A fun film to watch with friends or family, though nothing noteworthy...

Rating: 7/10 (23 November 2016)

IMDb is probably the only place in the world where I can proudly go around saying that I watched the movies and never read the books for anything that has a movie or a book. In that sense, I wouldn't consider myself a rabid fan of the Harry Potter franchise, but I have seen every single one of the movies and loved each one as a kid. Now, we're getting another look at the wonderful world of wizardry, and though I was skeptical at first (I'll admit, I don't like sequels or spinoffs), to my surprise, this was a really fun movie to watch.
I went to go see it with a friend of mine, and we had our fair share of laughs, wows, and "awww"s. It was an interesting and, compared to the original series, original story with some pretty quirky characters. Sometimes, these characters felt really cheesy (the cast being filled up with the awkward protagonist who actually knows what he's talking about but no one will listen to, the fussy law abiding sidekick, the love interest, and the comic relief), but in the end, it really didn't make a difference. I honestly didn't walk into the theater expecting for the character ark of a lifetime. Sometimes, you just need a few cheesy characters in an action flick, which is exactly what this movie offers.
Overall, the film wasn't anything noteworthy. Don't expect something that'll last with you for more than a month, or even a few days. I probably won't see this movie again in the near future, but hell I probably would say the same thing for something like Warcraft or maybe even Star Trek Beyond. It's neither a good thing nor a bad thing, it just goes to show that it's nothing more than a fun action movie. It has cute cgi, cool characters, a good plot that kept me awake after 9:30pm when I went to go see it... But it also had it's set of flaws as well.
Now to those of you who've actually seen Harry Potter and are expecting to see some more wizard action, here's some good and bad news. The film really had that whole Harry Potter "magical world of wizardry" feel to it. The characters ran around and pointed their wands at things, the pictures were moving around like real people, everything you wouldn't find in the real world had freaky names like "Squigglewiggles" or "Shnorpblops"... The only thing that I thought was lacking was the actual world the characters were in. In the original series, the protagonists were surrounded by floating candles and shifting hallways. In Fantastic Beasts, though, the protagonists are running around in... the real world, surrounded by...... real people. I didn't pay $9.50 to see regular people in the regular world! It might not sound so important, but there was something so charming about Hogwarts that Fantastic Beasts lacks. There were only a few scenes that took place in actual magical locations that had these freaky floating candle style things, but the rest just lacked the charm.
Another major issue I had with the film is pretty minor, but it had to do with the antagonist. You see a quick shot of the antagonist at the very beginning and the very end of the film, and that's it. You don't even see his face until the very end. He might've been mentioned in passing in one of the original films or in one of the books, but I know I missed it and was pretty confused as to who the hell this guy was. I ended up having to look him up to find out why he was actually significant, cause he really doesn't seem so bad in Fantastic Beasts. There were some newspaper clippings at the very beginning which I assume described this guy at least a little, but they just flew right by so quickly that I didn't really get a chance to understand what they said.
All in all, Fantastic Beasts is a good, fun movie. Nothing more, nothing less. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't good. I wouldn't see it a second time, but I'm glad I saw it the first. I was very surprised in the end to find out that this spin off was worth my time to go see, and would gladly suggest it to anyone looking for a good time with some friends or family.