Decent Films and where to find one.

Rating: 8/10 (23 November 2018)

Decided to have another watch of "Fantastic Beasts" ahead of seeing the sequel. This, for reference, would be my third viewing of the film.
In the film, Newt Scamander (played with reserve by Eddie Redmayne) is an English wizard, heading to New York in the 1920's carrying with him his menagerie of mystical animals in his suitcase Zoo. He soon falls foul of the US ministry of magic, initially via Tina (Katherine Waterston) and then her boss Graves (Colin Farell). But Graves has his eyes on a bigger target, an invisible force that is causing carnage on the streets and risks exposing the Wizarding world to muggle eyes.
My experience with the Harry Potter world is pretty exclusively limited to the movies and not really the books or surrounding lore, so I think I'm judging these films not as am uber-fan, but as someone willing to judge on their own merits. That said, I really enjoyed "Fantastic Beasts". The period setting is great, the visual effects are stunning and the story is a premier example of creating a universe without sacrificing the narrative of the individual film.
Some of the lesser known members of the cast, Dan Fogler, Ezra Miller and Alison Sudol, do an excellent job in raising their profiles with memorable performances. Colin Farrell is great also (so much so the ending is kind of a disappointment in that regard). Eddie Redmayne deserves praise too, other actors might have fought to iron out some of the idiosyncrasies in Newt and make him more of a traditional hero, but Redmayne keeps him a quiet honest boy, whose devotion to the preservation of life remains constant throughout. His chemistry with Tina is nice and underplayed too.
I can see that in other reviews people have described it as a cash grab and although I understand where they are coming from - "Universes" can encourage lazy writing, or direction, on the assumption that people will show up anyway, but I do think there's an inherent flaw in the logic, with that as a criticism. Either the film is enjoyable to you, or not. An enjoyable Star Wars film would surely be better than an terrible film with a brand new IP.