Review: FANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM Is a Symphony of Magical Storytelling
As a longtime fan of the Harry Potter franchise, of course I was excited to return to the wizarding world with Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them! With J.K. Rowling writing the film and David Yates directing, my expectations for an amazing film were incredibly high. Could this movie actually live up to those expectations? Hell yeah, it could, and it totally did!
It was so nice visiting this world of magic that I had come to love again. Yeah, the film is set in a completely different time period and takes place in New York City, but it still has a very familiar and comfortable feeling. The second that the WB logo entered the screen with the Harry Potter music playing over it, I was instantly sucked in and engulfed by all those wonderful feelings that I felt while watching the original Harry Potter films.
One of my favorite things about this first movie in the Fantastic Beasts franchise was getting to know these new characters. Eddie Redmayne’s Newt Scamander, Katherine Waterston’s Porpentina Goldstein, Dan Fogler’s Jacob Kowalski, Alison Sudol’s Queenie Goldstein, Ezra Miller’s Credence, and Colin Ferrell’s Percival Graves were among the most notable. They all did an incredible job and were wonderfully perfect in the roles they played.
The movie is very much a character study of these new characters, and they were beautifully established. By the end of the movie I really cared about the heroes of the story and found the villains absolutely fascinating. I was 100% invested in each and every one of them and the adventure story that they were a part of. I personally think that Fogler stole the show, though. He was so amusing, and his character was so likable. I was rooting for him through the entire film.
I don’t want to ruin the story for you because there’s a lot of great stuff and a few unexpected twists and turns that are best experienced knowing as little as possible. I will say that the story is set in 1926 and that it centers on Newt Scamander who comes to New York after a global excursion to find and document an extraordinary array of magical creatures. He comes to America during a time of intensity and uneasiness for the wizard community, and through a series of events a few of his creatures escape and he has to get them back. In the process, he enlists the help of a No-Maj (American for Muggle) named Jacob to help him.
There’s so much more to the story than that, though! So much more! It goes a lot deeper. This is just one of a few different plot points that audiences will follow that will propel the story forward into the four additional sequels that Warner Bros. is developing. I wasn’t expecting a lot of the stuff in this movie at all. The marketing team did a great job keeping some of the other main story elements under wraps. I absolutely loved how all of these story elements came together. It was like Yates and Rowling were playing a symphony of storytelling and spectacular visuals when bringing this story to life on the big screen, and they conducted it with their magic wands!
Speaking of visuals, they were absolutely stunning! There was a ton of incredible effects work that went into making this film. From bringing the city of New York to life in 1920s fashion, to the magical elements, to the creature designs that were fantastically brought to life. Each one of them had a different crazy look and unique personality that shined through the effects work. I’ll just say that the stuff we see in this movie was an upgrade to anything that we’ve previously seen in the franchise.
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is an incredibly fun film that you cannot miss, especially on the big screen! This type of production and story is the reason why I love going to the movies so much. It’s spectacular in every way and it’s a film that the whole family will love!
Like most of the previous Harry Potter films, I didn’t want this one to end. I’m completely invested in this new franchise, and I can’t wait to see where the story goes from here!