Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

Fantasy movie franchises based on book series succeed most of the time depending on the amount of effort put into adapting a story with likable main characters, compelling stakes to overcome, occasional moments of action, and its capability of drawing the audience into its environment. Compared to other film series in that genre, the Harry Potter franchise had the most difficult challenge in that regard due to the main book series consisting of 7 books in the Lord Voldemort saga that was stretched into 8 movies. Alongside that, there have been changing directors for the first couple of movies before settling on David Yates and a change in actors to play Albus Dumbledore occurring after The Chamber of Secrets. Despite these circumstances, the Harry Potter film franchise very much succeeded in adapting the series to the best of their ability with great actors, enchanting environments, a story that became more tragic as the body count started to increase with the later films, and building a connection with fans of the series (regardless of whether or not they read the books) that I was reminded today. Once the trailers for the spinoff movie, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them was released to the public, the fan buzz started to speculate how it would turn out. Concerns from them are understandable considering how some spinoffs such as the Hobbit Trilogy failed to live up to the magnificent scope of The Lord of the Rings trilogy. As fan of the series having read 7 books and seen all 8 movies, I was very open to a new story expanding the universe. I entered the theater packed full of families ready to see the wonders it would bring and I left the auditorium feeling not only happy but optimistic about the upcoming sequels that will be provided to us.

Plot: The story follows a wizard from the Ministry of Magic visiting New York with an enchanted suitcase filled with creatures he has found on his journey and is taking care of. A mix up with another persons suitcase leads to the unintentional release of them into the city. The timing of this is terrible considering the fact that the wizardry government has gone to great lengths to keep their exposure secret from the no-majs (the US term for a non magical person whereas in the UK it's Muggle). The adventure follows the wizard and the aforementioned no-maj he had the encounter with to find the escapees before they either cause harm to no-majs or get harmed by them or the Magical Congress of the US. Another piece of the story happens while this is going on and it all converges getting closer to the end. Another thing to note is that you don't necessarily need the Harry Potter movies to watch this story. It introduces the plot in such a way that you can pick it up as you go along. This story takes place before the Voldemort saga in 1929 and gives this new story a different flavor than being stuck at Hogwarts for 7 movies. This one brings a simple premise of finding escaped creatures to an interesting look at how their world operates with changing circumstances that won't be explained here. Overall the story is a very welcome change and look to the universe that doesn't required having seen the Harry Potter Voldemort saga, though there are some nice little details for those who have.

Characters: The key main characters to focus on are Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne), Jacob Kowalski (Dan Fogler), Tina Goldstein (Katherine Waterston), and Queenie Goldstein (Alison Sudol). Newt is a wizard working to tame and rehabilitate creatures he has found. Eddie does a great job in bringing out the charm of the eccentric shy wizard with every scene he's in. Newt is awkward at times with interactions but is very well meaning. Jacob is a muggle Newt has a misunderstanding with resulting in the aforementioned adventure. He strives for a career change and is exposed to the magical community helping capture the creatures. Dan serves as a fun comic relief throughout the movie just with his reactions to magic alone. He portrays a fun curiosity at the circumstances happening with the journey and is easily a great highlight of the main cast. Tina Goldstein is a demoted witch who works for the Magical Congress of the US and longs to do more serious work instead of menial tasks. She encounters Newt in the beginning of the mess created by him and works with him in his mission. Tina does a good job with the material given to her but could have been given more screen time to develop her a bit more. Queenie is Tina's sister who's more of a free-spirit side of things with nice magic skills of her own. Alison has fun with this role and also brings light hearted charm to the story. A couple of honorable mentions to look out for include Colin Farrell and Ezra Miller as their talents are put to great use despite limited screen time. Overall the casting choices are good while the characters could have had a little more screen time to be better developed.

Overall Consensus: While not living up to the powerhouse of the main Harry Potter movies, Fantastic Beasts stands out with its own tone and environment change from the previous films. ⭑⭑⭑

Reasons to Watch it: You want to see the creatures Newt looks after. You are a Harry Potter fan looking to watch an expansion of its cinematic universe. You haven't seen the Harry Potter movies and want to see this one in order to learn about the magical world. You like movies that take place in the 1920s period. You are a fan of the aforementioned actors. You saw Doctor Strange and want to see another movie involving magic and sorcery. You are looking for a movie that doesn't rely on fandom of other films in the series. You want to see a movie that has both light hearted and dark storylines in it.

Reasons to Avoid it: You are annoyed with the Harry Potter franchise. You don't like watching movies that involve witches and wizards. You don't like any of the actors involved. You don't like movies that take place in the 1920s. You aren't interested in a movie that has both light hearted and dark storylines in it.