Welcome back to the Wizarding World

Rating: 8/10 (23 November 2016)

It has been quite some time since the last Harry Potter film that ended off the battle against Voldermort and Harry living happily ever after. The story was over and we were all sad to see it leave, but we were also happy back when we heard we were getting prequel films. Still there were a lot of mixed reactions on the idea if Warner Bros was just trying to milk the franchise for all it was and wasn't caring about telling a good cohesive narrative. But let me put those fears to rest.
Fantastic Beasts is a joy to watch.
It is a world were we the original Harry fans are finally older now and these new characters are all adults too. The beasts are fun and good to watch. The story keeps you entertained and Newt's development is a ride you will enjoy taking from beginning to end. You learn to love these characters and the story there trying to tell. It is just in general a really great time to see. Fantastic Beasts is quite amazing.
The film does suffer from some pacing issues though. I didn't really like how it transitioned from the dark and terrible story to the more light hearted stories they were trying to tell. Katherine Waterson's character I thought also needed more to do in this film as her journey wasn't as compelling as I really wanted it to be either. Ezra Miller played a very good villain, but because of the strange transitions didn't really allow for you to care enough about his struggles or what he was going through.
Still overall this is a very well made film. It pulls the fans of this franchise back into this world in a big way and keeps it fun as well. I love all the actors involved in making this movie and I love the characters that go with them. The story was engaging from beginning to end and all in between. This movie gets a thumbs up for me