Plot:
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them opens in 1926 as Newt Scamander has just completed a global excursion to find and document an extraordinary array of magical creatures. Arriving in New York for a brief stopover, he might have come and gone without incident, were it not for a No-Maj(American for Muggle) named Jacob, a misplaced magical case, and the escape of some of Newt's fantastic beasts, which could spell trouble for both the wizarding and No-Maj worlds.
Pro's:
Eddie Redmayne as Newt Scamander: You could say he pretty much carries the movie, as far as characters are concerned. He is like-able, and sweet, and you could really feel the love he has for beasts, and that he doesn't want them harmed.
Other characters: The stand-out was definitely Dan Fogler as Jacob. This is like the audience character, he is a muggle, and he is amazed by magic and everything, and he is extremely funny. The other characters were kind of fine, and everyone acted well.
The Fantastic Beasts: Best part of the movie, easily. They are all well-designed, and really like-able, and I was awed constantly.
The Direction: Once again, David Yates has directed a very good Potter movie, with long takes of action and visual effects.
Visual effects.
Action Set-pieces.
This movie can stand on its own:Con's:
The Pacing: Whenever the movie has nothing to do with the Fantastic Beasts, the movie kind of falters, but, it's tolerable.
Exposition: Like every fantasy movie, there are scenes where characters are just dumped with information, and in this case, it's Jacob.
The Epilogue after the Climax: Now, the climax action set-piece is very good, but, the epilogue after that seems to drag on and on and we are just waiting for the credits to roll, which is unfortunate, I wish they could have trimmed it a bit.
Tonally Disjoint:The characters were not as appealing as those in the Harry Potter movies.
Verdict:
Overall, this is a fun, family entertainer with a very good main character, with an amazing re-imagining of the Potter-verse(and of course with cool easter eggs tying it into the original series) set in New York, and while it has issues, it's worth watching, especially in 3D.
I would give this 7.4/10.
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them opens in 1926 as Newt Scamander has just completed a global excursion to find and document an extraordinary array of magical creatures. Arriving in New York for a brief stopover, he might have come and gone without incident, were it not for a No-Maj(American for Muggle) named Jacob, a misplaced magical case, and the escape of some of Newt's fantastic beasts, which could spell trouble for both the wizarding and No-Maj worlds.
Pro's:
Eddie Redmayne as Newt Scamander: You could say he pretty much carries the movie, as far as characters are concerned. He is like-able, and sweet, and you could really feel the love he has for beasts, and that he doesn't want them harmed.
Other characters: The stand-out was definitely Dan Fogler as Jacob. This is like the audience character, he is a muggle, and he is amazed by magic and everything, and he is extremely funny. The other characters were kind of fine, and everyone acted well.
The Fantastic Beasts: Best part of the movie, easily. They are all well-designed, and really like-able, and I was awed constantly.
The Direction: Once again, David Yates has directed a very good Potter movie, with long takes of action and visual effects.
Visual effects.
Action Set-pieces.
This movie can stand on its own:Con's:
The Pacing: Whenever the movie has nothing to do with the Fantastic Beasts, the movie kind of falters, but, it's tolerable.
Exposition: Like every fantasy movie, there are scenes where characters are just dumped with information, and in this case, it's Jacob.
The Epilogue after the Climax: Now, the climax action set-piece is very good, but, the epilogue after that seems to drag on and on and we are just waiting for the credits to roll, which is unfortunate, I wish they could have trimmed it a bit.
Tonally Disjoint:The characters were not as appealing as those in the Harry Potter movies.
Verdict:
Overall, this is a fun, family entertainer with a very good main character, with an amazing re-imagining of the Potter-verse(and of course with cool easter eggs tying it into the original series) set in New York, and while it has issues, it's worth watching, especially in 3D.
I would give this 7.4/10.
Saying that, I don't see 4 more movies happening