“Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald,” the second addition to the Harry Potter prequel franchise, made its long-awaited box office debut on Nov. 16.

The first installment of the spin-off series was set in 1926 and followed wizard and magizoologist Newt Scamander, played by Eddie Redmayne, on his adventures in New York capturing magical creatures that had been released from his magical briefcase. Katherine Waterson played Tina Goldstein, an Auror who aids Newt, while Allison Sudol played Queenie Goldstein, Tina’s mind-reading sister.

Dan Fogler played Jacob Kowalski, a non-magical character who is exposed to the magical world through Newt’s creatures, and Ezra Miller played Credence Barebone, a wizard being raised by a Muggle woman.

The five reprise their roles in the second installment with the addition of Jude Law as a young Albus Dumbledore. Johnny Depp, who made a brief appearance in the first film as antagonist Gellert Grindelwald, also comes back in the second installment to develop his character.

The series’ purpose is to give background to the wizarding world that the initial Harry Potter series lacked under the small scope of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and England. “Fantastic Beasts” brings our attention to the American wizarding world in a pre-WWII timeline.

“The Crimes of Grindelwald” transports our main characters to Europe where Newt Scamander and Tina Goldstein are in a race to find Credence Barebone before Grindelwald does. Credence is an Obscurial, which is a wizard or witch who has a very strong, dark magical force inside of them due to him or her suppressing their magic. In other words, Credence is a very powerful being despite not being a powerful wizard, and Grindelwald wishes to use him as a weapon against his enemies.

I would rate the movie a solid seven out of 10. The special effects were fantastic, and the story felt true to the wizarding world audiences know and love. I will agree with some critics and would say that the movie spent too much time on exposition and left me feeling a little dissatisfied with the content. That said, the acting was all-around amazing – I was the most excited to see Jude Law as Dumbledore, and he did not disappoint.

Although the movie was too focused on establishing the storyline, there were a few interesting parts that left me on the edge of my seat, which makes me look forward to the next installments!

The much-anticipated second installment to this five-part prequel series broke into the box office in its debut weekend at #1, which honestly is not a shocker for a “Harry Potter” film. With a budget of $200 million, the film made an estimated $62.2 million in North America and $191 million overseas in its opening weekend, according to Box Office Mojo.

Regardless of the negative reviews, there are still three movies left in the franchise, and you cannot help but feel as if the writers are holding back on the good stuff until the final installments. That said, “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald” is a good movie for “Harry Potter” fans to see this holiday season.