Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016) | Movie News & Review

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FANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM (2016) MOVIE NEWS & REVIEW

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fantastic beasts and where to find them (2016) movie

Genre | Fantasy

Classification | M

Running time | 133 minutes

Released | 17 November 2016

cast

Eddie Redmayne ... Newt
Colin Farrell ... Graves
Katherine Waterston ... Tina
Dan Fogler ... Jacob Kowalski
Ezra Miller ... Credence Barebone
Alison Sudol ... Queenie

director

David Yates

writer

J.K. Rowling ... (written by)

cinematographer

Salvatore Totino

music

James Newton Howard

film editor

Mark Day

box office result

Worldwide $814,037,575

Australia $24,200,000

North America $234,037,575

the best dialogue

Queenie: [to Newt Scamander] She was a taker... You need a giver.

Newt Scamander: [hands Jacob a helmet] Put this on.
Jacob Kowalski: But why would I have to wear something like this?
Newt Scamander: Because your skull is susceptible to breakage under immense force.

Jacob Kowalski: You, uh, you know how to read minds?
Queenie: Oh, don't worry, honey. Most guys think what you was thinking first time they see me.

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FANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM (2016) MOVIE IMAGES

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FANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM (2016) STORY SYNOPSIS

The year is 1926, and Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) has just completed a global excursion to find and document an extraordinary array of magical creatures. Arriving in New York for a brief stopover, he might have come and gone without incident, were it not for a No-Maj (American for Muggle) named Jacob, a misplaced magical case, and the escape of some of Newt's fantastic beasts, which could spell trouble for both the wizarding and No-Maj worlds.

FANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM (2016) MOVIE REVIEW

Reviewed by Mark Geraghty | Review date 16 November 2016
Pop Movee Rating ⭐⭐⭐½

Fans of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter universe will be thrilled to get a peek into a different corner from the Wizarding well-spring of the English author’s mind as Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them takes the global box office by storm. The new film sees Rowling extend her influence further into movie-making with her role as sole screenwriter on the new film. On the Potter series, Steve Kloves was largely responsible for adapting the author’s novels for the screen, but not this time. Fantastic Beasts has been developed specifically for the screen, based on the fictional textbook of the same name featured in the Harry Potter films. Warner Bros, the studio financing and distributing the film, are keen to capitalise on this new material and have already announced it will be the first in a series of five movies based on the adventures of Eddie Redmayne’s central character, Newt Scamander. With new characters and new Wizarding worlds to explore, the question everyone will want answered, “Is Fantastic Beasts any good?”

At the end of the film’s 133 minute running time, most viewers should feel reasonably satisfied that Rowling and veteran Potter Director David Yates have successfully established a new set of characters that will warrant emotional investment over the long-term from both fans and newcomers alike. Fantastic Beasts is not without its challenges; foremost among them is the film’s dark tone. People who have read Rowling’s Potter novels and have seen the film's know that the cinematic version of her stories were sanitised of a lot of the dark magic represented by Voldemort and his followers. Rowling takes the opportunity in Fantastic Beasts to bring a greater emphasis on that aspect of her novels, especially when it comes to the sadistic nature of some of her more extreme characters and the indiscriminate pain they inflict. The film’s darker tone isn't reserved just for the Wizarding world, Rowling's inclusion of a Witch-hunting clique gives her an opportunity to show that it’s not just dark Magic that exploits and tortures children and their participation in the story becomes critical in uncovering just what on Earth is going on in 1926 New York.

The great variable of Rowling's new story is the shift from Hogwarts to New York. The Potter series was littered with the cream of English acting along with the three main characters, all of whom were British to the core. The change in setting brings a fresh approach to casting, with Eddie Redmayne's Newt Scamander the only notable Brit. Katherine Waterston plays opposite Redmayne for the majority of the film as Porpetina Goldstein, a recently-demoted investigating agent for America's equivalent to the Ministry of Magic. The dynamic between the two leads is a little off in their early scenes, but as the film progresses there’s an increase in energy and chemistry levels between them. There’s no such problem for supporting actors Dan Fogler and Alison Sudol. Fogler becomes the film’s comedic relief as Jacob Kowalski, an ordinary ‘No-Maj’ (the American description of a Person who can't do magic otherwise known as a Muggle in the Potter books). Inadvertently teamed with Newt, Kowalski helps the Wizard rediscover a little of his humanity after having spent years in the wilds collecting his menagerie of Fantastic Beasts. Of the main characters, Alison Sudol’s Queenie Goldstein absolutely delights with her soft demeanour, her natural beauty and a smile that lights up the screen. Her lightness, emphasized in the relationship she develops with Kowalski, helps to balance the film’s darker elements portrayed through Colin Farrell’s Graves and a hard-to-recognize Ezra Miller as Credence.

A large measure of Fantastic Beasts’ success can be attributed to the ability of Director David Yates to bring back together many of the behind-the-scenes personnel who helped him create his four Harry Potter movies. Experienced Potter Production Designer Stuart Craig returns, assisted on this project by The Dark Knight & The Dark Knight Returns veteran James Hambidge. Yates also reunites with his Harry Potter Film Editor, Mark Day. Academy Award winning Cinematographer Philippe Rousselot shot the picture, with James Newton Howard providing the film’s score. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is quite deliberate in establishing the groundwork for a new series of films, but it never gets bogged down in anticipation of its own mythology. Despite its dark tone, it’s great entertainment and a worthy follow-up to reboot J.K. Rowling’s wonderful world of Wizards and Witches.