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review-that-film · 7 years ago

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Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them Review - Spoilers

I am very proud to be part of the Potter generation, growing up as the books and films were released. I know my house, wand and patronus, so when the news that there would be another film allowing us to return to the wizarding world I was very excited. However, there were a few worries in the back of my mind: would they contradict any information already given to us? Would they be able to get us to care for characters that we’ve only just met? Would it live up to the phenomenon that is Harry Potter? So I approached “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” with a little trepidation but when the time came for the midnight viewing on a Thursday night with some of my closest friends, and Hedwig’s theme started to play, with the slight twist in the melody, I knew I was hooked once again.

It’s a great start to the film, seeing the back of Grindleward, alerting us to the looming presence of this famous dark wizard. It reminds us that however much fun the film will be there is an underlying darker nature to this new series. I enjoyed the flashes of newspaper articles from around the world, reminding us that even though we have only seen the wizarding world in the UK, there are wizards all over the world. It also allowed us to get an idea of the times that we are in – the 1920s. The soundtrack for this film is brilliant and rivals that of the original Harry Potter series. The interwoven sections of old melodies with the new is great, allowing us to feel as though we’ve already been to this place before.

When we are first introduced to the hero of our new series, Newt comes across instantly as a kind-hearted, loveable and slightly odd character. Eddie Redmayne is brilliant in the role, portraying perfectly how socially awkward Newt is but also how caring, especially towards his creatures, he is. Newt’s blue coat is a brilliant bit of costuming as it shows there is something a bit different about this character, it’s even different to the way the rest of the wizarding world dress, being such a bright colour in contrast to the darker colours used for the majority of the cast. On the boat we get to see him stroking his case and trying to calm down whatever creature, Doogle as he calls it, is inside. The clasp unbuckling itself a couple of times in Newt’s first few scenes are a nice touch as a forewarning of what chaos is to come.

Newt’s arrival at customs is a lovely scene but there is a little tension. He is obviously a little nervous when talking to the customs officer, especially when he asks to look in the case. However, magic saves the day with a very nifty “Muggle Worthy” switch to change whatever is in the case to show some of Newt’s belongings. This includes an old fashioned Hufflepuff scarf. I’m so glad that the filmmakers have gone in the direction to show us some notable characters from other houses. In the Harry Potter series, we had some great characters that were not in Gryffindor, such as Luna and Cedric, but our Golden Trio were all in the house of scarlet and gold. Most of my friends are proud Hufflepuffs and it’s nice for them that they are starting to get just as much great merchandise to show off their house pride as us Gryffindors. For casual fans of the Harry Potter series, there has tended to be a thought that Gryffindor is the only notable house so it is brilliant that we die-hard fans can prove them wrong with such a kind and brave character as Newt.

The scene at the bank is a great introduction to some of our other main characters. Tina Goldstein (Katherine Waterston) is trying to look inconspicuous whilst standing in the middle of a crowd listening to a woman, Mary Lou (Samantha Morton) preach that all the mysterious events occurring in New York are due to witches living among them. Newt arrives to listen to Mary Lou, then sets his case down. A slightly flustered man, Jacob Kowalski (Dan Fogler), bustles into the crowd, bumping into Newt’s case. This draws attention to Newt and Mary Lou homes in on him. The next few lines are some of my favourite in the film. You can tell Newt feels quite smug with himself. Mary Lou asks Newt if he is a seeker and Newt replies “I’m more of a chaser really”. It’s a lovely way to incorporate something to do with Quidditch and made even funnier with how oblivious all the Muggles are to this reference. We are also introduced to Credence (Ezra Miller) who seems a very sad and scared young man who we can’t help feeling instantly sorry for. Ezra Miller does a fantastic job as the beaten down character.

We are quite quickly introduced to our first fantastic beast – the Niffler. The design of the Niffler was just as I imagined in when I first read J.K.Rowling’s description in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. He is just as mischievous and fond of shiny things as described and it was a lovely moment to finally see something that I had only imagined. I love all the scenes which involve Newt trying to catch his Niffler and the bank scene is no different. It is made all the funnier with Tina following Newt with confused looks from her and other patrons at the odd behaviour of this man. I particularly love Newt’s looks of disapproval towards Niffler as he tries to collect a gold bar from the bank vault and later as he tries to stay inconspicuous to Newt in the jewellery shop.

The lines in this film are brilliant. They range from very funny, Jacob’s confusion “I was there, now I’m here” after Newt disapparates with him being a great example, to nods to the world that we have already learnt about, such as spells we watch Harry and his friends learn, and even to slightly more thought provoking ones. One of which is a line my friend and I always say to one another during exams “Worrying means you suffer twice”. I love this quote as it is so true and definitely a mantra to live by.

When Tina refers to Jacob as a No-Maj, we are all a little confused just as Newt is. It makes sense though that throughout the world there would be different names for people with no magic. I liked how Newt didn’t start calling them No-Maj’s but continued with Muggle as that would have been what he grew up calling them. There could have been a temptation to have our hero start referring to Muggles in the American way since he was in New York but I was glad they kept the distinction between the two countries.

Seeing the MACUSA building is a great way to introduce us to the difference within the wizarding world. Here we meet Percival Graves (Colin Farrell), the Senior Auror and Seraphina Piquery (Carmen Ejogo), Madam President (the equivalent of the Minister for Magic in the UK). They are discussing the threat of Grindleward when Tina interrupts with Newt. We learn here that Tina used to be an auror but has been demoted to a position in wand permits. Graves seems fond of Tina, most likely from being a mentor to her. This, however later on, doesn’t stop him sentencing her and Newt to death on false terms.

