In 1926, Newt Scamander arrives at the Magical Congress of the United States of America with a magically expanded briefcase, which houses a number of dangerous creatures and their habitats. When the creatures escape from the briefcase, it sends the American wizarding authorities after Newt, and threatens to strain even further the state of magical and non-magical relations.
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Die hard Potter fan I am! Even I found this film rather boring!
THERE ARE GLITTERS OF INVENTIVENESS AND POTENTIAL THROUGHOUT, ALTHOUGH IT OVERALL DOESN'T QUITE MESH VERY WELL IN THIS APPEALING YET INCONSISTENT START OF A FRANCHISE.
I was so excited when this was coming out. We get the world established by JK Rowling and more magic. Newt Scamander goes through New York City in the 1920s having lots of adventures and interacting with both Muggles (no-majs in America) and wizarding folk. The sisters didn't hurt either and the creatures were all well-done. Not your typical Ray Harryhausen-styled critters. But it was good for a period piece. Both American and English actors stole the show and it's a whole new ballpark for the Hogwarts saga. Now bring on the others!
Continuing my plan to watch every Johnny Depp movie in order, I come to Fantastic Beasts & Where To Find Them.There is no need for this movie. That's true of most sequels/prequels. This movie was made for one reason. The Harry Potter movies made money. A lot of money!! And Warner Bros were not ready to give up on the goose that laid the golden egg just yet. So they set about trying to kick start a new franchise.These movies should not appeal to me, but I do enjoy watching them!! Maybe it's because of the fun my kids had watching them, and I got caught up in their excitement. I dunno. But I find it entertaining anyway.I have a real soft spot for Eddie Redmayne, and I enjoyed his performance as Newt. In fact all of the leads are engaging. As for the movie sufficiently detached from the Potter books/movies so that a viewer doesn't need familiarity with the latter to enjoy the former. But there are enough call-backs for fans to know that we're still in the same universe. Depp filmed a secret cameo (which amazingly in this day and age, was kept a secret) Fantastic Beasts & Where To Find Them grossed $234 million at the domestic box office to end the year to 12th highest grossing movie of 2016. So it was the lowest grossing and worst performing movie from that universe, but considering it was a prequel, that features none of the original cast I think it did quite respectably. Enough to warrant a second movie to be released this year anyways.
