Movie Review: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

As of writing this I've already made plans to go see it again, since I enjoyed it so much. It's one of those movies that very re-watchable, and, if there was any doubt, I will be purchasing it as soon as it releases.

Returning to the world of Harry Potter was marvelous. I don't even know where to begin in describing how my heart soared at the first few trills of music as they wash onto the screen with the clouds and Warner Bros. logo! Harry Potter taught us that magic existed and this was a continuation of that magic, with none other than one of my favorite actors portraying a Hufflepuff (my own Hogwarts house) who collects magical creatures (basically my dream job, if I'm being honest). Plus, it's set in America in the twenties, which is such a sparkly and interesting time. So, yeah, it was set up to be a huge hit (aside from that scumbag Depp's cameo).

While I really loved it on an emotional level, as a storyteller it did leave me wanting more. Maybe it was the buildup and high expectations that had been stewing since the announcement a few years back. Maybe it was the predictability of the plot. It might even have been that none of the characters seemed to really have any particular closure and the whole book felt very much like a set up for what was to come next. Whatever it was, the nostalgia factor wins out in the end and I can't help but buy all the merchandise, obsess over the physical copy of the screenplay, and fondly recall all of my favorite scenes.

Top nods to go to the casting director, who picked them perfectly. Every single actor was splendid! I didn't expect anything less seeing the lineup, but I was still blown away and taken into the movie so that I forgot they were indeed actors and I wasn't peeping into someone's life. I also think JK Rowling did a great job with the script. It's her first go, and while it would have been hard to mess something like this up, it was well done. As they say- you can make a bad movie out of a good script, but not a good movie out of a bad script; and this was a, dare I say, fantastic movie.