"Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them" Review - JK Rowling and the Order of a New Gener

To tell you all the truth, I was nervous about “Fantastic Beasts”. All I could think about waiting for this was “The Hobbit” trilogy, and how it failed so miserably because of Peter Jackson’s lack of care for the effects, the source material, and fan service. Well, I finally got to see it, and I can tell you it is really good.

“Fantastic Beasts” is not as good as the Harry Potter books or movies, but the film has still got some decent CGI and some great characters to make you smile. In fact, it relies heavily on the effects (of course, it’s all creatures), and while I think they could’ve been better, they’re not Hobbit bad, and are in fact pretty tolerable. On top of the VFX, the two main actors, Eddie Redmayne and Dan Fogler, add so much humor to this movie it’s kind of amazing. That’s the one thing that stands out from the Harry Potter films, and I think for this type of adventure, it works.

The only disappointing aspect is the predicable plot. You will know immediately what gets the plot wheels turning, who the villain is, and most of what happens next pretty fast. There’s a whole subplot that is a literal rip off of “Carrie”. I’m not joking. The one good thing about the plot though is that there is no forced lines to remind you that the Harry Potter Universe exists. That’s where Hobbit messed up big time.

But the one element that stays constant is the sense and wonder of imagination and magic. I know this is just the first of 5 films, and I have lots of faith that JK Rowling will get this whole series going with the other 4 films. She’s one of the most brilliant authors of our time, and you’ll see it when you watch FB. Her writing still has the same type of feel good excitement that the HP films gave us, and that’s all that matters to me. Even the score was freakin perfect to match the mood of her handwriting. In JK we trust I’ll say.

While it’s not the best Harry Potter-esque story, it’s a good start to get the ball rolling. I’m excited to see what comes our way in the next few years. After all, JK left so many questions unanswered!

One Nebs Up!