Review of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016) by Mrmoviebuff — 20 Nov 2016

'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them' is the first screenwriting credit for "Harry Potter" author, J.K. Rowling, who plans on taking this beloved franchise and expanding it, since that is the current trend of Hollywood blockbusters, these days.

Eddie Redmayne stars as Newt Scamander, a wizard employee at the Ministry of Magic who travels to New York. It's 1926, and Newt appears to be carrying around a case that seems to hold a living creature inside.

He tries everything he can to retrieve the creature when it's escaped and starts to cause trouble, on the way, he runs into a man named Jacob Kowalski (Dan Fogler) that takes one of Newt's mysterious eggs when he leaves it behind.

Meanwhile, a woman named Tina Goldstein (Katherine Waterston), another wizard is concerned that Newt may have let Jacob, who is a "No-Maj" - which is an American term for "Muggle", meaning non-magic humans - know too much about the wizard world, and his memory must be "Obliviated".

But Jacob gets away with the egg, and Newt and Tina must get it back before more chaos ensues. Meanwhile, we meet a high-ranking Auror and Director of the Magical Security named Percival Graves (Colin Farrell) who appears to get close to a young boy named Credence Barebone (Ezra Miller) whose family seems to be holding some dark, magical secrets that Graves needs to know more about.

Graves also discovers that there are some dark magic that invades the whole of New York, and it's up to Newt, Tina and Jacob to try and stop it. Seeing the few unlikely heroes reluctantly go on their unexpected journey together is fun and riveting, and the cast do an excellent job to get you invested in what might happen in future sequels.

.. it appears that there will be four more movies to come out of this. The worst thing I can say about "Fantastic Beasts" is that, it's not "Harry Potter"... there is no young boy discovering the gifts of magic, there is little awe and it's not quite as whimsical.

But, director David Yates - who directed the last four "Harry Potter" installments - keeps things balanced. The pacing of the story is a little uneven, as there are some amazing scenes where we discover a world of magical beasts, and there are some slow, scary and chilling moments about the dark magic.

'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them' isn't necessarily exciting, but it has made me curious for where the characters might go in future sequels. Whether or not this will match or even surpass the quality of the "Harry Potter" franchise, we will never know.

But, if you watch it as a franchise on its own terms, it's still good! I liked the characters, I liked the creatures, I liked the new story... this is a franchise that should get more attention.