Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them review – a dazzling and amazing adventure in the world of magic

‘Newt’s fantastic beasts esacpe and cause chaos in New York city.’

In an age of big franchises and connected universes over multiple films, it was inevitable that Warner Brothers would want to revisit the world of Harry Potter, one of their most popular and financially successful properties. But before you give a collective sigh with the rest of the world over another unoriginal prequel, please note that Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them does have the creator of this world herself, J. K. Rowling, debuting her first screenplay with this film.

Also, we have David Yates as director, who gave us some of the best Harry Potter films and has the experience to bring this world back to the big screen. Plus, another thing this film has going for it is a 1920’s, New York setting, allowing the story to be its own thing. With no reference to the boy who lived, the audience are free to come into this film cold.

Saying that, despite having nothing to do with Harry Potter and that storyline, Rowling is clearly developing a new mythology and introducing characters that were briefly mentioned in the Deathly Hallows. With the recent news as well that there will be five films, all written by Rowling and directed by Yates, it’s no surprise to see a fair amount of world building going on, with side plots that are left hanging and characters that are briefly introduced and left for future instalments. Never the less the film is contained enough to enjoy on its own.

The main story follows Eddie Redmayne’s Newt Scamanda, the future author of the textbook where the film gets it title, who after travelling the globe discovering and documenting various magical creatures visits New York with a suitcase of such fantastical beasts. After a unfortunate incident involving “no-maj/muggle” Jacob Kowalski, several of these misunderstood creatures escape causing havoc in the city.

With the help of Porpentina “Tina” Goldstein (Katherine Waterston), a disgraced “Auror” (Hunter of Dark Wizards), Newt sets out to find his magical animals before they expose the wizarding world and start a war. There are also other various side plots including Collin Farrell’s dodgy magical agent, and the disturbed Mary Lou Barebone’s (Samantha Morton) head of a society whose goals include exposing and killing wizards.

There’s clearly a lot of plot to fit in, but Yates skilfully balances the various threads so the film still keeps a fairly cohesive narrative, and although complex in places, never feels messy. Additionally, after the last few Potter films were so dark and grim, Yates happily goes back to that more whimsical tone and adding a sense of wonder, which is great place to start a new story for a new generation of audiences, as well as the existing fan base. The period setting is also very well realised with some great practical sets which generates a real immersive experience.

Due to a future franchise in mind, there is a huge cast of characters to squeeze in in just over two hours and not everyone gets enough time to feel like fully formed characters. Jon Voight, for example pops up in this film in a way that suggests that he’s going to play an important part in the story, and then gets ignored for most of the film and adds no relevance to the overall plot. This also includes Farrell’s shifty Auror, who’s end goal is never made clear until a surprising third act reveal.

Regardless though, the three main leads in Redmayne, Waterston and Fogler all do terrific jobs in bringing their characters to life, and each bring something different to the table. Redmayne is excellent as the socially awkward Scamander who has more of an affinity with the magical creatures he studies than people. Added to that is an air of eccentricity which suits the character well, and yet, despite all that, Redmayne still manages to make him incredibly likable. Waterston also brings a lot of depth to Tina and although has great chemistry with Redmayne, is more than the typical love interest.

The real star it could be argued though, has to be Fogler’s Jacob. For a role that could have easily been the bumbling sidekick or the plot device who gets everything explained to us, Jacob is actually a well-rounded character. Fogler brings a lot of heart to his performance and is someone you really feel for.

Yates, as with the Potter films, proves competent in directing great action scenes and brings real excitement and a sense of urgency as our protagonist’s zip through New York gathering up the missing creatures. Towards the end particularly are some excellent set pieces with some hard core city destruction that even rival Man of Steel (2013). This is all aided by some imaginative visuals from the effects department, especially when it comes to some of the creature design (kids will love the Kleptomaniac Niffler, a Platypus type creature).

‘Although it might get bogged down in the world building, Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them is an excellent introduction to another potentially great franchise.’

With great visuals and great main characters, you’ll soon be hankering for the next instalments in no time.