*Spoiler Alert – Read after watching!*
As soon as I saw the Warner Brothers logo I was thrown straight back into childhood memories of watching Harry Potter at the Cinema and so Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them had me hooked.
It starts in 1926 where Newt Scamander (played perfectly by Eddie Redmayne) gets off the a boat in New York with a suitcase full of magical beasts. After accidentally swapping his suitcase with a n0-maj called Jacob he’s on the search for his beasts with the help of Tina and Queenie. During his time in New York he’s wrapped up into something much bigger after getting on the wrong side of MACUSA, and especially Mr Graves.
As an avid fan of Harry Potter I’ve been awaiting Fantastic Beasts since it was announced and I was so happy that for my birthday one of my friends bought me tickets. Although I was sceptical as to whether it would be good enough compared to the rest of the Potter Franchise I was pleasantly surprised.
I enjoyed the characters a lot, Eddie Redmayne plays a unusually intorverted and slightly nervous Newt which makes him instantly lovable and I was able to connect and feel for him. I also enjoyed Jacob Kowalski who was the first muggle (sorry I mean no-maj) who has been portrayed within the Harry Potter universe for more than a few minutes and also in a positive way. The aspiring baker becomes Newts companion and friend along with Tina and Queenie.
The CGI beasts were wonderful to see, and extremely well done. I was super excited to see some of the beasts such as a niffler which wasn’t shown in the Potter films. The cheeky niffler is what started most of the film off and it was wonderfully created.
Although I really enjoyed the story line, and it would be great for most ages I found that I was guessing what was going to happen for a couple of the big plot points. The first plot point to do with who was the obscurial was slightly obvious as soon as the film decided to push you to think it was Modesty. Not sure if it was just me or people who watch a lot of film (Maybe it’s just the PLL fan in me?) but as soon as the film makes you believe its Modesty you know it wont be.
The other plot point which was actually really subtly done was guessable after the majority of the film. Grindelwald being Graves this whole time was quite clear looking back, but you could tell by the same hair cut, the use of the deathly hallows sign and the give away comments which Graves says to Newt. For this one, I have to say it had more to do with the press telling us Johnny Depp would be in it than the film, as without that indicator I probably wouldn’t have thought about it as much.
I also have so many questions after this though so I cant wait for the second film. Some of my questions are:
- Who is Percival Graves? Was he a real person and did Grindelwald do a Moody/Crouch impersonation? or did Grindelwald create the persona and work his way up to become Director of Magical Security?
- Did Jacob remember at the end of the film or not? Clearly his subconscious rembered parts but does he remember Newt, Tina and Queenie?
- What did Grindelwald mean by ‘Will we all die a little’?
- Do you think Arianna Dumbledore was an obscurial? Did Grindelwald know this and is that why he’s in North America with an interest in them?
- Who is Leta Lestrange?? What was Newt’s relationship with her and what happened to alienate them from each other?
- Is Credence actually gone? and who is he really? Does Modesty have powers since she had a wand under her bed?
- Is Newt just in the wrong place and the wrong time to meet Grindelwald or is there something going on? Dumbledore’s master planning maybe?