Fantastic Beasts 2: The Crimes of Grindelwald (2018), directed by David Yates

The usual wonderful special effects create the required magical universe, spiriting the audience into 1920s New York, London and Paris. Grindelwald has escaped custody to search for and use the incredibly powerful Creedence. Everyone else is searching for him too – either to kill him or to save him; who will get there first? With the wizarding world divided familiar characters make some unexpected choices as they pick sides. The geeky appeal of Eddie Redmayne as Newt and the charm of Jude Law as the younger Dumbledore carry the film, which makes some unsubtle parallels with real word populists who twist and manipulate the gullible and vulnerable to victimise a segment of society. The film is too long and its inconclusive ending exists solely to set up the next film, without generating any great expectation that it will be worth waiting for.