Fun Flick, More of an Introductory Film Into Another Harry Potter Series

Rating: 7/10 (24 November 2016)

Movie captures the glamour and mystery that many other Harry Potter films have done. Like many of the Harry Potter films, it was able to introduce new lore into the film. Newt, the main character in the film goes to the United States with a brief case that contains a collection of mysterious creatures. He introduces a new wizard world of the United States that seems to operate separately and independently from the Ministry of Magic, Hogwarts and the rest of the European Wizard World. You can hear comparisons between how the wizard world in the United States governs as well as how good their Wizard Schools are. If and when they decide to expand the Harry Potter Universe there is a lot of potential settings and plots that they can create. The film seems to try to venture a new route that stems away from a more traditional, European, feel.
The real connection between the movie and the book is going to be Grindlewald. In fact, the plot in the film stems around his influence. As such, this creates another window and direction for the film to go to. For those fans who know, his history actually has a lot of dark vibes and connections with characters that are important to the franchise.
As far as I can tell, this film creates potential for a lot in the series. I actually think this film acts as an experiment with a different setting, different time period, and different type of characters for the franchise.
Now for the important part... WHAT ABOUT THE FANTASTICAL BEASTS... saved this for last because I'm afraid the film didn't really hit a home run on this one. I guess you care more if you really read the books and know a bit about them already about the creatures and history of the Harry Potter world. The film focuses on a few of the creatures. You briefly see a few beasts when he enters his briefcase, which is essentially a beast haven where they live together peacefully... An attempt here to not scare children I assume. If you look at the creatures in the actual book its quite a bit darker. You have a brief view of this world for a few minutes. After that there are like three creatures that escape his briefcase that he needs to put back in. The main creature that we have an issue with in his film is the Obscurus, which is essentially an wizard to develops a dark side that is uncontrollable. Not really a fantastic beast because it pretty much behaves like a possessed human being except its something the wizard creates. The film definitely fails to show the magic of the actual book. The movie portrays something more resemblant to zoo animals and fails to show the more interesting creatures. No dragons.... really?
Again, the movie does some nice and interesting things for the rest of the series. Overall, a fun flick. If you are a hardcore fan who is expecting that really looks into the creatures of the Harry Potter world, then you might be disappointed. I feel Goblet of Fire actually did a lot better job showing it's worlds creatures. Besides that though, I think the film does a good job at giving you several ways it can expand. As such, it gives you hope considering there was so much lore... history... and plots in the Harry Potter universe that it was a shame it was thought to have ended with its last film.