Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

Fun fact: Did you know that Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone was the first movie I went to see in a theater? Yes, wee little six year old Dak was taken out to see Harry Potter back in 2001, and it was honestly love at first sight. I grew up with Harry Potter, the ups and downs that came with it, and everything. I was Harry once for Halloween. I went to midnight book releases. I cried at the end of the Deathly Hallows Part 2. Seeing something I held so dear end was relieving but heartbreaking.

And then I hear they're making spin-offs.

To be honest, I wasn't very excited with the prospect of a Harry Potter spin-off. Yes, I'd love to see more of the world of wizardry told through J.K. Rowling's eyes, but at the same time, the story wrapped up so nicely that I was very unsure. But they went forward in it, and they talked about doing more. They talked about doing a Cursed Child adaptation (I'm very not happy with that, but we'll talk about that when it comes), but first up would be Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. I wasn't too mad about this first choice, having read the real version of it when I was young, and knowing that it would be truly beautiful and full of wonderful monsters. And so here it is...the return of my childhood franchise...was it worth it?

Well, to sum things up in a nice tight bow without spoiling too much, here's what's going down. Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) is a wizard who specifies in finding and studying the majestic beasts and other creatures of the wizarding world. He travels to America, New York specifically, to return some lost or captured beasts. However, in America, magicians are treated like scum, and the Magical Congress of the United States of America (MACUSA) are trying their hardest to keep it under wraps and stop any wars between magicians and no-majs (non-magic people) from breaking out. However, things get out of hand really quickly as some of Scamander's beasts escape, and are eventually blamed for various havoc across the city. Scamander enlists the help of a demoted auror (Katherine Waterston) and a no-maj (Dan Fogler) to find the beasts in time and find what's truly causing the chaos that the MACUSA is so worried about.

As a Harry Potter fan, I'm still unsure how to feel about this movie, but as a movie critic, here's what I think. First off, Fantastic Beasts is nothing like what we know from this universe. There's no turning point battles between wizards. There's no Quidditch. There's no Emma Watson. But, honestly, I think that's sort of a good thing in the favor of this movie. It's trying to set itself apart and trying to not wrap itself up in the already established movie universe of Harry Potter, and it's not trying to prove itself too hard, which is something I feared (and something I fear about another spin-off coming soon). In this respect, it does things very well, and I'm happy to say it wins the round.

As far as structural details go, it's sort of hit and miss. Hits include the overarching story, it's very, very good and very engaging. It starts as a sort of helpless, fun flick, but gets darker and darker as you go, and ends on a few clever twists. Another hit lies with a few particular performances, especially the likes of surprise feature Colin Farrell and Ezra Miller, whom I think really both stole the show. Eddie Redmayne is also very good, showing his Oscar-winning chops a good bit. Where it falls short, however, is some of the minute details of the plot. There's a huge subplot in the first hour or so of the movie that ends up becoming one of the main reasons for the climax, and I feel like it's largely pushed aside for the sake of the main plot. I feel like that could have been done better, but it's only a small gripe, as both parts are wrapped up very well.

Honestly, I was very surprised by Fantastic Beasts, and as someone who was a Harry Potter fan at a young age, I can say that the franchise has been respected very well with this installment and still lives on with fresh ideas, which fills my inner child with nothing but glee. Fantastic Beasts gets a 7.7 out of 10 and some good hope in terms of the sequel and any future Potter spin-offs. Well done.