Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016)

Harry Potter is something that is very near and dear to my heart. I grew up reading the books and watching the movies, loving every second of it. In my freshman year of high school, a few of my friends and I actually watched all eight films in one sitting. 

So, naturally, when I heard that a spin-off was in the works, I got really nervous and really excited at the same time. On one hand, I really like the world that J.K. Rowling has created and wanted more from it; on the other hand, I was nervous that this new chapter might spoil my memories with the wizarding world. Harry Potter is just one of those things that seemed so self-contained and so complete on its own that anything else additional ran the risk of bringing my opinion of it down in my own mind. 

That being said, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is absolutely the right next step for the Harry Potter universe. It recaptures all the magic of the original franchise but doesn't come from any of the same source material; instead, it is totally its own thing. This allows it to stand firmly on its own two feet and make a name for itself without relying on the crutch of the existing franchise. 

The story of Fantastic Beasts is a new original story from Rowling about Newt Scamander, the author of the textbook used for the Care of Magical Creatures class at Hogwarts. It is set in New York City in the year 1926. Naturally, there are a lot of differences between this film and the original Harry Potter series just based on that, mostly in tone and in some of the features of the magical world. The only real connections back are mentions of Dumbledore's name and a subtle reference to Grindewald's reign of terror over the wizarding world. This might make you think that a lot of Fantastic Beasts ends up being boring exposition, especially from the position of a fan like myself; however, most of the new universe-building that happens in the film is done rooted in the same sense of awe and wonder that powered Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone when we had never seen this universe portrayed on-screen. 

Another thing that stands out is that the tone of Fantastic Beasts is far more mature than the Harry Potter films ever were. Even at its darkest moments, Deathly Hallows (both parts 1 and 2) still retained the somewhat youthful nature of the core of Harry, Ron, and Hermione. The fact that the leads in this film are not children but adults lets it delve into the darker, more complex material even more quickly and more smoothly (let's be real: Goblet of Fire tried and failed to go really dark really quickly and felt awkward because of it). That being said, there is also this sense of optimism present that, while not youthful or warm or bright, still makes the entire film very enjoyable to watch and not burdensome. I feel that some of this is due to the characters, in particular Jacob Kowalski and Newt Scamander himself. Kowalski has this really innocent perspective as a no-mag (what you'd probably know as a Muggle) and is always in awe of the power that magic holds, while Scamander believes that the magical community should not try to capture and kill these creatures but learn about and try to coexist with them. This optimism really makes the film enjoyable and also increases the contrast between our protagonist and our antagonist.

One more thing that makes Fantastic Beasts so good is its acting. Granted, when you have a recently Oscar-winning actor like Eddie Redmayne leading your film, things tend to be solid in the acting department; however, besides Redmayne's amazing performance that makes Scamander lovable in his awkwardness, the rest of the cast is stellar. Katherine Waterston does some incredible work as Goldstein, a Magical Conference of the United States of America (MCUSA) employee with a need for redemption, as do Colin Farrell and Carmen Ejogo as higher-ups in MCUSA. My favorite character, however, is by far Kowalski, played by Dan Fogler. He brings a lot of comic relief and makes the film's tone much lighter; however, his biggest asset is his really easygoing nature and ability to be really transparent with his character's emotions. He is so often overwhelmed with the magical world in the most beautiful way ever, and it really helps us as the audience remain surprised and enthralled by all the fun elements of wizardry we see in the film.

To be honest, the more I think about Fantastic Beasts, the more I like it and the fewer flaws I see in it. Granted, there are some exposition-heavy scenes, and they're entirely necessary to reintroduce us to the wizarding world as well as show off the American side of things; however, they're done extremely well and are still entertaining enough that they don't disrupt the film's pacing a bit. That's due to Rowling's fantastic screenplay, her first ever. For someone who's never written a film before, it's quite an impressive debut.

Overall, Fantastic Beasts is definitely one of the better films I've gotten the chance to see this year. It is a little bit of a setup movie at times, but besides some minor pacing issues it is nearly perfect. It surpasses most of the Harry Potter franchise in its quality, and that fact alone means that I'm greatly looking forward to the future installments of this series of films, especially when considering some of the loose ends that remain to be tied up in those future films.

My recommendation: To both hardcore Potterheads and the uninitiated, see it. 

My grade: 84