Review of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016) by Rob V — 15 May 2017

I love Harry Potter, I love the whole wizarding world J.K. Rowling has created. I also love creature features, big effects movies with lots of bizarre monsters and creations. I also love period-piece films, especially 1920s America. So is it really any surprise that I liked this movie?

In the story and pacing department, the movie is admittedly a little lacking. This is the first time Rowling has written a film script, and it kind of shows. It's good, but it probably could've used some brushing up from someone a little more experienced. The pacing between events feels a little uneven and choppy at times. There are whimsical moments of chasing after creatures followed by quick scenes of exposition, and while I enjoyed both scenes in concept, they don't quite flow together. I also have some issues with the main conflict of the movie. It's regarding the rise of a dark wizard who came before Voldemort, and while a cool story, it feels very separate from the beasts segments with Newt Scamander. It feels like Newt was forcibly thrown into the this story that he's not really relevant to, making the whole thing a little clunky.

So more than any of the other Potter films, I have some major issues with this films story. However, I think it's a credit to the film that these glaring flaws really only became minor annoyances to me in the end. What pulls the film together for me is, well, for one just having a bunch of things I like in it. But also, it's got great characters that I really wanted to follow. Newt's so charming and awkward, he's an eccentric oddball who just loves what he does and that love passes on to us the audience. The Goldstein sisters are pretty likable too, but the one who really steals the show is Dan Fogler as a muggle who gets wrapped up in everything. He's clearly the audience surrogate, a character you really need in this sort of story, but he's such a lovable character you forget that his primary purpose is to have the plot explained to us. He needs to come back in the sequel or I'm really going to be dissapointed, because his friendship that develops with Newt is really the heart of this whole movie.

Fantastic Beasts is a little clunky in its storytelling, and at the end of the day it's not necessary at all. But here it is, and for what it is, it's really enjoyable. It's not a masterpiece, and doesn't have the same nostalgic pull as the other Harry Potter films, but as a side story in that world, it's a great deal of fun.