Magic and wizards are back in this spin-off of the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling. This film is in the same wizarding world of Harry Potter, but it takes place 70 years before Harry.
It it based on a book by Rowling, but it is under the pseudonym the fictional author, Newt Schmander. It is one of Harry's textbooks and you can actually buy his copy of the book in any book store or places like Amazon.
This film follows Newt as he enters America to release one of his creatures from his briefcase where he has created a rescue for different mythical creatures. Along the way, some of the creatures escape while a bigger threat looms over the New York setting.
This movie is well, fantastic. I was pleasantly surprised on how much I enjoyed this movie. Going in, I was excited to see what this was about, but I did not want to hype myself up. I got to see this movie at a midnight premiere with my Residence Life at my school, John Carroll University. I was surrounded by fellow Harry Potter fans, so it was a good movie experience.
I have to say all the actors did a wonderful job. Eddie Redmayne as Newt lead the movie with grace and charm. Alison Sudol as Queenie was super cute and her performance reminded me of Luna Lovegood. Katherine Waterson as Tina provided some rationale to the group, but she had some layers to her character. I think the stand out character was Dan Fogler as the muggle, or No-Maj, Jacob Kowalski. Since he was a muggle, he provided the sense of awe and wonder to magic. He was like the audience member in the movie.
I also think Ezra Miller did a wonderful job in his performance. I cannot say too much about his character, but Miller continues to show how many different characters he can play. Also, I have to give props to Colin Farrell as Percival Graves. He served as a great foil to Newt.
The highlights of the film are the creatures, of course. The CGI was amazing in this film. It was like they were real creatures you can see in a zoo. They also provided humor to this movie, and some of them were adorable.
The plot is also easy to follow. While Newt is trying to find his escaped creatures, something bigger and menacing is haunting New York. That is all I will say because this movie is better to go into with not knowing the plot at all.
The only downfall I found in this movie was the "subplot" of the wizards and witches versus the No-Majs. I feel it was featured prominently in the trailers, and while there is always the threat in the movie, nothing really big happens. Like there is something with Jon Voight's character that I feel does not get resolve that well. If there is a sequel, I would develop more on that. Also there is a surprise actor at the end who plays a prominent character in the Harry Potter world that was a shock to all of us.
Anyway, this film will please any Harry Potter fan, and you can also see this film if you have never seen one of the Harry Potter movies. It is a good time for families and wannabe wizards alike.
