Fans of creature design, 1920s aesthetics, and bittersweet endings. Worst For: Anyone hoping for a lighthearted Pokémon chase or a simple Hogwarts reunion.
★★★½ (3.5/5)
In a devastating climax, MACUSA kills Credence to stop the Obscurus. The true villain, revealed to be Percival Graves (Colin Farrell)—actually Grindelwald in disguise—is captured. Newt releases Frank the thunderbird over New York to disperse a Swooping Evil’s venom, erasing the No-Majs’ memories of the chaos. Jacob, who has fallen in love with Queenie, is forced to walk into the rain and forget everything.
Meanwhile, the Magical Congress of the USA (MACUSA) is on edge. The dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald has been attacking Europe. American wizards live under strict segregation—no fraternizing with No-Majs, no marriage, not even friendship. Leading the hunt for magical breaches is auror Tina Goldstein (Katherine Waterston) and her mind-reading sister Queenie (Alison Sudol).
The first film’s modest promise—“Let’s explore magical creatures in 1920s New York”—was abandoned for an epic about the 1945 duel between Dumbledore and Grindelwald. By the time the third film arrived, the creatures were afterthoughts. The Niffler got a cameo. The heart was gone. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is a film of two halves. One is a gentle, melancholic story about a lonely man who loves monsters because monsters are easier than people. The other is a grim parable about child abuse, fascism, and the horrors of magical segregation.
In the end, Fantastic Beasts 1 is like Newt himself: awkward, kind, deeply wounded, and far more interesting than it first appears. It just couldn’t carry the weight of an entire cinematic universe on its suitcase straps. Featured image credit: Warner Bros. Pictures / 2016
Fifteen years later, Warner Bros. approached Rowling about a film adaptation. Rather than a documentary-style creature guide, Rowling insisted on writing a completely original screenplay—her first. The result grafted a story about endangered magical creatures onto a thriller about a dark wizard’s rise. The tonal clash would define the series. In 1926 New York (a deliberate parallel to the rise of real-world fascism), British wizard Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) arrives with a battered leather suitcase. Inside is a miraculous, expanded ecosystem housing dozens of magical creatures, from the tree-dwelling Bowtruckle to the thunderbird Frank.
Fans of creature design, 1920s aesthetics, and bittersweet endings. Worst For: Anyone hoping for a lighthearted Pokémon chase or a simple Hogwarts reunion.
★★★½ (3.5/5)
In a devastating climax, MACUSA kills Credence to stop the Obscurus. The true villain, revealed to be Percival Graves (Colin Farrell)—actually Grindelwald in disguise—is captured. Newt releases Frank the thunderbird over New York to disperse a Swooping Evil’s venom, erasing the No-Majs’ memories of the chaos. Jacob, who has fallen in love with Queenie, is forced to walk into the rain and forget everything. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
Meanwhile, the Magical Congress of the USA (MACUSA) is on edge. The dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald has been attacking Europe. American wizards live under strict segregation—no fraternizing with No-Majs, no marriage, not even friendship. Leading the hunt for magical breaches is auror Tina Goldstein (Katherine Waterston) and her mind-reading sister Queenie (Alison Sudol). Fans of creature design, 1920s aesthetics, and bittersweet
The first film’s modest promise—“Let’s explore magical creatures in 1920s New York”—was abandoned for an epic about the 1945 duel between Dumbledore and Grindelwald. By the time the third film arrived, the creatures were afterthoughts. The Niffler got a cameo. The heart was gone. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is a film of two halves. One is a gentle, melancholic story about a lonely man who loves monsters because monsters are easier than people. The other is a grim parable about child abuse, fascism, and the horrors of magical segregation. The true villain, revealed to be Percival Graves
In the end, Fantastic Beasts 1 is like Newt himself: awkward, kind, deeply wounded, and far more interesting than it first appears. It just couldn’t carry the weight of an entire cinematic universe on its suitcase straps. Featured image credit: Warner Bros. Pictures / 2016
Fifteen years later, Warner Bros. approached Rowling about a film adaptation. Rather than a documentary-style creature guide, Rowling insisted on writing a completely original screenplay—her first. The result grafted a story about endangered magical creatures onto a thriller about a dark wizard’s rise. The tonal clash would define the series. In 1926 New York (a deliberate parallel to the rise of real-world fascism), British wizard Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) arrives with a battered leather suitcase. Inside is a miraculous, expanded ecosystem housing dozens of magical creatures, from the tree-dwelling Bowtruckle to the thunderbird Frank.
