When you try to explain to the uninitiated that this highly-anticipated movie is the story of the author of a book assigned as syllabus reading to students of Hogwarts in Harry Potter, there is mostly just one response: WHY?
Why in the name of Merlin’s most baggy Y-fronts, these Muggles ask, do you care? Why do you insist on bounding like starved werewolves to each morsel of magic that Rowling puts out, defying the dignity of a clean finish?
The answer to that is very complicated and deeply enmeshed with our social and personal histories. Suffice it to say that the magic of the wizarding world that Rowling built so painstakingly over seven books lives within us like a benevolent horcrux, no matter when we came to the series, whether as fresh-faced kids or weary adults.
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, then, written by Rowling and directed by David Yates (who made quite a few of the Potter movies) inevitably banks on this nostalgia, giving us our well-loved typeface and Hedwig’s theme as a prelude to the film.
In a bold move, however, it uproots its expectedly British hero from familiar environs and places him in 1926 New York and we find that nothing changes the spirit of things faster than an unexpected abundance of American accents.
Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne), on business about the beasties, enters bearing his suitcase, a New York that is being haunted by a dark force that non-maj folks (American for muggles) can’t quite figure out.
Zealous members of New Salem Philanthropic Society (NSPS), however, are convinced that witchcraft is to be blamed and their suspicion, relentless in its pursuit, has put the Ministry of Magic on edge.
In this atmosphere of tension and fear, Scamander, within minutes, manages to get entangled with a comic-relief/audience stand-in non-maj, Jacob Kowalski (Dan Fogler).
The threat of exposure puts disgraced Auror Tina Goldstein (Katherine Waterston) on his scent, who hopes to win back her position within the ministry. The trio soon find themselves victim to nefarious conspiracies and are dragged into a battle with the mysterious evil force that has been building up all along.
Redmayne, as the soft-spoken, shy Scamander, is very likeable, his love and knowledge of the beasts he cares for constituting the heart of the film. Newt’s extreme reticence doesn’t make him a very good protagonist, however, and certainly not a figure you would follow through 5 films to the end of the world.
The beasts, in all their bizarre, rambunctious, multi hue-plumaged glory, are the best part of the film. Nifflers who hoard shiny things and bowtruckles with attachment issues and future-seeing demiguise are the most novel element on display, and a visit to the amazing world(s) of Newt’s suitcase is undoubtedly the film’s centrepiece.
The rest of the she-bang, however, fails to impress. The CGI is very good but this magic is nothing we haven’t seen before.
Ditto for the nature of the conflict and the characterisation of the villain. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, with its lacklustre dialogue, easy jokes and vanilla conflict, is simply not a film for adults who have never been into Potter-verse.
In conclusion, Potterheads can boldly go forth, provided they manage expectations.
Everyone else however, beg, borrow or steal a kid to go with you if you catch the film. Their unspoilt wonder at the gorgeous spectacle will be all the magic you need.
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