Entertaining, but with a lot of problems

Rating: 7/10 (21 November 2016)

Let me say up front that this is not a bad movie. But I notice a lot of Potter-fans are looking at this movie through rose-colored glasses, and are unable to see its obvious flaws. This is a pretty flawed movie. Fun, but not great.
But lets start with the good. The characters are fun, the visuals are stunning and impressive. And the amazing Potter atmosphere of whimsy is all over this film. I also liked how the music of the movie starts with the soft Potter-theme, and then immediately abandons it for the rest of the film, and sticks with its own new theme music. There's plenty of references for fans to enjoy, but you do not need to be a Potter fan to understand what is going on in the film. This movie can very much stand on its own.
But now the bad. The movie seems to forget that it has a plot for about half of its running time. For most of the movie we follow the main character in his quest to retrieve his missing animals all over New York, which is fun, but has very little to do with the main plot. It seems as if the movie suddenly remembers that it has a villain (who is briefly mentioned with quick flashes of newspapers during the opening) and it forgets that it still has to build towards a finale. Out of nowhere the final act is suddenly dropped into the movie. That is a bit sloppy, and it leaves the main villain very undeveloped. I also think many of the characters are a bit shallow, and steeped in stereotypes and clichés.
Technically, the movie feels a bit sloppily edited at times, which makes some scenes hard to follow. And especially during the final act there are a lot of bright flashing lights that are a pain on the eyes if you are sitting in a dark theater.
That said, I was still entertained. But the film critic in me feels that this should have been a lot better. I also noticed that I had a hard time remembering the names of most of the main characters.