Better than Harry Potter!

Rating: 10/10 (27 November 2018)

I am certain that this bold claim will be met with some criticism and want to point out that this is my opinion of this film, I simply enjoyed this movie more than the HP movies!
This was to my surprise as I expected the horrible dark screens that plagued the final HP films making them so dreary to watch and difficult to be truly amazed by but this film (for the most part) turned on the lights so to speak! The scenes are bright and the colors are fabulous!
I was thrilled to meet the fantastic beast characters as much as the human ones! Many movies are 'animal' type films at the expense of human acting, Fantastic Beasts is NOT one of those!
What it is is a truly enjoyable, tale of magic (good and bad, happy and well a bit frightening/ sad) and whimsy where some of these creatures we meet are as endearing as any Potter character !
The setting is fabulous, the 20's time period is perfect for jaw dropping and magical settings even before the actual magic is revealed! The jewel tones, wood grains and metallics are a delight and visually stunning creating the perfect backdrop for the beasts. Even the lovely pastels seem to ensnare you!
Newt and his friends are freshly written, well developed roles and the acting really sold these characters. Also of note is Ron Pearlman's portrayal of his character...you know you're in New York when Ron Pearlman dominates the scene!
Perhaps my favorite thing about this movie is the fantastical yet believable beasts and the interaction between them and the main characters! They are their own characters and as such become part of the family!
The inside of Newt's case was not only awe inspiring but was also home to some wonderful scenes, the disc containing deleted scenes was equally fun to watch and I found myself longing for more like the celebration and tracking the demiguise. Why those scenes were even removed is beyond me as they encouraged deeper character investment and the movie experience would have been much enhanced/better with most of those scenes in it but not enough to completely ruin the film by deleting them?!
I am also thankful the connections between this and the HP story are few and subtle enough that I can watch this and enjoy it apart from having any deep knowledge of the HP world! I do want to be swept away into a magical world by a beautiful, fulfilling story, I do not want to have to brush up on 8 films and several books worth of trivia before I can enjoy a film! There are characters mentioned in this that definitely relate to HP but not so individually or specifically that one would need to delve deep into the lore to understand what is actually happening. Grindelwald is a solid stand alone character with ties to HP stories, Lestrange is mentioned but deftly explained... all you need to know to enjoy this film is presented to you and if you miss a reference the story is still enjoyable!
Every story needs a villain and that side of this story is nothing new or groundbreaking. The villainous role(s) in this is tried and true, perhaps a bit overused and definitely given more screen time than it needs/ought to be but the other aspects more than make up for the abundance of dramaticly swirling black blobs....
The beasts themselves are breathtaking, creative, stunning and so deeply endearing in performance that they feel not only absolutely real (undiscovered and quite a bit above natural yes but whimsical and absurdly real all the same) but they also interact with the live characters in such a way that they are integral characters in this stor6 and the story is oddly ethereal and believable throughout.
This film was most impressive taking all that is wonder from the Wizarding World, adding a new level of amazement and leaving the flaws behind!