Film Review Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them

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Spoiler alerts A lovely if ultimately rather sad prequel to the Harry Potter stories featuring Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) a wizard from Hogwarts on a mission to save rare magical beasts from extinction at the hands of wizards who fail to see them as valuable and often non-dangerous if handled correctly. I particularly like the kleptomaniac platypus. While the Potter stories largely draw Harry and others away from the Muggle world early on in the narrations, Newt’s adventure takes him into the heart of Depression era 1926 New York, and directly deals with wizards and witches colliding with No-Maj’s (the American label for Muggles). Much of the film builds up on Newt’s friendship with Kowalski, a wanna-be New York baker who is drawn into the quest to rescue escaped Fantastic Beasts though knowing he must tragically have his memories of the experience, along with his loving bond to mind-reading witch, Queenie erased, Men In Black style by the end. The Creatures really are fantastic, in concept and presentation. The long sequence inside the TARDIS-spaced suitcase is delightful, as is the pursuit of the rather passionate hippopotamus like being. For much of the film, there is no real sense of danger as we see the build up of two relationships (Queenie-Kowalski, Newt and Porpetina). The sub-plot of dark-wizard Graves/Grindlewald hunting the genuinely dangerous Obscurus is quite late in fusing to the rest of the story but that is so neatly told that few will care. The Obscurus is a manifestation of pent up fury in child wizards who have had to suppress their abilities. It erupts like the psychic fury of Stephen King’s Carrie on a really bad hair day. Graves assigns the search for the Obscurus to a young man called Credence with tragic consequences. Rich in humour, drama and invention, and carrying a jazz-soundtrack to de for, including one song with lyrics written by J K Rowling, the film features great cameos by Ron Perlman and Johnny Depp, and it is a very worthy addition to the Hogwarts canon, though we barely see the wizarding school after the opening scenes. Arthur (Slytherine despite what the Sorting Hat says) Chappell