Meh. Aimed at a young audience?

Rating: 5/10 (6 January 2019)

Me and my mum decided to watch it last night and our thoughts were exactly the same - meh. It felt like it would appeal to a young audience as a lot of it was just watching the beasts do their thing.
I did think Redmayne was amazing at portraying a wildlife enthusiast; as one myself, I recognised the subtle quirks and thought his performance was spot on. The beasts were cool, though nothing hysterical or ground-breaking really happened. One of my main gripes is that I don't think the film allowed time for us to become invested in the characters, which meant that when it came to a couple of farewells at the end, the emotional impact wasn't really there. I especially think more could have been done with Kowalski, because his presence just wasn't that established. I don't blame the actor for that at all, we just didn't get to see enough of him or get to find him doing or saying anything wildly amusing or likeable.

I'm glad I finally got round to seeing this film and ticking it off the list. It was a nice watch to fill in a Saturday evening, but I won't be in a rush to see it again.