Movie Review: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016)
I never really had a lot of interest in this film. I’m far from a big enough fan of the Harry Potter movies to really care all that much about this other series, and on top of that, it defintiely seems just like a cash grab from J.K. Rowling.
That having been said, there are some appealing aspects here. It’s directed by David Yates, who directed a number of movies in the Harry Potter series, all of which were pretty good. I also like the period of Jazz Age New York, especially since the Harry Potter films never really gave us a clear indication of time period.
Seeing the No-Maj Jacob Kowalski (Dan Fogler) interact with the wizarding world is probably the most enjoyable aspect of the movie. Fogler’s performance is endearing. Eddie Redmayne’s isn’t.
I really don’t get the appeal of Eddie Redmayne. I know he’s an Oscar winner, but I’m still not convinced he can actually act, and I suspect his playing someone with a disability distracted Academy voters as it has so many other times. Here, he’s largely one note, and pretty obnoxious. I know his dough-eyed schtick is supposed to be charming here, but seeing him “talk” to whatever giant rhinoceros like beast thing he has is just embarrassing.
I also find the creature design here fairly uninspired. The visual effects are not bad, but they never convince you the creatures are actually there, either. Some things definitely look better than others.
The visual effects work a little better when they help recreate the time period. It’s a look that I’m not a huge fan of, but I realize that a big studio film isn’t going to take the time to recreate everything via practical effects, so it’s a shortcut that is justifiable.
The story here isn’t anything special. The movie seems to try and make commentary on societal issues, but I’m glad it didn’t go too far, because it’s really not done all that well.
Some of the character motivations are a bit strange. I get that Newt Scamander (Redmayne) wants to protect all these magical creatures, but when he encounters Kowalski, he wants to wipe his memory, even though Tina (Katherine Waterston) insists they can’t do that because he’s a witness. Later, Scamander doesn’t want to wipe his memory, and uses the fact that Tina wants to, to get him to help him. It’s a bit confusing.
While most of the story is pretty separate and refreshingly different from that of the Harry Potter series, all the stuff with Grindelwald definitely feels like the series is just doing Voldemort again. I’m not sure how much knowledge of the character the movie expects us to bring in, but the presentation here is not unlike the way Voldemort was talked about in the first few Harry Potter movies.
The movie is watchable, and I’m not really sure if it’s better or worse than I expected.
Rating: 5/10
