Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them Review

Ever since Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was published and the last of the films were released, fans have been wanting, wishing, and begging for more Harry Potter magic. Thankfully, J.K. Rowling has granted those desires. She has continually dropped bits of information about the wizarding world, and now there is something of a prequel series.

I'm convinced J.K. Rowling allowed this story to unfold because Americans felt left out. Hogwarts is amazing, and it's so fun to read about British people and places. But what about other magic schools? The French and Russian schools are in the fourth Harry Potter book, so that's probably what made Americans ask the golden question.


What would the wizarding world in America be like?


We get a glimpse of that in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Eddie Redmayne stars as an animal loving Hufflepuff, adventurer, and future author. Can we all agree that Eddie Redmayne is a through and through Hufflepuff? You might think all that adventuring and taming beasts takes a lot of courage, like a Gryffindor. But taking care of creatures takes a tremendous amount of kindness and patience, just like a Hufflepuff.

Eddie Redmayne shuffles and ducks his head through this magical tale of New York City in the 1920s, a place of witch hunts, underground clubs, house elf bartenders, and mobster goblins. He's shy, he's awkward, and he's completely devoted to the contents of his battered briefcase. 

You'd think with magic he could make it impossible for anyone but himself to release anything from his case, but maybe that's too advanced for the 20s. 

One of my favorite aspects of this movie was that it had so many different perspectives in it. You have Newt, the British Hogwarts alumni (sort of) that we are used to, the American wizards and witches, mugs/no-majs who are affected by and suspicious of magic, and of course a muggle who gets dragged into the whole mess.

Jacob's reactions to suddenly being immersed in the wizarding world are exactly how most of us would feel. He is us. He is our way of relating to the story. Newt, always forgetting to follow the rules, takes a liking to Jacob and decides they are friends. Never mind the no wizard and muggle relationship law, not important. It's not as if Newt is rebellious, it's almost like he doesn't notice that there are rules other than proper behavior around magical creatures and not making eye contact with the humans or they will attack.


Newt and Jacob, opposites, meet another pair of opposites when Tina yells at Newt them brings the boys home to deal with them, introducing them to her mind reading sister Queenie.

The two pairs couple off and the depend on each other as they battle many obstacles in their quest to recover Newt's escaped beasts.

There are some beautiful shots of New York, charming displays of the 1920s, and a classic American twist on magic (still in love with the idea of mobster goblins here). 

I love Harry Potter. It's a world where anything can happen. with magic, you have so much more potential to create but also way more opportunity to inflict disaster. This movie was a fun way to explore wizards of other cultures, wizards of other time periods, and magical creatures.