First Take: Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them- and so a new franchise begins

Spoiler free as usual. Because this film is merely exposition.

SYPNOSIS:

The adventures of writer Newt Scamander in New York’s secret community of witches and wizards seventy years before Harry Potter reads his book in school.

6 years on from Deathly Hallows Part 2, it’s time to start making prequels to one of Hollywood’s biggest box office draws. With a good creative team at the helm, I expected a good start to this 5 film commitment, but unfortunately I left my beloved seat in screen 3 feeling a little underwhelmed.

The direction from David Yates is much improved from his work on The Legend of Tarzan from earlier this year, as he delivers on the spectacle of a new Harry Potter film with ease- the creatures feel believable, and the accuracy of 1926 New York is on point. However, the pacing of the film does make it a challenge to watch, but as this film is the first of 5 new entries, it is expected. JK Rowling’s script is OK (and isn’t based on the 2001 book of the same name), with a lot of focus on character development rather than narrative progression, effectively making the film dull and boring to watch at points- but the performances certainly make up for it.

Eddie Redmayne is on form as ever with this performance as Newt, however, it isn’t as polished as his more superior work in films like The Theory of Everything. The supporting cast including Katherine Waterston, Alison Sudol and Dan Fogler are also good, with the villains of the piece (Samantha Morton and Colin Farrell respectively) also putting in some good work. They’re not perfect, but they are good enough to tell the story of the film. It’s shot very well by Phillippe Rousselot, with emphasis on the incredible CG creatures running wild in the city, and with a James Newton Howard score driving the film, it feels like a fresh start for the franchise and a credible entry into the infamous Wizarding World.

THE VERDICT

Fantastic Beasts is a generally decent start to this new franchise- with a good sense of direction, some very well developed characters and a sense of faithfulness to the source material, die hard fans of the Potterverse will lap this film up. However, more casual audiences will have a few issues making it through the 2 hour 13 minute goliath of a running time.

RATING: 3.5/5