HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA 3 A MONSTER VACATION (U)
FAMILY trees bear poisonous fruit and their roots run deeper than any ardent fan of the wizard world of J.K. Rowling might have dared to dream in Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes Of Grindelwald. Written for the screen by the best-selling author, director David Yates’s frequently thrilling sequel continues to expand and enrich mythologies beyond the wonder years of Harry Potter and his Hogwarts alumni.
Not by accident, the impassioned pureblood rhetoric spouted by dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald (Johnny Depp) dances to the same divisive drums as US President Donald Trump’s controversial nationalism.
“Regret is my constant companion. Do not let it be yours,” Grindelwald whispers to one acolyte as he galvanises an angry uprising against non-magical folk, who are thought to be worth less because they are different.
Depp dials down the pantomime villainy, opting for slow-burning insidiousness that unsettles rather than flatly chills.
The aching depth of a childhood bond with Albus Dumbledore (Jude Law) is implicit in lustrous flashbacks.
“We were closer than brothers,” sadly recalls the future headmaster of Hogwarts, who has never recovered from the lingering poison of desire.
In an exhilarating opening set-piece, which allows Yates to flex his muscles, Grindelwald stages a breathless escape from the custody of the Magical Congress of the United States of America (MACUSA) led by President Seraphina Picquery (Carmen Ejogo).
The dark wizard sets in motion his convoluted scheme, which focuses on emotionally disturbed outcast Credence Barebone (Ezra Miller), who is a prisoner of Circus Arcanus along with shape-shifting companion Nagini (Claudia Kim).
In London, Torquil Travers (Derek Riddell), Head of Magical Law Enforcement, implores magizoologist Newt Scamander (Eddie
Redmayne) to join the fight against Grindelwald and serve the Ministry of Magic alongside his older brother, Theseus (Callum Turner).
“The time is coming when we all have to pick a side,” Theseus warns his sibling.
“I don’t do sides,” naively counters Newt. Instead, the magizoologist secretly answers a call from Dumbledore, professor of Defence Against The Dark Arts at Hogwarts, who refuses to publicly oppose Grindelwald. Newt’s covert mission exposes a tangled web, which ensnares MACUSA agent Tina Goldstein (Katherine Waterston), her mind-reading sister Queenie (Alison Sudol) and non-magical beau Jacob (Dan Fogler), and Newt’s former sweetheart Leta Lestrange (Zoe Kravitz).
Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes Of Grindelwald builds robustly and stylishly on the first film to test the frayed resolves of flawed characters, some of whom have already lost so much.
As she proved in the two-part stage ★★★★★
COMPUTER-ANIMATED sequel. Mavis (voiced by Selena Gomez) organises a surprise holiday for her nearest and dearest including her father Dracula (Adam Sandler), husband Jonathan (Andy Samberg), six-year-old son Dennis (Asher Blinkoff ) and grandfather Vlad (Mel Brooks). Mavis secretly arranges a voyage to the lost city of Atlantis aboard a luxury cruise liner. “It’s a hotel... on water,” retorts her unimpressed father. His mood brightens when he meets the ship’s acrobatic captain, Ericka (Kathryn Hahn), who seems to like a pasty-skinned suitor with an aversion to sunlight and garlic.
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