Non-spoiler review

If you were expecting to see a Harry Potter-esque movie when walking into see "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" — meaning a movie with teenagers running around dealing with evil wizards, school and hormones — that’s exactly what you won't be getting with this new J.K. Rowling movie. Even though evil wizards are still prevalent in this new cinematic addition to the wizarding world, and the occasional sighting of rampant hormones, "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" entirely strays from the world of Hogwarts that Harry Potter fans have come to love. Our favorite characters are gone, there is no one set location (the main characters are in New York, but they don’t return to the same location, like Harry did with Hogwarts), the main characters are adults (not teens) and creatures we’ve never heard of are now the main focus of the plot.

That being said, if you love Harry Potter, you will love "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them."

I, like many, am a huge Harry Potter fan. For years I’ve been in love with the world Rowling created in her novels. When I was a child, I would always wonder what happened to my Hogwarts letter. Had it gotten lost in the mail? Did they get the wrong address? Did the owl get sick on the way over? With such a deep-rooted love for Harry, his friends and Hogwarts, I was hesitant to even consider branching out into a new wizarding story of Newt Scamander and his fantastic beasts.

Even though the movie is about adult ex-Hufflepuff Newt Scamander coming to 1920s New York City, accidentally letting some of his magical creatures free and finding himself in trouble with the Magical Congress of the United States of America (MACUSA), this movie still feels like a Harry Potter movie. It still possesses the awe and wonder Harry had at all of the new magic around him in the original series with characters like Jacob Kowalski, the No-Maj (or Muggle, for those of us still only familiar with the British slang for humans). The script still has the same beats as a Harry Potter film with funny moments, lovable moments, moments of discovery, heart-wrenching moments, the comic relief character, the leader character and the information-dump character. Even the way it’s filmed with its dark lighting and muted tones still look like the later half of the Harry Potter movies. If you want a movie that has the same style as a Harry Potter movie, but is extravagantly different in terms of plot and characters, then "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" is the film for you.

All in all, the film, whether you’re a die-hard Harry Potter fan or not, is worth seeing. It’s extravagantly well done and manages to stay rooted and humble, despite the fact that this film is way more magic-heavy than the original films—considering all of the characters are learned, working adults (and considering magical beasts are pretty much main characters). Sure some of the animation was off, and some of the creatures weren’t as lovable as the movie probably was intending for them to be, but the acting and the script really made these factors as invisible as a Demiguise (a creature in the movie). Eddie Redmayne (Newt Scamander), Ezra Miller (Credence), Katherine Waterston (Tina Goldstein) and Dan Fogler (Jacob Kowalski) all had consistently beautiful line delivery, well-developed characters and real emotional depth in their performances. Even if you took all of the other factors out of the movie, such as the fun new creatures and interesting plot, these actors alone would make the movie worth your time.

My only real complaint would be the third act of the film. I can’t say too much without spoiling the whole film, but I can say confidently that the finale felt absolutely rushed and too neat. Everything just seemed to fall into place without any substantial consequences, which there should have been. Not to mention the end seemed to only exist to set up the sequels, and only people who had done research before coming to the film would understand what all of the set-ups meant. The first two acts were far superior to the last in terms of the plot, script and even some of the performances. (For me, Colin Farrell’s (Percival Graves) acting really started to get dry towards the last few minutes of the movie.)

If you’re going to go see "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them," my advice to you is this: don’t let the ending ruin the film for you. Yes it’s rushed, it’s obvious, but remember we don’t have books to guide us anymore—Rowling needs to set up an entirely new world somehow. Just enjoy the film for what it is: a film that is reminiscent of what fans loved about the old Harry Potter films revamped into new, refreshing situations and stunning performances. "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" is worth what you’ll pay in ticket prices.

Spoiler review

So that third act, am I right? Talk about the land of quick, neat, let's-never-look-at-this-again endings.

First, let’s talk about Credence. The character was amazingly portrayed by Ezra Miller. Miller created this sad, hermit of a boy afraid of his own shadow entirely believable when the character could have easily been cheesy, overdone and downright unlikable. His performance was eerie, almost, when the audience wanted to like Credence, but couldn’t help but be creeped out by his very presence. Miller was brilliant, and Credence was a perfect constant throughout the movie. So when the audience realizes the entire movie has been leading up to him being the secret "magical creature" that has been causing chaos in New York City, it feels so cheap that he is forgotten after his death.`

Did you notice how no one seems to care that Credence was murdered? Sure Graves gets up and starts spewing something about injustice, but this is only a screenwriters trick to transition into the Grindelwald reveal. Newt, who is so in love with creatures and people and is so invested in the protection of others he was willing to risk his life for Credence, doesn’t even so much as flinch when Credence is reduced to mere ashes. Even Tina, who has been fairly emotionally driven throughout the film and had a deep, almost motherly connection to Credence, doesn’t even cry over the death of the boy she had been trying to help. Once the threat of Credence destroying the city is resolved, the movie thinks it’s okay to just move on from the situation. The lack of emotion over the main villain and one of our main emotion triggers just makes the entire plot of this film feel even more like a two-hour long set up to the one-minute reveal of Grindelwald.

Yes, Graves was Gellert Grindelwald in disguise, shocker. In my opinion, the movie did a horrible job at surprising the audience with this reveal. In the opening sequence, you would have to have been sleeping or out of the room to not notice that Graves and Grindelwald have the same extremely distinct hair. No one else has the same hair, and Graves was too evil for the cuts to be a coincidence. Therefore, when the threat of Credence is diminished by Graves/Grindelwald, it feels even more cheap considering how obvious the reveal is. The ending was rushed and the plot felt pointless by the end of the movie.

The plot felt even more pointless when the threat of humans discovering the existence of wizards, the only thing MACUSA ever seems to care about, is completely resolved after the final showdown. Using the Thunderbird and the potion to rain down a spell on all of New York City was way too tidy and convenient. The movie again undermined itself of any real consequences or threats. In my opinion, magic became a bit too magical, even for a wizarding movie (a hard thing for me to admit as one of the world’s biggest Harry Potter fans).

Of course, let’s not forget the romance. Did anyone see any chemistry between Jacob and Queenie? Did anyone see any moments where they actually bonded? Did anyone see a time where they sat down to get to know one another? Did anyone see any evidence that they had any reason to fall in love? No. So why in the hell did this movie have them kissing by the end and allude to the fact that Jacob would remember Queenie and Queenie was still in love with him? It just felt like the movie wanted love in it, so it threw together two secondary main characters for shits and giggles. To be honest, the romance between the two felt like it could have been saved for the second movie—the time and the build up to their relationship would feel more authentic.

I loved this movie, but I did not love this third act. Though, as I said in the non-spoiler section, I understand that this movie requires set up. I respect that, but I just wish Credence was treated with a bit more emotion, that he wasn’t cast away as just a plot device, that the movie had been less obvious about Graves/Grindelwald, that they had allowed for some damage to the magical world to stay damaged for realism and that they had saved the romantic plot for the second movie.

Nevertheless, I would highly recommend this movie. It’s worth seeing for the creatures, for the acting, for the classic Harry Potter vibe and for the overall quality. This film is anything but disappointing. It’s charming, it’s emotional and it’s good. Sure it has its moments that are worth complaining about, but the good outweighs the bad of this movie.

I personally cannot wait for the next movie to come out. Come one or two more years, and you’ll see me again sitting in a highly uncomfortable '70s-esque movie theater chair with a bag of popcorn silently whispering the names of the creatures to my mom—excited to be making a return to one of my favorite worlds.