Fair on the eyes, not much content

Rating: 5/10 (26 February 2017)

I wonder if I am getting to old for this but the fact is I found this movie only so-so.
Eddie Redmayne was as good as he could be, considering what he was given. I could not relate to any of the characters. Dan Fogler provided several humorous moments, although that seemed to be the single reason for him to be dragged along throughout the movie.
The special effects were terrific – I especially loved the scenes where we were first introduced to Newt's creatures. Each was very different and that entire scene was very magical. However, it was just pretty stuff being dumped for the sake of dazzling the viewer.
There just did not seem to be much story to it, or what is there is underdeveloped and confusing. Newt has these creatures and some have escaped so he needs to find them. Also, there is a bad guy wreaking havoc throughout Europe (no background whatsoever on the guy). And then there's this weird disturbance distributing mayhem throughout New York.
The way these facts came together did not feel tremendously well done and there was just too much going on, with no clear thread uniting it. I feel like this movie can only be truly appreciated by people who read the book because I for one was very confused.
Unfortunately the movie did not interest me enough to want to watch the sequels and I cannot say I recommend it.