Return to the Wizarding world of Harry Potter, just 90 years earlier. So it is a prequel.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them stars Eddie Redmayne, Colin Farrell, Dan Fogler, Katherine Waterstone, Ezra Miller and Samantha Morton.

Newt Scamander arrives in New York in 1926, with his suitcase full of magical creatures. Not long after arriving, he bumps into No-Mag (American name for a Muggle), Jacob Kowalski who accidentally releases some of the beasts into the world, which could spell trouble for No-Mag and Wizards alike along with the problems going on 1920’s New York.

With the world craving more from the Harry Potter universe, expectations for Fantastic Beasts were bound to be high and with four more films in the franchise announced before the release of the film, I had even higher expectations than I before. I can safely say that my expectations were met. What we get is a great family movie that everyone can enjoy featuring new and old magic and adorable creatures that we will definitely be seeing again in the sequels.

The visuals were another stand out for me, the look of the creatures is perfect and the look of the magic makes you so nostalgic just for a franchise that is not old. CGI is just getting to the stage where we need to get used to seeing amazing CGI in films and it becoming the norm in films. The look of 1920’s is met perfectly and you are sucked straight into this world.

The cast is perfect for the film. I really enjoyed the character of Newt Scamander, played by Eddie Redmayne, I love his quirkiness and clear love for all creatures and it is something I really look forward to seeing more of in the future. Another standout for me was Colin Farrell as Graves, it has been a while since he has starred in a big film and really impressed so it was good to see him back in fine form. The remaining cast works well, but I still feel like we need more time to get used to them in the universe.

My only problem of the film was parts of the story. At times the story felt basic and like something we had seen before but with a wizard spin on it. There are a couple of twists we I really enjoyed and kept the story going towards the ending and one twist where I actually gasped at the reveal.

Overall, I rate Fantastic Beasts 8/10! In a year that has not been that good for films, maybe the end of the year can save it.

What did you think of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them?

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