By Teri Bayus
I was thrilled to leap back into the wizardly world of Harry Potter, so I was excited to see “Fantastic Beast and Where To Find Them.”
It’s 70 years before the events of the Harry Potter series, and the story deals with Newt Scarmonger (played by Eddie Redmayne), who was mentioned by Hermione Granger as the author of the “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find” them book.
The year is 1926, and Newt arrives in New York, hoping to find more magical creatures as a way of protecting them, and make the wizarding community more knowledgeable about them.
There is a also a threat of a mysterious wizard named Gert Grinwald (Johnny Depp) who was considered the second most dangerous wizard behind the infamous Lord Voldemort.
There is also the no “Mags,” American for “Muggles,” who have hunted wizards and witches for centuries. I will say in terms of the film, it has a combination of light and dark moments like the first two Harry Potter films.
Redmayne’s performance as Newt was just amazing. He nailed the character. His expressions, non-verbal language and kindness won me over almost instantly. He is a shy, closed person who absolutely loves all sorts of fantastic animals and more importantly understands them.
It was a treat seeing him in every single frame. Percival Graves (Colin Farrell) was focused and powerful. What I liked was that throughout the whole story you weren’t really sure whether Graves was bad or sort-of good. I find this morally gray personality compelling, especially in these times where we live in Disney Star Wars and Disney Marvel, both featuring bland protagonists and antagonists.
Fantastic Beasts was a breath of fresh air. No-Maj was outright fun and interactions between Newt and him put a big smile on my face.
The plot of the film was nothing groundbreaking, and was a little predictable at times. Special effects are sharp, clean and subtle. Beasts are colorful, properly magical and perfectly voiced.
You will get lost in Newt’s zoo, never wanting to go back to real life. But characters jumped into telling backstories without having any real purpose for the forward movement of the plot.
Especially clumsy was Queenie (Allison Sudol), questioning Newt about the picture of a woman in his suitcase cabin. This moment felt so out of place and awkward. The story he gave us was interesting and deserved more than to be told on a side note without any meaning to the actual plot at hand.