On meeting Tina’s sister Queenie, we can tell that, just like Newt, she is slightly different to the rest of the magical world. Also like Newt and his blue coat, she has a coat of a very bright shade of pink. Queenie is a very kind character, who is quietly a very powerful witch, which we can tell after being told she is a legilimens (can read minds), a skill that only very powerful and talented witches and wizards can master. The magical community in America is very different to that in the UK, such that they don’t allow any interactions between themselves and Muggles. This is something that Newt and we, the audience, find very strange but Queenie shows us that not every witch or wizard in America feels the same way as we get to see her develop strong feelings for the Muggle Jacob. I particularly love the relationship between the two sisters, especially when hearing Queenie talk so proudly of her sister Tina being a career woman.

The wait to finally see inside Newt’s case was definitely worth it, the sight is absolutely breath-taking. This is the perfect time to talk about the special effects in this film. They are utterly outstanding. Being able to create very life-like creatures using VFX software is very impressive. The whole segment with the creatures is brilliant and you really get the feeling at just how fantastic this world that has been created it. Even the smallest of details, such as those creatures that are only in the background are superb and allow us to be completely immersed in the wonder of such strange creatures. Newt’s scene with the Thunderbird Frank was heart-warming and reminded me so much of the scene in Prisoner of Azkaban when Harry meets Buckbeak. The names that have been given to some of the creatures are brilliant and so obscure. We have Frank the Thunderbird, Pickett the Bowtruckle and Doogle the Demiguise. Newt cares very deeply for all his creatures, as shown that he carries Pickett around in his coat pocket because he has a slight cold. I think their relationship is one of the closest that Newt has with one of his creatures, close enough that some of the other Bowtruckles accuse him of favouritism.��

A truly hilarious part of this film is Newt’s Erumpent mating dance. I have no idea how Eddie Redmayne would have been able to keep a straight face. It doesn’t matter how many times I see that scene; it always has me laughing out loud.

We get to hear a bit more about Newt’s background when he, Jacob and Tina are in front of all the leaders of each magical community. We learn that Newt has a brother, who is a war hero, and we get the sense that Newt has always been in his brother’s shadow. We also learn in his interrogation with Graves, that he was expelled from Hogwarts, due to an incident with a magical creature, but Albus Dumbledore was the only teacher that fought his corner. What actually happened has not been fully explained to us yet but I think it has something to do with Leta Lestrange and it wouldn’t surprise me if Newt had taken the fall for something that she had done. It was heart-breaking hearing Newt shout in pain at the thought of them hurting his creatures and hearing him insisting that none were harmful as they dragged him away, was painful.

The filmmakers did a great job at having us believe that the child, and as we later find out is an Obscurus, Graves was so intent on finding was the younger sister of Credence, Modesty. This was done via the editing where we would swap from a scene with Credance and Graves to one where Modesty was present. We saw that there was a bond there between the two siblings and since all we knew of Obscurus’ was they couldn’t live past the age of ten. So when the big twist in the film is revealed, the audience is left stunned that it was Credence all along. I definitely believe that Credence survived and I hope we get to see him again in the upcoming films.

The other big reveal in the film, is that Graves was not who we thought he was. In fact, he was Grindleward all along. This was a great twist and has made me quite excited about the story to come. The twist did clear up some of the earlier scenes such as Graves giving Credence a Deathly Hallows sign and why Graves was so intent on finding the Obscurus. The only thing that I’m unsure about with this film is the casting of Johnny Depp as Grindleward. On the whole I associate him in comedic roles such as Captain Jack Sparrow and, personally, I don’t think that sort of character would work for one of the most powerful dark wizards of all time. However, I will not write this casting off and I only hope that my concerns will not come true.

The final scene for our four heroes to be together is very emotional as they say goodbye to Jacob, who has to be obliviated. It was nice that Newt told him that he considered Jacob his friend. But the truly heart wrenching moment was after a final kiss from Queenie, Jacob opens his eyes, and his friends have been removed from his memory and we see that the antics that occurred over the past days is all forgotten. It was a lovely touch that Newt gave Jacob the Occumy shells to act as collateral to allow him to open up his bakery, also being quite fitting that their final meeting was a parallel to that of their first; them bumping into one another and switching cases. Newt and Tina’s goodbye is very sweet and gives us a glimpse of a potential romance to come between these great characters. The ending to this film is very uplifting and brightened all of our hearts after so many goodbyes. Finally seeing Jacob succeeding in his dream, by conjuring up baked goods in the designs of Newts creatures. They leave us suspecting that, maybe due to Jacob’s long exposure to magic, he may subconsciously remember more than the normal Muggle would and when seeing Queenie, we can only hope all these wonderful memories will return to him.

To sum up, I absolutely loved this film, with its instantly likeable characters, amazing special effects and a great story line, it definitely holds its own against the Harry Potter series. I could even say I have preferred this film to the Harry Potter ones, as there was nothing for me to compare it to and so it didn’t allow me to feel disappointed with the exclusion of any of my pre-existing favourite scenes and characters. It has been a wonderful introduction to the new wizarding world franchise, characters and time. I can’t wait for the next films to come out and will definitely be enjoying them once again at the midnight showing with my friends.

Mischief Managed

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