove the plot? What did Jacob do in the first movie that drove its plot? Anything?
- If Corvus LeStrange V drowned, who the hell is Bellatrix LeStrange married to? Oh, wait, I know the answer to this one, courtesy of this guy on DeviantArt who created a family tree. Rodolfus LeStrange, Bellatrix’s husband is, I guess, the son of an illegitimate LeStrange male who would have been Corvus IV’s cousin at a couple of removes. Apparently in this patriarchal society keeping your dad’s name when you’re illegitimate is no big deal.
- How can Minerva McGonagall be a teacher at Hogwarts in 1927, when according to Potttermore, she was born in 1935?
- Why can’t Queenie, who is a legilmen and understands thoughts, comprehend when a receptionist asks, “How can I help you?” Even if Q can’t read minds, hasn’t she ever stepped up to a counter before? I neither speak French nor read minds, and I could have hazarded a guess as to what I was being asked.
- Why is there no record of Tina working at the French Ministry of Magic? Is she working off-book? It seems likely.
- Why don’t house elves have a union? I think that becomes Hermione’s question in the 1990s, but really, why don’t they?
- Why does every high-CGI action sequence go on just a little bit too long?
- Where is Nicholas Flamel’s wife? I’m pretty sure he had one.
- Where are the baby nifflers?
- What is the purpose for Nagini’s presence in the movie? Is it just to wear that stunning glittery blue dress thing? I’ll accept that.
- How come the filing cabinets in the French Ministry of Magic are so weird?
- How come Grindalwald looks so much older than Dumbledore, when they’re about two years apart according to canon? Does doing dark magic age you? Valdemort never looked all that good either. I think the Ministries of Magic have missed a prime propaganda tool here. “Dark Magic ages you, and your skin will never recover!” is a powerful message.
- Is Queenie really this stupid? I keep hoping that it’s Queenie’s healing nature – her Ilvorney house is Pukwudgie after all – drawing her to Creedence… but that’s a hard sell even to me.
- Why didn’t the Americans either extradite Grindelwald or try him six months earlier?
- How come Grindelwald got to have a pet in solitary?
- How did Creedence come back to life? Oh, excuse me, I mean, how did Creedence survive when he was, I don’t know, so obviously dead at the end of the first film?
- How come the London Ministry of Magic does such poor background checks?
- How did Grindelwald get a permit for his rally when he is an internationally wanted criminal?
- Why didn’t Newt try to save Leta?
- Did they recycle Young Newt’s raven chick as a stand-in for Grindalwald’s bird in the final scene?
- How can Creedence, much younger than Albus Dumbledore, be a secret Dumbledore brother, when Albus’s dad was in prison in Azkaban during Albus’s teen years, when this boy would have been conceived/born? Did Azkaban allow inmates to have sex with each other? I have to say, that sounds like a much different prison experience than the ones Hagrid and Sirius described.
- And the question that haunts me, and has since the first film; why do sisters Tina and Queenie have completely different accents?