The 5 best Harry Potter movies to binge-watch before Fantastic Beasts 2
The cineplex is magical again.
“Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald” hit theatres this weekend, bringing another chapter from J.K. Rowling’s “Wizarding World” to screens, now with 100 per cent more Dumbledore (played by Jude Law as a younger version of the headmaster of Hogwarts).
And while the new film may not be quite as fantastic as the first, it’s a perfect excuse to revisit the original “Harry Potter” movies. Here are five “Wizarding” films to watch before you see “Crimes of Grindelwald,” or if you just feel like spending time with Harry, Ron and Hermione again.
If you can’t remember who Grindelwald is: “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” Parts 1 and 2
The villain of “Crimes of Grindelwald” is, you guessed it, a guy named Grindelwald (Johnny Depp). If you’ve seen the first “Fantastic Beasts” movie, you were introduced to the character and his devious ways, but if you want the full background on him and how he is defeated (the “Fantastic Beasts” films are prequels, after all), watch or rewatch the last two “Potter” films. It’s in these films that we learn about Dumbledore and Grindelwald’s relationship as teens.
If you don’t know how this connects to Harry Potter at all: “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them”
Even the most devoted “Potter” fan might have trouble getting into the new film without watching the original “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.” The 2016 film introduced us to Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne), his allies and the 1920s-era Wizarding World, where the threat of Grindelwald looms large.
If you want to feel old: “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone”
When the very first “Potter” film hit theatres, George W. Bush was president, there were no smartphones and Redmayne was 19 years old. It’s been 17 years since Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint suited up in the Hogwarts robes for the first time, and revisiting “Sorcerer’s Stone” will make you both nostalgic for the early “Potter” years and thankful that CGI has so vastly improved since that movie used it to create a terrible-looking centaur.
If you want the best of the best: “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix”
No offence to the devotees of “Prisoner of Azkaban,” but the best “Potter” film of all is based on the worst book: “Order of the Phoenix.” None of Rowling’s books can really be called “bad,” but compared to the other six novels, “Phoenix” is a bit overstuffed and more tiresome. But with a zippy adaptation that excises all the books flaws, director David Yates (who directed the subsequent “Potter” films and both “Fantastic Beasts”) turned the black sheep of the “Potter” series into a shockingly strong film.