Tried to cram too much into one movie but a decent watch

Rating: 7/10 (30 September 2017)

One of the more obvious reasons I wanted to watch this movie was that I'd been watching all the (more recent) Harry Potter movies in theaters and this was, in a way, a Harry Potter movie, so I felt an obligation to myself to go and see this. Another was that the setting was in America. While location was never a concern for me, because magical word, who cares? just saying this was going to happen in America got me curious. Would it be different? How? Would we see some of the people from the HP series when they were younger?! (You have no idea how much I need this)
In a way we did get slight mentions of Dumbledore and Hogwarts, but they were never really the focus of the movie. The one character that did overlap both worlds, however, was Grindelwald. I won't really go into too much detail here because that would mean SPOILERS and honestly, I hadn't known about him until this movie.
In terms of human characters, I was rather disappointed. We have our main protagonist, Newt Scamander who has a bunch of nearly extinct creatures in his suitcase, is studying them, and is trying to get one to Arizona, its natural habitat. But other than this quirky habit of caring for them and doing strange mating rituals, there's not much else to him. Yes, he's brave, yes he's got some connection to Dumbledore, but not much else.
Even his suitcase had more personality /sigh/
We also meet Tina who is part of the Magical Congress of the United States of America (MACUSA) and the one who ends up arresting Newt when he first arrives in NY (his niffler escapes and causes mayhem!). Of course, her arresting him and taking him in clue us in that she's been demoted and is no longer supposed to be arresting wizards (for some reason). Instead of letting Newt go, she becomes his shadow and "helps" him recover his suitcase, which had been taken by a No-maj (muggle) who mistook it for his.
I initially didn't care much for her because she was just doing her job, but as the movie progresses she becomes more annoying. I also felt it was harder to connect with her because she was the more selfish of the characters. All her actions were less because she was worried about exposure and more about trying to get promoted/recognition. Even at the end, when she had a change in character, I still didn't like her because her change came from self-preservation.
Then we have Jacob Kowalski (aspiring baker) and Tina's sister and roommate, Queenie Goldstein. Jacob is the no-maj who just happened to be at the wrong place when Newt's niffler causes mayhem in NY. I think I was particularly attracted to Jacob's character because he was a no-maj and was just so fascinated by the magical creatures. He helped out Newt care for them in the suitcase, he got chased by a huge Erumpent that wanted to mate with him, and still didn't freak out because technically this stuff isn't supposed to exist, right?
And then we have Queenie, who seems to be pretty lady of the series. She looks good and knows how to use that charm to her advantage! She is also well versed in legilimency, a sort of mind-reading ability, which I absolutely loved. I actually didn't think she'd be a main character but she surprised me in actually taking action (unlike someone else in this movie)
Just going to say that near the end she has a scene with Jacob that legit broke my heart.
Overall I think the movie was OK. It really tried to cram so many ideas into a 2 hour (ish) film, which I felt was its biggest downfall. I mean, the majority of the movie was spent finding the creatures that had escaped Newt's bag, which I felt should have been enough for the one movie. But then they had to add the whole exposure aspect, which was less detailed and more rushed.