Newt Schamander comes to the United States after a trip around the world in search of magical creatures.

Rating: 9/10 (21 December 2016)

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is an excellent movie. I would recommend it for long-time Harry Potter fans and viewers without any background in the series. While Newt is a wizard and interacts with the wizarding community in the U.S., we soon learn that the American wizarding world is very different than his own. The plot of the film focuses on the character development of Newt and friends while they are retrieving missing beasts in New York. I found this movie excellent for three reasons. 1) It continues in the Harry Potter world but with completely different setting and characters. Because of these major changes the directors and writers had freedom to present a completely different movie. They started from scratch in many areas, and they built a lovely new wizarding world in the United States. 2) The character development was excellent. Newt is just and loyal, but these characteristics are not clear from the beginning. The character development of Newt as well as Jacob, Porpentina (Tina), Mr. Graves, and Credence are crucial to the movement of the movie. For better or worse these characters are all far more than one understands at first. I enjoyed a movie in which character development carried the plot, but some people may find this too slow for their tastes. 3) The graphics are amazing. Since the movie centers around imaginary creatures this aspect is crucial, and will blow you away in my opinion.