Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
(2016)J.K. Rowling invites you to a new era of the wizarding world.
Author J. K. Rowling and director David Yates return to the Harry Potter universe with this spinoff story, starring Oscar-winner Eddie Redmayne (The Theory of Everything) as writer Newt Scamander who discovers an underground community of witches and wizards in New York - 70 years before Harry reads his book.
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Best Costume Design, Academy Awards 2017; Best Production Design, 2017 BAFTAs
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Directed by David Yates
Starring Eddie Redmayne, Ezra Miller, Katherine Waterston, Alison Sudol, Colin Farrell, Zoë Kravitz, Dan Fogler, Jenn Murray, Ron Perlman, Jon Voight
Written by J.K. Rowling (based on her own characters)
Out Now (On-Demand,
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Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
BY PercyM superstar
An enjoyable prequel/spinoff with an entertaining plot, dazzling visuals and newfound characters, leading audiences wanting more of what's yet to come.
BY Colttany superstar
Loved this - This is a movie on its own which brings out Magic to another level. Would watch this again. Very good
BY KennethP91 superstar
Newt Scamander enters the city of New York with a briefcase filled with magical creatures, but when several creatures got loose, they are blamed for the attacks on the nomag (muggles). On the run from New York’s secret society of witch and wizardry, Newt is on the quest to prove his creatures’ innocence and to discover the... More sinister truth behind the attacks.
One of the highlights of this movie are it’s beasts and they are indeed fantastic. The creatures are fun to watch whenever they’re in the screen and for majority of the creatures they look great.
One character stood out from the cast and that is Dan Fogler, the nomag. He provides most of the humour which this movie definitely needed.
Unfortunately the movie suffers from a lot of problems as the expectations from the previous Harry Potter movies aren’t met in this spin-off. One major flaw of this film is it’s tone. The film struggles to decide whether it wants to be lighthearted or dark as the the movie switches scenes from one tone to another without warning.
Another flaw are it’s characters, apart from Kowalski (Dan Fogler) the rest of the characters are dull. Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) lacks the charm to make us root for his character and it doesn’t help that he portrayed the character with an odd mannerism that’s difficult to relate to. Ezra Miller felt wasted as he is reduced to a one dimensional role that difficult to care about.
Overall Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them doesn’t quite hit the magical stride that the Harry Potter movies had. The bipolar tone affected this movie in a negative way and it didn’t help that it’s main character is boring.
Though the creatures themselves are fascinating, it is not enough to enjoy the movie to it’s fullest. In a movie that’s meant to be about the beasts, the movie’s convoluted plot derailed the little enjoyments that the beasts brought to the screen.
The film has numerous easter eggs that refers to the previous movies and fans of the series will definitely identify them with glee, however for the casual audience this feels like your run of the mill blockbuster movie that’s all flash and no substance.Hide
BY DanielK superstar
BY filmlover superstar
Showing 5 of 8 reviews. See all reviews
The Press Reviews
"Fantastic Beasts" has clearly been designed for the most devoted of Rowling's fans, and though it may prove confusing to newcomers, the faithful will appreciate the fact the film never talks down to its audience. Full Review
This first instalment showcases just enough of them to make you sign up for the full expedition. Full Review
Likely to draw in just about everyone who followed the Potter series and to please most of them, the picture also has things to offer for fantasy-friendly moviegoers who only casually observed that phenomenon. Full Review
Rowling and Yates have given us a terrifically good-natured, unpretentious and irresistibly buoyant film. Full Review
I'm not sure which is more adorable, Eddie Redmayne as Newt Scamander, or the creatures he smuggles into the US in his battered leather briefcase. Full Review
With this heavy lifting done, there's every reason to hope for an even more magical adventure next time. Full Review
Who needs Harry Potter? With 'Fantastic Beasts', it's undeniable that the clear star is screenwriter and 'Harry Potter' author J.K. Rowling. Full Review
This film starts off playfully and then gets, at times, extraordinarily intense and threatening. Full Review
A surprisingly intimate watch given its scale, with moments of real tenderness. Full Review
BY Liam Maguren Flicks Writer
The first non-Harry film in the Potter-verse favours a 1926 New York setting that follows characters pivotal to the Harry Potter mythology. If you’re not aware that Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) was a magical zoologist who wrote a textbook or that Gellert Grindelwald fought Dumbledore in an infamous battle for something-or-rather, Fantastic Beasts defines itself so well that newbies can easily follow while nerd eyes will soak up all the new details.... More
JK Rowling feels incredibly in-tune with her audience, the majority of whom grew up with the Hogwarts Class of 2001. Now these grown-ups are treated to a tale starring adults, centred on Scamander who enters the Big Apple with a (terribly unreliable) suitcase full of beasts while the underground world of wizards deals with an unstable threat that could expose them all.
Redmayne makes for a tender, unique, heart-warming hero who can sometimes seem more Time Lord than wizard (complete with Tardis-like luggage). Aiding him superbly is Dan Fogler as the muggle who stumbles into the world of magic like a pug in a car wash – bewildered, yet astonished. Alison Sudol also radiates as one-note charmer Queenie.
It’s a damn shame that Goldstein (Katherine Waterston) isn’t as memorable. After being disgraced, she seeks to prove herself to the Statute of Secrecy, but the movie denies her a decent chance to do some magic badassery.
The climax also underwhelms – as if they put nuts and bolts inside a CGI blender, threw it inside a subway, and called it a fight scene. But that’s partly because everything you see before that finale is so very visually fantastical. Special effects can elicit excitement through explosions, but Fantastic Beasts is at its best when it elicits wonder through exploration. Hopefully we’ll see more of that in the next four sequels.Hide
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