Where was the fantastic?

Rating: 3/10 (8 January 2020)

I found this film to be poorly considered and altogether inadequate in almost every aspect of filmmaking.
Acting. Casting. Direction. Writing. (A lot on the writing front.) Production standard. Production design.
Premise. Characters. Plot. Narrative.
Derivative and imaginatively deficient would be a good summation of the films creative writing.
Stolid and slow is how I would describe 'Fantastic Beasts' as a filmed production.
Disappointed is how I would describe myself.
The writing is a strange derivative of the dynamic from the TV show 'Dr Who' and the world building premise of the 'Men in Black' films.
Our protagonist is an out of place loner weirdo with a mission of good; a case bigger on the inside than the outside, accompanied by a companion, some local allies and a novelty creature. Dr Who already does this. Almost every episode.
The world building/premise is a reusing of the 'Men in Black' organisation concept....even in its appearance let alone it's story writing function.
Characters seem to function in a film time and space that is extremely plastic, flexible and whimsical.....frequently entering stage left when the script requires their presence regardless of whether there is any consistent reality, from what has been shown previously, to justify this.
The most interesting character and characterization is of a cgi Ron Pearlman who appears in just one scene. Everyone else is bland and repetitive from innumerable films that we've already seen.
The direction is overwhelmed by the special effects requirements whenever dealing with action sequences or larger set pieces and undersold by inadequate writing during more character focused smaller scale scenes.
Production design and standards produce the most bland and boring portrayal of historical New York that I've ever seen depicted. The reading room of a public library would have more life to it. Frankly this extends to interior as well as exterior scenes. There is almost never any interest provided by the environment of the films happenings.
Overblown cgi special effects complete the sorry tale.
I rate 3/10 and I could only recommend this to people who are gluttons for anything Harry Potter esque. For everyone else there are much better things of this ilk to watch.