All Hope Is NOT Lost: Why I Refuse to Have My Excitement for “Crimes of Grindelwald” Stripped Away

SPOILERS AHEAD: PROCEED WITH CAUTION

“Come on, guys, really? Why so negative?” That seems to be my reaction every time I open up my Facebook feed these days. You’ve probably been seeing the negativity swirling around the Internet in the past few months as more details of Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald have been revealed. Well, it seems like we’ve just received a tidal wave of that negativity with some recent, spoiler-filled news about a certain character who will be appearing in the film. Here’s the thing: That information doesn’t necessarily mean everyone in the world is going to hate this movie or that it’s ruined an entire five-film franchise.

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To use Ezra Miller’s words, “Make up your own mind. Follow your heart,” and decide for yourself what to think of the film once you’ve seen it. Am I a little skeptical? Yes. That does not mean all hope for these films is lost. I understand that, as fans, we’ve become invested in J.K. Rowling’s world – so invested that we know the timeline of when her characters were born, died, and attended Hogwarts. But I cannot in good conscience dismiss this film purely because of one brief deviation from that timeline.

Let’s take a little trip down memory lane and look at some of the more unpopular choices made throughout the making of the eight Harry Potter films. Did every Harry Potter fan instantly write off the rest of the films when both Parvati and Padma Patil appeared in Gryffindor robes in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire? Some probably did, but not the majority. What about Hermione’s hair no longer being bushy after the second film? I’m pretty sure that didn’t cause the whole franchise to flop either.

I think we, as a fandom, need to step back for a moment and realize that, while this one decision about a character popping up when they shouldn’t even be alive yet is frustrating, we don’t know the context or what the rest of the film looks like. What if the rest of the movie and story line are so good that it doesn’t matter? I think this character will make a very quick appearance as a bit of fan service but in the long run, won’t affect what happens with the characters and story line that we care about.

So if you’ve already seen the film, you can absolutely have your opinions, but can you please let the rest of us still be excited when we walk into the theater? I know I, for one, would rather go into the movie theater feeling nostalgic, magical excitement rather than dread due to the last cryptic yet doom-filled Tweet I read with the hashtag #ProtectThe Secrets.

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The bottom line is, we deserve to have those butterflies when the Warner Bros. logo zooms toward us on the big screen. At the end of the day, this is a movie meant to transport us to a magical world where we can escape our own for a bit. Personally, I’m going to put aside any negativity that I’ve been hearing in the past few months and go in with fresh eyes, ready to be transported into the wizarding world and get swept up in another adventure with Newt and the gang. I’m going to see it through with the full-blown fangirl excitement I’ve been holding inside since the credits rolled on the first installment in November 2016.