Review of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016) by Evan J — 26 Jan 2017

I know this isn't a Harry Potter film, but it takes place in the same universe. Just to compare it to the Harry Potter Franchise I would only rank it ahead of The Half-Blood Prince.

Sadly, Fantastic Beats and Where to Find Them is a BIG missed opportunity in my opinion. It didn't have that magical feel that the Harry Potter films have. There's essentially 2 main characters and 2 sub main characters in this movie. The 2 sub main characters are A LOT better and more interesting than the 2 main characters. I guess I just don't like Eddie Redmayne as an actor because I found his character to be without charisma and just flat out boring. The same goes for Katherine Waterson's character. However, Dan Fogler and Alison Sudol's characters were full of charisma and a lot of fun.

The beasts are pretty cool, but none of them were memorable except the first one that was introduced. I liked him a lot, but other than him they're nothing special.

I know this review has been mostly negative, but I still found this film to be decent. It's a really cute movie and it does have quite a bit of enjoyable moments. But I was left disappointed and I went it with only having mild expectations.

After Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone I was incredibly excited for the franchise to continue on. After seeing Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them I'm thinking are they really planning on making more of these movies? Here's to hoping the sequels are much better!