Fantastic Beasts Review

So, first thing first, I am not a professional critic. By no means is this intended to be derogatory or degrading to anyone involved in this project. Anything I have to say is simply from an observer’s view. Take it or leave it, I just thought it would be fun to tell you what I got out of this. If enough people like these sorts of things and what I have to say on the matter than who knows, maybe I’ll do more. I’m a huge fan of Video Games, Books (Comic or otherwise), and movies so there’s plenty to talk about.

There, now that the disclaimer is out of the way, I figured we could look at the narrative of the movie rather than focusing on what I’ve seen most critics focus on. In any medium I base my opinions first and foremost on the story, the plot, the lore of the series, the characters. I don’t much care for something other than that unless if feeds that narrative. You can tell me that a movie is a technical marvel and has tons of awesome special effects, but if the story is crap than the movie is crap… at least to me. Not trying to sound uppity, it’s just what I focus on. Oh and also, MAJOR SPOILERS. We are talking about story, after all.

Yay or Nay?

If you’re here to know if the movie is good or not, then let me save you a lot of reading. It’s good… like really good. Go see it for yourself. If you liked the other Harry Potter movies, or you read the books, then you didn’t really need some random stranger on the internet to tell you to see it. You probably already saw it for yourself. If you’re on the fence about it, then I implore you to see it. In theaters, where you can get the whole experience. It’s not particularly important to see it in 3D. As there’s really only one moment where something leaps out at you and to be honest, it felt a little gimmicky.

Setting

So let’s dive right in to the nitty gritty. This move takes place awhile before the original Harry Potter stories. Canon states that Harry went to Hogwarts and had his adventures in the 1990’s, and this movie very clearly takes place in the roaring twenty’s New York. The prohibition era is in full swing, and just how our country was divided back then, so too is the setting in this movie. J.K. Rowling was the screenwriter for this and wow does it show. Rowling’s always had a great talent for creating vivid and colorful worlds, and the Wizarding World in America is no exception to this. The tension and themes of division and political frailty can be felt everywhere in the movie. There are very clearly some times where the neighborhoods look a little fake, green screened or back lots, but ultimately it’s barely noticeable. Because of that “staged” feeling however, New York or the magical sets don’t feel as alive or flushed out as say Hogwarts or Diagon Alley had. Ironically, inside Newt’s suitcase felt the most “real” and that was the set that had the most computer graphics. The themes are clearly portrayed in the lighting of these sets, vivid colors where needed, dark shadow in more devilish scenes. I especially enjoyed the attention to detail when it came to the costumes and wardrobe. 1920’s fashion is overt and easily recognizable; in this movie we see a great mixture of what was “current” as well as some carry-over from earlier decades. The clothing looks worn and after some scenes the characters can be seen covered in dust or water or whatever was needed to really anchor them to the plot.

Characters

Another one of Rowling’s talents has always been making memorable and lovable characters. It’s easier to fall in love with them from the books rather than the movies, as we spend much more time with them in her pages. She also has an Achille’s heel for writing what I call “fluff scenes”, where nothing significant happens to move the plot along, but we do spend a lot of quality time with her characters and watch them interact with one another. It’s a double-edged sword for her in her novels, because on one hand we love spending time with these people yet on the other hand she can use it a lot in some of them and it tends to weigh down the pacing of the story (I’m looking at you Order of the Phoenix). It was refreshing to see that for her screenplay, Rowling had little to no fluff scenes in Fantastic Beasts. Its pacing was not hindered by any of the character interactions, and almost every word out of the character’s mouths was helping us understand what was at stake, flushing out this new side of the wizarding world to us, or helping unravel the mystery of the plot. The main character, Newt Scamander is absolutely irresistible, and not surprisingly so as he’s played by the great Eddie Redmayne. His character is a great departure from Harry Potter. He’s not a glory seeking, brave adventurer type like the Gryffindor kids we know from the first series. Newt’s a Hufflepuff, with a big heart and fierce loyalty to the creatures he cares for. We see him get emotional on more than one occasion for his charges and that’s not something you’d see from Harry unless he was also angry or in the middle of a fight. There’s a softer side to Newt than we’re used to in our protagonists, a vulnerability that comes from a different kind of person than Harry was. I genuinely enjoyed rooting for him. It’s nice to see that it doesn’t take an A-type personality to be a hero. The other characters were also just as magnetic. I especially enjoyed Dan Fogler as Jacob Kowalski. You can tell that he’s a comic relief sidekick type but he is endearing and you really have an emotional attachment by the end of the movie. I said earlier that there are little “fluff scenes” to really flush out these characters, and I think that was on purpose. It doesn’t feel like we’re going to see many of these characters as the movies go on. Newt’s adventure seems pretty open and shut by the end credits, and the whole experience feels like a prologue to a more epic story later on, likely the story of Grindlewald… which brings us to the plot as a whole.

The Story

The thing to remember about J.K. Rowling is that she is less a Fantasy writer, and more a Mystery writer. She’s great at using Red Herrings, building the suspense, then giving you a great twist towards the end that you likely weren’t expecting. In the beginning of the story through newsreels she tells of the strife in America between magic users and No-Maj’s (American Muggles). Newt comes to the continent for his own reasons and falls head first into this massive dilemma. The story does a great job of juggling many different plots so the world feels vibrant and alive. Newt’s presence in New York doesn’t feel like it’s an obvious plot device, as there might have been any number of matches that could have lit this tinder box we’re walking into. Instead, Newt’s arrival in New York feels like a happy accident of circumstance, which is what the story would have you believe. Right man in the Right place at the Right time. That makes it feel more real, more like the chaos that is life itself. There are plenty of plot twists (I won’t spoil them all) that will keep you guessing until the end, and the pacing of the story doesn’t feel rushed or too slow. It’s edge of your seat storytelling that if it were a novel, you’d likely read it all without putting it down. I was a little disappointed with the lack of No-Maj scenes however. As big a part they play in the strife and inner turmoil of the magical community, you’d think there’d be more of them. Instead we’re shown only about three characters (other than Jacob of course) and they only have about one or two scenes each. They don’t really feel much like a threat to be honest, as big a deal as the president of the MACUSA (Magical Congress of the United States of America) makes them out to be. Worse still is the somewhat easy way that the story gets tidied up at the end. After a large, rampaging dark force terrorizes and destroys half of Manhattan, one of Newt’s creatures takes a vial of blue glow stick goop into the sky and then boom, special rain just makes it all better again. First off, how the heck does that fix the people who are INDOORS, second… that’s just… way too easy. I would have liked to have seen real consequence. Perhaps not outright war between the magical and non-magical but at least someone who had witnessed it now taking on a crusade to reveal the magical community for what it is. I just expected better to be honest.

Final Comments

All and all I feel Fantastic Beasts earns a well-deserved place next to the Harry Potter series. I think that David Yates the director and J.K. Rowling deserve a lot of credit for pulling off such a great prequel. They’re incredibly hard to do right (I hope you’re taking notes George). The best part is actually that we didn’t have novels to go into first. Sure, there’s the extra lore bits that Rowling’s put out over the years, but there wasn’t a full book telling us the story before we went in. I think that helped keep our expectations in check. We couldn’t get angry if our favorite character wasn’t portrayed a certain way or what have you. I really enjoyed seeing more of the wizarding world and I look forward to another adventure with these movies.

May the Spirits Guide you and your Guardians stay true.