Fantastic Beasts 2 Trailer Reactions: 8 Ups & 3 Downs

1. The Kowalski & Credence Spoilers

There's a mostly commendable commitment to remaining as spoiler-free as possible while also teasing the story elements here (though really we all know the shape of this story thanks to the mainline Potter stories anyway), but it's a shame that two of the film's most valuable shocks have been so blatantly undermined. And also that two of the story elements from the end of the first movie have been undone as early as the first trailer for the sequel.

At the end of Fantastic Beasts, Jacob Kowalski has had his memory wiped and while there are hints some remain, it's done for his own safety. Sure, those remaining memory fragments and the romantic attachment to Queenie means he was always going to come back, but it should have been left to the actual film to reveal it. The trailer showing that he's just back to normal robs us of that small surprise.

And then there's the return of Credence, who was apparently disintegrated in the first movie when it was revealed he was an Obscurial to protect the magical community. A bit of the Obscurus escaped so, again, there was a big hint he was coming back, but the flippant reveal of him TWICE in the trailer (and the revelation that he's probably part of a magical circus) was just unnecessary. And it takes away some of the magic.

Now the positives...