Fantastic Films And Where To Find Them. Right Here.

Rating: 9/10 (1 June 2020)

Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) is a young British wizard who comes to 1920s New York to save numerous endangered magical creatures, who are under threat from other wizards, as well as from normal people. Along with two witches, Tina (Katherine Waterston), her sister Queenie (Alison Sudol) and a muggle Jacob Kowalski (Dan Fogler), they race around New York and its hidden world of witchcraft in an effort to save as many magical creatures as possible and to defeat the menacing creature which wreaks havoc on New York's streets.
Now, I'm not one of those people who avidly followed the Harry Potter films, although I did enjoy the ones I saw, so I came with a certain sense of expectation to 'Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them'. I like Eddie Redmayne and I'm happy to put my faith in J.K.Rowling to enchant me with her imagination, so my confidence was high that I would enjoy the film. And I was right. It's a superb romp through a magical world that the child in all of us really hopes exists and wishes we could be a part of.
Right from the off, an auspicious start evokes a sense of wonder and foreboding, where anything is possible. Redmayne's Newt Scamander takes a little getting used to and I'd be interested to know why they decided to play him in a shy, socially awkward way. It certainly makes a change from having an overtly confident hero, but J.K. Rowling obviously has form with creating a geeky hero. Katherine Waterston's Tina is welcome as a love interest for Newt and Dan Fogle's Jacob Kowalski gives the audience a mirror image as to what it would be like to be a muggle in this magical kingdom. Good performances by both, particularly Fogle.
Interestingly, they tease a potential love interest for Jacob with Tina's sister Queenie, a witch, which inverts the usual situation of the normal, everyday girl with the otherworldly male. This time it's the everyday guy and a beautiful witch, making a nice change so hopefully it's developed in later films (and perhaps other writers take note for their works).
'Fantastic Beasts' moves along at a fair old pace but at no point leaves you feeling left behind. At two hours twelve minutes, it is just the right length, ending on several positive notes and leaving you wanting more. I know a second film has been released and apparently three more are in the pipeline so, hopefully, there's plenty more to come.
It would be nice to see more of the Macusa wizards and witches in future films. They play a small, but important, role in this film and I think there's room there to develop a few of them into more prominent characters.
Overall, it's hard to find fault with 'Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them'. You leave the film on a high, re-energized, and with all the magical possibilities flying around your head. Basically, you feel like a child again.