Review: Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them

Character poster courtesy of fantasticbeasts.co.uk

As some of you may know, I absolutely adore the wizarding world created by the brilliant J. K. Rowling. I have grown up reading and watching the Harry Potter series, and whilst I'll admit I was a little sceptical when it was first announced that there would be a new spin-off film. Take 'Star Wars' for example. Now I'm not personally a fan of that franchise, but I've often heard my Dad complain that the director should have left well enough alone instead of creating more and more films. We both shared concerns that maybe Jo should have stuck to her guns about not releasing any more Potterverse-related material because how could anything improve the world that is already so loved by fans?

That all changed when the trailers were released. The creatures were brought to life in a way that I couldn't have anticipated. Just look at the niffler in the gif. It's great! Furthermore, the changes in environment clearly separate this new spin-off series from its predecessor (or would that be successor?) - we're in America in the 1920s, and the advances available to film creators nowadays allows audiences to be fully immersed in the Big Apple, much like we were all once immersed at Hogwarts.

Gif courtesy of fantasticbeasts.co.uk

Of course, the trailers do not compare to the film itself in much the same way that the Harry Potter trailers never really captured the entirety of the film. How can they, when the films are hours long and the trailer only a couple of minutes? Still, the trailers were excellent appetisers and the film exceeded all my expectations. 

The great thing about Fantastic Beasts is that you don't need to know any of the Harry Potter books or films inside out to enjoy it. This new series of films will allow for a new generation to be filled with wonder at the on-screen magic. Knowing the Harry Potter films allows for little clues to be picked up on and jokes to be made. I think my favourite pun in the film is where Newt admits that he's "more of a chaser" than a seeker. 

Seeing a certain auror with a certain familiar symbol made me distrust the character for much of the film, so perhaps my viewing experience, and that of other Potterheads, is altered a bit in this way but I don't think it's a bad thing. There is so much new material that a few suspicions here and there are hardly going to spoil the experience, and so much more to discover. Not only this, but it kind of means we're tormented by the things we pick up on that aren't necessarily yet explained. Throughout the entirety of the film, a few cogs in the back of my mind were turning, trying to work out what relation Newt's Lestrange tied in with the Potter's Lestranges.

My only complaint, and really this applies to some of the Potter films as well, is that the spells people use all seem to emit the same colour. We know from the Potter books that spells are streaks of different 'lights' so why was everything white in the 1920s? As far as I'm concerned, the odd flash of red would have dramatised things even more but perhaps that's just me. Nevertheless, if the only fault I could find was the lack of imagination for the colouring of spells then I think things have gone pretty well for the entire cast and crew. 

Overall, I give this film 5/5 stars. It is complete testament to J. K. Rowling that cinema screenings are still so full. When I saw this film two or three weeks ago, at the end of my Christmas break, the matinee screening was sold out and we had to go back to the cinema that evening, an even then I think there were four seats left available when we went to sit down. Adults and children alike can enjoy this film, and I cannot wait the next instalment of Fanstastic Beats and Where To Find Them. In the mean time, I'll keep trying to get tickets for the play!

Until next time...