Review: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
A young wizard arrives in a city toting a humble leather suitcase with an unreliable lid from which many a magical creature escapes. Welcome to Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, the first screenplay written directly by series creator J.K. Rowling. Separate from, but connected to, the Harry Potter universe, Fantastic Beasts serves as a table-setting but admirably self-contained first installment in an intended pentaptych.
The year is 1926, the city New York and the wizard one Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne). Scamander is on a personal quest to protect his coterie of exotic animals will lead him to publish Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, a textbook which our young Mr. Potter will use many years later. No sooner has the charmingly sheepish and scatterbrained wizard alighted when one particularly mischievous critter named Niffler slips out from the suitcase to indulge his love of all things shiny. As Scamander tracks down Niffler in a bank, he bumps into the amiable Jacob Kowalski (Dan Fogler), a worker in a canning factory who hopes to start his own bakery business. In the ensuing confusion, Scamander switches suitcases with Kowalski, who haplessly releases more of creatures out into the city.
Unfortunately, magical creatures are illegal in the city and Scamander finds himself in the custody of Tina (Katherine Waterston), an officer with the Magical Congress of the United States of America (MACUSA), who also scolds him for failing to obliviate the memory of the Muggle Kowalski (the Yanks refer to Muggles as "No-majs" as they have no magic). A greater problem arises for Scamander when MACUSA, led by Madame President Seraphina Picquery (Carmen Ejogo), suspects one of his escaped creatures of being the black mass that has been wreaking havoc upon the city. The presence of the black mass stokes No-maj groups like the Second Salem-ers to call for the exposure and execution of witches and wizards. As if this isn't enough for Scamander to contend with as he, Jacob, Tina and her mind-reading sister Queenie (Alison Sudol) do their best to gather up the errant animals without signaling their magical presences to the city's inhabitants, there's also ambitious MACUSA agent Percival Graves (Colin Farrell) to watch out for; the auror appears to have an agenda of his own, one that requires the assistance of Credence (Ezra Miller), the deeply troubled son of the fanatical and abusive Second Salem-er Mary Lou Barebone (Samantha Morton).
Fantastic Beasts utilises many key players from the Harry Potter series, most notably director David Yates who helmed the last four installments of the mega-popular franchise. As such, there's a surety of execution present in Fantastic Beasts, a keen understanding of its darker yet blithe tonality, and a relaxed confidence in its handling of set pieces. Production design by Stuart Craig combines the specifics of the film's Prohibition-era setting with otherworldly touches. The densely detailed MACUSA headquarters are an especial delight whilst a scene set in a jazz club is perfumed with just the right amount of seediness. The showdown in a Manhattan subway station is duly explosive but not heavy-handed; also done with a pointed but not overly forceful touch is the film's message of tolerance and acceptance. Overall, the film is a solid piece of entertainment though it could have used with more pruning.
Redmayne is perfect as Scamander, an endearing soul who strikes one as a cross between Doctor Doolittle and Mary Poppins. He's well-complemented by Waterston, whose sophisticated intelligence anchors the proceedings. They're both outshone by Fogler and Sudol; the latter is an unending source of pleasure with his bewilderment and, later, eagerness to accept this bewitching reality, whilst the former embodies her Jazz Age baby with flair. Of course, the real stars of the show are the assortment of creatures that dwell in Scamander's bottomless suitcase: the majestic Thunderbird, the Occamy that expands or shrinks itself according to its surroundings, the rhino-like Erumpent ready to mate with the alarmed Kowalski, and most especially the scene-stealing Niffler, the platypus-like mischief-maker intent on following and hoarding anything that glitters.
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
Directed by: David Yates
Written by: J.K. Rowling, adapted from her own novel
Starring: Eddie Redmayne, Katherine Waterston, Dan Fogler, Alison Sudol, Colin Farrell, Carmen Ejogo, Samantha Morton, Ezra Miller, Ron Perlman, Jon Voight, Josh Cowdery, Faith Wood-Blagrove, Gemma Chan, Zoe Kravitz
