Review of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016) by Sue J — 13 Jan 2017

J. K. Rowling's 2001 book entitled Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, which details the magical creatures in Harry Potter's universe, is the source for the 2016 movie of the same name. Written under the fictitious name of Newt Scamander, it is supposed to be the textbook written by him that Harry Potter uses and is mentioned in the first two books of that series, containing handwritten notes by Harry, Ron, and Hermione, telling their experiences with some the beasts. The forward to the book is by Albus Dumbledore and explains the purpose of this edition of the book. He also ends it with "Never tickle a sleeping dragon"...in Latin.

The book tells the history of Magizoology, describing 85 species found throughout the world. Scamander has collected most of the information through his observations and travels, noting that he was asked to do it in 1918 by Augustus Worme, but it was not published until 1927. The book is required reading for Hogwart's first year students and may be used as an encyclopedia of creatures studied in Defense Against the Dark Arts.

The fictional author, Newton Artemis Fido Scamander (Newt) was born in 1897 and through his interest in fabulous beasts, he became a magi zoologist. He joined the Ministry of Magic after being expelled from Hogwarts and had a brief time in the Office of House-elf Relocation as well as the Beast Division and the Werewolf Register, plus a few other minor career moves. He retired with his wife Porpentina and pet Kneazles to Dorset. His grandson Rolf married Luna Lovegood.

The 2016 movie of the same name was inspired by the book written by J. K. Rowling and was between an intermediate and loose adaptation translated for the screen by Rowling herself, who should stick to novels as the screenplay was less than inspirational. (There are few novelists who can make the transition to screenwriter and do it well.) It was directed by David Yates and starred Eddie Redmayne as Newt Scamander, the author of the book; Katherine Waterston played Porpentina Goldstein, a witch and his future wife; Jacob Kowalski, a cannery worker, is played by Dan Fogler; Alison Sudol is Queenie Goldstein, Porpentina's younger sister; Percival Graves, a director of MACUSA is played by Colin Farrell; Samantha Morton played Mary Lou Barebone, a No-Maj; her son was played by Ezra Miller; Ron Perlman was Gnarlack, a goblin owner of The Blind Pig; Johnny Depp was Gellert Grindelwald, a dark wizard; Jon Voight played Henry Shaw, Sr., the owner of a newspaper; and a good cast of supporting actors.

The film began with Newt arriving in New York City in 1926 by boat, where he met Mary Lou Barebone, a No-Maj or Muggle, the head of the New Salem Philanthropic Society. Unfortunately, one of his fantastic beasts escaped from his magical suitcase and while he tried to capture it, he met Jacob Kowalski and the suitcases were exchanged. Tina Goldstein, a hunter of dark wizards, arrested Newt for being unregistered and took him to MACUSA where she planned to be reinstated, but the suitcase had only baked items and Newt was let go. However, more of the beasts escaped from Newt's suitcase, destroying Jacob's home, while biting him. Jacob is discovered by Tina and Newt and they all went to her apartment,where they were introduced to Queenie, Tina's sister. Newt then showed Jacob inside the suitcase where Jacob met a parasite that was inside young wizard children who cannot control their magic. Jacob was asked at this point to help find the missing beasts.

Taken to MACUSA while inside the suitcase because the officials believed one of the beasts killed Senator Shaw, Jr., the Director decided to destroy the suitcase and clean Jacob's memories. Tina and Newt were sentenced to death, but Queenie and Jacob rescued them, while the four of them captured the remaining beasts. Graves began to search for Obscurus, a dark beast, believing it was responsible for all the incidents in the city. Credence was becoming human, when the Aurors arrived and decided Credence must be killed to protect the magic. He is disintegrated, and Graves admitted exposing the magical society to the Muggles. He was then shown to be Gellert Grindelwald in disguise and arrested by MACUSA Aurors. The Thunderbird beast was released and erased all the memories of New Yorkers with a special rainfall while the wizards fixed the city. Newt left for Europe, but promised to visit Tina when his book was finished and gave a case of silver eggshells to start his bakery, which was a big success, thanks to the shapes inspired by the beasts. Queenie walks into the bakery and Jacob on some level remembered her.

This adaptation has its issues, especially the adaptation itself. As I have already stated, J. K. Rowling is a well-deserved novelist, but she is not a very good translator of her novel. Not all novelists are good screenwriters. She gets too mired with telling the audience about this new world of very interesting characters and less on the total plot and storyline. Disappointing. But the CGI was spectacular as was the visual effects. The direction, dialogue and some of the acting was a bit dull and lifeless. It was difficult at times to understand Eddie Redmayne and the chosen dialect he chose to use. The overall cinematography was handled well and unfortunately, there were some rather gaping holes in the story which could be attributed to some ill-performed editing.

I have to agree with Peter Travers in his review in Rolling Stone that underneath what would appear to be a family friendly film is really "about building a wall to keep out scary things we don't understand - and the immigrants are the beasts." (Sound familiar?) GRADE: 3 of 5 crowns.