Alright. Confession time.
I’ve never seen any of the Harry Potter films. In full, anyway. I know the story, how it begins and ends, and I have a good idea of how the Wizarding World works, but I’ve only seen the first hour or so of the first film and just a few bits and pieces from the others.
But I had an opportunity to see a movie this week, and decided to postpone my planned second viewing of Doctor Strange in favour of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Why? No clue. From the trailers, the movie looked like fun, but I wasn’t bent on seeing it like it was a Marvel movie or something. But I decided to see it for some reason, hoping that I wouldn’t get lost in a flurry of vital-to-know references and connections to Harry Potter. And…
…I enjoyed it. A lot.
Fantastic Beasts takes place, what like, 70 years before Harry Potter, right? We follow magical beast expert Newt Scamander and friends on a quest around New York to find and reclaim the creatures that escaped from his TARDIS suitcase, all while the tension between the magical and non-magical communities in the city intensifies.
Luckily, I never found myself “lost” over the course of the film. There had to be a few easter eggs or sly nods to the previous films that I’m sure I missed, but there were none that made the story hard to follow. It was an easy access point, and I think that has to do with the immense time separation between this and the Potter movies. If they tried to pull a Hobbit and included a pretty big tie-in to the original trilogy, it would’ve come off as forced.
The acting was fine, and the characters were entertaining. The standout has to be Dan Fogler’s Jacob Kowalski, a no-mag and aspiring baker who gets roped into Newt’s escapades. Not only does Jacob get all the laughs, but he’s very much the heart of the story. Without him, I think the movie wouldn’t have been as enjoyable as it was. As for Newt Scamander, like I said, Eddie Redmayne was fine but I couldn’t shake the feeling that he was doing an impersonation of Matt Smith’s Eleventh Doctor. It’s hard to describe.
The imagination behind Fantastic Beasts is extremely impressive. I mean, it is JK Rowling. The beasts are great, and I loved each scene we got with them. And it’s not like each is only marginally different from the other. No, each one that gets a bit of the spotlight are unique a hoot to see in action while Eddie Redmayne panics and flails in the background. I also got a kick out of seeing the American side of the world. Generally, when one thinks, sweeping fantasy, they imagine all the characters having British accents. At least I do. You don’t? Anyways, seeing things such as a mob boss goblin or wizard police officers wield wands like they would tommy guns was a great spin on the old fantasy trope which may or may not just be within my imagination.
Moving to the negative side of things, the biggest problem I had with Fantastic Beasts was the pacing and the balance between the two stories at play. You might be surprised to hear that the “Let’s find those darn beasts” plotline is actually the smaller of the two. Most of the film focuses on another story, one which I won’t talk about because it is a bit spoiler-y. Because of this, the pacing in the “Crap! My suitcase is empty!” plotline is weird. It’ll speed up, slow down, speed up a bit more, then slow down again to make room for the bigger story. And the bigger story is not a bad story,but I wish the film would’ve put more focus on the “Have you seen these magical creatures?” plotline, seeing as it is called Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Maybe those who have seen Harry Potter and are steeped in the lore of the Wizarding World will feel differently?
To wrap things up, I wouldn’t say Fantastic Beasts wasn’t a fantastic time at the movies, but a very entertaining one. If you’re like me, a Harry Potter muggle, and you’re uneasy about seeing it, I’d say go for it. It’s a good jumping off point and a good time.
And yeah, I’m probably watching Harry Potter over my Christmas break. Down the rabbit hole I go.
Noah
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