Review of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016) by Dom T — 09 Jul 2017

I am very sorry to say it, but this movie is underwhelming at best. The 'magic' that made Harry Potter so appealing is curiously absent from this film. Visually, it's amazing, and it uses the 3D format with maximum effectiveness.

It's the story itself that's lacking. It's just very basic, neither the characters nor the plot has any of the richness of the Harry Potter stories. It just didn't grab me and I found myself bored by the characters and the story.

The exception is Eddie Redmayne, who is wonderful as always as the sweet but socially-awkward protagonist, whose fierce love for his creatures is so honest, it just seems to pour out of him. He's the only one who I really believed as a character, the rest of them are either predictable archetypes or too mired in melodramatic dialogue to buy in to.

.. or both. The beasts themselves are definitely the highlight of the film - they are fun and clever and cute and scary and touching, and the movie would have been a lot better if it had actually been about them.

Instead, we get a tired and predictable plot with characters that we don't really care about. Maybe it's because the story itself is about grown-ups, but everything about it feels so serious and ADULT.

Notwithstanding a few chuckle-worthy moments (all attributed to the creatures), the film is desperately lacking in humor. Come on, even the grimmest of the Potter tales had some levity thrown in there.

I was hoping that this film would rekindle the spark of the original franchise, but it just fizzles like a broken wand. Despite its undeniable big-screen spectacle, this movie isn't nearly as fantastic as its beasts.