MadCap At The Movies - "Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them"

When I was a youth, I was caught up in the rise of Pottermania.  I read the first three books before the first movie had come out. My mother and I would go to the midnight releases for each of the books, take them home, and read them until we passed out. Then we would wake up and read on until we finished them. Then came the long, grueling wait in the years between books five, six, and seven...which later became movies five, six, seven, and eight. The movies...I've had less of a wondrous relationship with, so you can imagine my raised eyebrow when I heard that a brand new production was being entered into, even with JK Rowling as the writer.

And yes, I know that's going to sound like blasphemy to a lot of people, but writers of prose do not always necessarily have that translate well into screenplays - see also The Goblet of Fire film adaptation - but then there was something else that came up that I found most interesting. The film was set to be a prequel film to the Harry Potter films, set in the same universe but utilizing new characters and perhaps a few references to others within the mythos. And, to the film's credit, it did largely stick to that criteria. Newt Scamander had been name dropped as the writer of a book on Harry's course list (I can't think of the name at the moment) and Gellert Grendelwald had been mentioned and even appeared in the series as the evil wizard that Dumbledore was most famous for apprehending.

To get to the plot, Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) is traveling into New York in 1926 to buy a birthday present (or so he says). He has brought with him a suitcase filled with magical creatures that gets him the attention of disgraced former auror Tina Goldstein (Katherine Waterston) and gets accidentally swapped with the suitcase of another man, Jacob Kowalski (Dan Fogler) during some hijinks at a bank.

Kowalski accidentally opens said suitcase, which gets the attention of the Magical Congress of the United States of America (basically America's Ministry of Magic), who are already dealing with some issues between wizards and "no-maj" (the American word for muggles). One auror, Percival Graves (Colin Farrell) is working the cases of various troubles seemingly being caused by magical creatures in the city...and yeah, he's the villain.

Oh, c'mon, it's Colin Farrell, it isn't a spoiler. You hire the man to be menacing. Although, to their credit, I was honestly hoping it was a red herring...but nope! He's the villain! And he's working to manipulate a young man named Credence (Ezra Miller) who is tied to a group called the Second Salemers...which is honestly like naming your group the "New Inquisition" or the "New Ku Klux Klan". Really, really, really dumb.

And on the nose. Shame on you, JK.

But yes, Graves - and seriously, "Graves"? Was "Judas McScrewsyouover" taken? - is trying to manipulate Credence because he believes that he's connected to a child who will have untold magical powers that he could manipulate to his own sinister ends. Again. Villain. No ambiguity or even an attempt to pretend to be something else, he's a villain...though there's some problems with that that would get into spoiler territory.

Needless to say, Colin Ferrell does it well.

Actually, the cast largely pulls in solid performances. Eddie Redmayne is excellent as the nebbish, but good-hearted Newt Scamander. He's more druid than wizard, caring much for the animals and not wanting them to come to harm. Indeed, in the course of events, he even says that he wants to try and teach the wizard community that creatures of a magical nature shouldn't be feared and that co-existence is possible.

Wanting them to take...Care of Magical Creatures...something like that. Not sure how it'd apply.

Dan Fogler plays an excellent every man, bringing a sense of awe and wonder to a world that is largely mundane to everyone else around. He has his aspirations to rise above his job in a cannery and own his own bakery, and has a stroke of goodness that sees him facing down magical threats even though he can't do magic himself. He even gets a romance subplot. Can't hate him.

Rounding out the trio, we have Katherine Waterston bringing Tina Goldstein to life. She has a great deal of respect for the law, but was dismissed from her post as an auror and put into Wand Permits when she used magic against a No-Maj to defend a young man from abuse (Credence, if you're wondering). She's headstrong and no-nonsense, seeking to do what's right not matter the cost...be it to the wizarding community or herself.

And Colin Ferrell I've already gone over...so that only leaves Gellert Grindelwald (Johnny Depp). And, here's where we come to a rather dark spot in this movie for me...and I know my readers who are devoted Potterheads will likely disagree...but...

THERE IS NO REASON FOR GELLERT GRINDELWALD TO BE IN THIS MOVIE!

Not. One. Reason.

And no, you can't justify it to me by saying that it's a prequel and it's a set up to his big duel against Dumbledore in the near future. Johnny Depp speaks all of thirteen words (yes, I counted) within the last twenty minutes of the film, and then he's gone. La-di-da, absolutely pointless.

And while I have issues with Johnny Depp being cast for much in general when his one note these days is "Lol, weird guy!", he could honestly make an interesting mark on the role. It's a shame then that his appearance is a literal last minute twist that I'm still kicking myself for not getting (namely because the biggest freaking clue is literally dangled in front of us late in the film), though I was maybe hoping they wouldn't do something like that...sure, we'll go with that and not that just my powers of clairvoyance aren't terribly dodgy.

And as for the Fantastic Beasts themselves...the CGI is hit or miss for me. Some scenes it looks really good, some scenes it looks like something the previous films would laugh at. But rarely, if ever, did I actually come close to believing the illusion that anything I was seeing was actually there. That being said, the creature designs are - for the most part - rather nice and show a lot of creativity and thought put into them...provided you just kind of gloss over the rhino creature with the big glowy head.

...no, I don't know or care what the actual name is. Go back to Pottermore.

Despite my minor complaints, some of which I can't really get into without spoilers, I did actually enjoy this film and want to see a continuation. There are definitely the seeds of a series here and I really would like to see them blossom into a franchise that can sustain itself both because of and in spite of the series it was spawned from. Do I think that this one will grow to rival the original Harry Potter series?

Of course not. Much like the original Power Rangers series, lightning never does strike twice. Like the ebb and flow of the tide, this too shall pass. That being said, it doesn't mean we can't sit back and enjoy the ride.

Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them is now in theaters Heyday Films and Warner Bros. Pictures.

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