Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them Review

The fantasy film continuing on the Harry Potter movie series, “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,” was released on Nov. 18th. The film is set in the same universe as Harry Potter, but instead of taking place in England, it’s set in 1926 New York. This new setting beautifully helps to create another branch of J. K. Rowling’s wizarding world, without pushing it at all. The film was all-in-all a great success.Newt Scamander, played by Eddie Redmayne, is an awkward foreigner visiting the States to help write his book on magical creatures, which is his expertise and passion. After losing one of his creatures at a bank, Newt gets in a debacle with a muggle (human who has no magical abilities and knows nothing about the magic world) and an American wizarding police officer, and the adventure begins. The muggle, or “non-magic”, portrayed by Dan Fogler, becomes Newt’s comedic sidekick for the remaining of the film. Fogler does an amazing job of imitating what it would be like to be introduced to the magic world as an average person. Redmayne’s performance was also highly compelling, as he delivered a zookeeper-like wizard that was awkward, yet heroic at the same time. The animation “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” was excellent. I thought it was the most well-done part of the movie, as the beasts were more creative than almost anything in the Harry Potter series. There was immense detail poured into the background of each creature. Along with the beasts, the culture of New York in the 20’s is intertwined throughout the film, as the some of the monsters wander the city, allowing for situational development and a deeper context for the movie.Albeit it is fantasy-adventure, as in all great movies, the writers found creative and intelligent ways of adding comedy throughout the movie. Fogler was hilarious through the entirety of the film, and Redmayne had his moments.“Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” was done really well. As a Harry Potter fan, I really appreciate the incorporation of the magic world without overdoing it at all. The plot is interesting enough to keep you invested for the whole movie, and I truly hope they find a way to continue the series even more as it was very enjoyable.