Mini Review - Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

Because the sequel is coming out next week, I've brought this review forward in the schedule.

Harry Potter has seen a resurgence in recent years. And why wouldn’t it? It’s one of the most successful book series and film franchises of all time, of course everyone would be wondering what else they’ll come up with.

But the actual topic of choice is perplexing for many reasons, this is a prequel series, starring the author of a book mentioned in the Harry Potter universe. Unlike previous Potter adaptations, this is a unique entity (although a book based on the screenplay came out later) with the screenplay written by Rowling herself. And with 5 films promised, there’s a hope that it’ll keep her in work.

With regards to director. David Yates, who directed films 5-8 is back in the director’s chair and he’s a good choice, since despite some major flaws in film 6 he was the strongest of the 4 directors and has the most experience with this franchise and that counts for something since they don’t have books to lean on this time.

In an odd choice, we have 2 plot-lines that, whilst they occasionally intersect, are largely kept separate. Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) comes to New York with a case of magical creatures but since he doesn’t know how to fix a broken lock, which surely should be a fairly simple spell, some of the creatures manage to escape and wreak havoc across the State. In trying to retrieve them, he ends up bumping into ex-Auror Tina Goldstein (Katherine Waterson), and a regular human wanting to sell his baked goods, Jacob Kowalski (Dan Fogler).

In the second plot-line, the wizarding world of New York is in danger of being exposed thanks to a series of disasters by an unknown entity. ‘Percival Graves’ (Colin Farrel) seeks the help of a boy named Credence (Ezra Miller) to find this entity, who he’s seen is close to him and his abusive adopted mother, Mary Lou Barebone (Samantha Morton), who is also the head of anti-witch society, and was further provoked when Tina attacked her for hurting Credence. The actor they got to play the younger adopted sister, Modesty, Faith Wood-Blagrove, gave a performance that left me truly unsettled for most of the film.

I don’t dislike either of these plot-lines, although it makes the structure of the movie a bit odd. my issues with the story are mostly relatively minor but they add up, but let’s start with some positives. It’s shot beautifully, and I really like the look of the world inside Newt’s suitcase. The story is reasonably well paced too, not too fast as some of the Harry Potter movies have been. I also like the world-building around a different wizarding society, calling a muggle a No-maj, having a President (Carmen Ejogo) as opposed to a Minister and just the general look and feel of everything around the characters and story. I do find it interesting that they have laws against relationships with non-magic folk. It’s less about blood purity in this than it is about keeping themselves secret, though it’d be interesting to see how they’d react to no-maj born wizards or witches.

Kowalski is my favourite character in the movie, providing an earnest and occasionally dumb look at a world entirely new to him. As of writing this I don’t know what his role is in Fantastic Beasts 2 is, but in my opinion, they shouldn’t have brought him back as his story was completed in this movie. 

On that note, it’s nice that even as the first in a 5-part instalment, it felt like its own thing and wasn’t overwhelming us with copious amounts of setup. Alongside Jacob is Queenie Goldstein (Alison Sudol) who is a charming naïve character who does much more for the plot than you’d expect though gets more or less left out at the climax. Her character being slightly telepathic does get out a bit of character from Newt, including his relationship with one Leta Lestrange which is likely to be explored in the next movie.

When it comes to acting, it’s relatively solid all around, with one notable problem, which I’ll come back to when I start my list of negatives. I love the idea of an obscurus, and what damage it can do, though again, I’m coming back to that. I like the incredibly dark death penalty they have where they use a memory to draw you in and hypnotise you so you don’t notice you’re being drowned in a pool of acid. I like the design of some of the creatures, in particular the botruckle and the swooping evil. I’m glad the movie doesn’t forget that ‘squib’ wasn’t a word used in the movies, so explains the concept.

OK, enough praising, let’s get to my lengthy list of problems and major spoilers ahead now.

• Why wasn’t Kowalski arrested by muggle police for breaking into the bank?
• Newt continually insists his creatures aren’t dangerous, despite them causing rampant destruction across the state
   
• Newt not attempting to head straight to Arizona, his intended destination, which is half way across the country away from New York, immediately upon arrival
   
• Graves’ ability to magically move things using his hands as opposed to his wand
   
• Were we supposed to frown on the bank for daring to ask for collateral?
   
• The fact that Newt’s suitcase has no identifying markings on it, so the switch between his and Jacob’s happens easily.
   
• Graves is not subtle as a villain… you can tell he’s up to no good/probably Grindelwald early on
   
• An obscurus is only supposed to survive up to 10, but they give no real explanation to how Credence’s survived, also Credence himself survived somehow
   
• Newt and Tina not reacting to the President and her aurors ‘killing’ Credence
   
• The Rumblehorn having a generic design and the really stupid dance Newt has to make, bet that was funny on camera
   
• The occamy’s ability to fit all available space, what happens when it’s outside?
   
• The fact the invisible creature that can predict things does absolutely nothing
   
• Jacob’s ability to kick down a magically sealed door
• Newt giving Jacob Occamy eggs to use as collateral after he has his memory wiped and has no idea they’re made of solid silver and even if he did, he’d have to convince the bank that
• The idea that the thunderbird could use the swooping evil venom to wipe the memories of all the witnesses in New York, including those in buildings (in the showers, which don’t tend to immediately use rainwater)
   
• Thunderbird – are you being serious JK?
   
• Johnny Depp – I think that kind of speaks for itself at the moment, also he looks completely silly an un-intimidating as Grindelwald

Fantastic Beasts and Where to find them is a solid movie with an unconventional structure, but it mostly works in its favour and keeps the pacing solid. I do question giving the less important plot-line the series title though. It falls under the weight of multiple small plot-holes and your mileage may vary on how easy they are to overlook. I’m sure there are a few I’ve missed. The characters are all entertaining to watch but certain elements to their arcs don’t work as well as intended.

Rating 69/100