Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them (“Fantastic Beasts”) may be a title familiar to many muggles as being just another book written by the ingenious fantasy novelist, J.K. Rowling. However, Fantastic Beasts is not just a book. No, it is also a newly released film detailing the manuscript written by magizoologist, Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne), which details textbook information on a vast variety of magical creatures.
As fans of the Harry Potter series will know, this film acts as a prequel and predecessor to the Harry Potter series and is set in 1920s America. This details a time period where magic and wizardry are kept secret, with the magical world existing in the dark underground shadows of New York in order to protect the community.
The film opens with reports of attacks around the country by the presumed villain, Grindelwald, and dives straight into the film with Newt arriving in New York with his magic suitcase. The introduction to this brand new character created intrigue and mystery as no back story was given to the character. Right away, a series of characters come into play, all of which, interestingly arrive on screen without any real and proper introduction. The film almost assumes that viewers are somewhat already familiar with characters within the magical community such as Tina Goldstein (Katherine Waterston) and Percival Graves (Colin Farrell). Other characters too simply stumble into the story without any kind of background, which for me personally, is disconcerting as I prefer to really get to know film characters if I am to identify with them.
The plot is set out almost as instantly as the film begins, with Newt’s creatures escaping from his magic suitcase causing havoc and destruction throughout the city. The chaos puts the President of the Magical Congress of the United States of America (MACUSA) on high alert as preventing the exposure of magic to muggles (or No-Majs as humans are known as in America) is tantamount. While this is the main plot of the film, the film also draws upon the extremist anti-witchcraft group led by the strict and small-minded No-Maj, Mary Lou Barebone (Samantha Morton). In this manner, the idea of the film appears to be centered on the threat of an imminent war between the magical community and the No-Majs.
However, despite a seemingly perfect set-up, the film fails to build up the suspense and follow a single direction of narrative, instead jumping around and switching between showing off the fantastic beasts living in a world within Newt’s suitcase and the dark evil threatening the city. While watchable, this lack of a set direction made the film difficult to really get excited about. That being said, the inclusion of the No-Maj, Jacob Kowalski (Dan Fogler), who becomes involved with Newt and Tina as they attempt to retrieve the escaped creatures, is hilarious and a delight to watch. To be perfectly honest, Kowalski is by far my favourite character in Fantastic Beasts, being the only one to have a real personality that comes across as genuine.
Character development, as mentioned above, was definitely lacking in this film. I knew as much about Newt Scamander at the end of the film as I did from the beginning and so to for Tina, the President, Graves and several other characters. Perhaps this is because I had only read the Harry Potter books up to book 4, The Goblet of Fire, and therefore have no idea if there are references to any of the Fantastic Beasts characters in there. Or, perhaps its because J.K Rowling and the creators of the film are purposefully keeping us in the dark in order to continue the story in the upcoming four films in the series. Regardless, character development certainly felt non-existent in this film. I would have liked to know more about Newt and Tina’s pasts.
Visually speaking, Fantastic Beasts was marvelous. The creatures in the film were every bit as fantastic, majestic and phenomenal as I had expected. Beautifully designed and each with their own unique personalities, the creatures felt more realistic than their two-legged counterparts (that is, the humans, wizards and witches of New York). Not only were the creatures marvelous but the effects used in the film as well, from the wraith like effect signifying the evil creature terrorising the city, to the pretty light effects that come from wand wielding, were just stunning. I believe this is where films like Fantastic Beasts and Harry Potter excel. On the other hand, this particular film didn’t appear to have as symbolic a soundtrack as those in the Harry Potter series, which was slightly disappointing.
For a film associated with the Harry Potter series, the villain of the film felt utterly dull in comparison to ‘he who shall not be named’. Once again Fantastic Beasts was disappointing in that there wasn’t any dark, villainous evil in the film. The reveal of the nature and reason for the wraith like phenomenon disrupting the city felt more sad than interesting. Once again a build up toward a critical moment or a suspense filled lead up to a major fight between good and evil, with Newt’s creatures helping, would have gone down a treat. Even the resolution to the problem, which saved the day and saw everything back in order, felt much too simple and I personally felt slightly cheated and robbed of the satisfaction of seeing a good, triumphant victory. Nevertheless, I will withhold further judgement until the sequel as I truly hope the lacking in this film is simply to pave the way for much more in the subsequent films.
As someone who was not much of a fan of the Harry Potter books or films, I had hoped Fantastic Beasts would change my mind. Upon watching the film last night, my feelings towards the entire series remained unchanged and I neither liked nor disliked the film. The only part of the film that really got me excited was the ending, which I won’t spoil for you. While I would still recommend Fantastic Beasts to anyone who enjoys fantasy and magic, I personally wouldn’t choose to watch the film a second time. Instead, I’ll just wait for the next one which I hope will involve more of a Dumbledore – Grindelwald backstory and fight. Till then the only thing I’m praying for is that Ezra Miller steps up and not ruin The Flash for me, because his depiction of his character in Fantastic Beasts has me worried.