Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them - directed by David Yates
Okay - usual caveat time....
I don't love the Harry Potter movies.
I like them just fine and even saw each and every one on opening day.... I just wasn't very excited at the prospect or even by the end result.
To me they are just fine - nothing more, nothing less.
I do enjoy that a whole heap of people do love the hell out of them though.
Which of course leads us to "Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them" the first in what we are now informed will be a five movie series.
I'll probably continue as I started and see all of them day one but once again- it doesn't look like there will be much excitement for me in it beyond being part of an audience who are clearly plenty excited enough to cover my lack of excitement.
As a franchise starter I suppose this film does enough to get the job done.
We are introduced to Newt Scamander (Redmayne) as he arrives in 1928 New York.
He carries a mysterious suitcase which we learn contains most of a collection of strange creatures - Fantastic Beasts if you will.
When he encounters a Non-Maj (a Muggle - a non Magic person) while trying to retrieve one such beast there is an incident that results in the Non-Maj Jacob being made aware of the existence of Magic without the required memory wipe to resolve this sticky issue.
He is arrested by a young woman named Tina (Waterston) who soon - along with her Sister Queenie (Alison Sudol) and Jacob (Fogler) form a team to locate the missing creatures.
It isn't quite as easy as my summary would have you believe and there is some to and fro and of course some mysterious figures dipping their noses in periodically.
One of these is a harsh, apparently cruel woman who runs an orphanage and is using the children to spread the bad word about Witches.
The very strange Credence (Ezra Miller) seems to bear the brunt of her cruelty for some reason.
And then there is Percival Graves played by Colin Farrell in a leather long coat and sporting a haircut
so severe that he may as well have a Swastika on his arm.
Percival is a sort of Wizard Cop who investigates strange goings ons of which there are plenty.
Now, one thing that I have always enjoyed about the J K Rowling movies is the terrific imagination that goes into the people, places, events and creatures and this film carries on the trend.
Each and every one of the beasts on display here are wonderfully imagined and realised.
The visual effects are spectacularly good and the production design utterly phenomenal.
It isn't only the big set pieces that benefit from these.
There is a funny little platypus like creature that had the preview audience going 'aw...' with every appearance.
This is a very funny little guy.
Humour is also readily provided by Dan Fogler's Jacob.
He is there to have stuff explained to so that the audience will likewise be informed.
Fogler is great and provides by far the most funny moments.
For all of the wit and imagination that goes into creating the world and the inhabitants I was less impressed with the plot itself.
It seems to stall itself at regular intervals in order to pad out the needlessly long running time.
If you break down exactly what happens you realise that it all could have been accomplished in considerably less time.
And it isn't as if an abundance of character stuff is packed in there either - I am still confused as to exactly how powerful a wizard Newt is.
There are about four endings on this thing too including one that reveals a surprise that may or may not be that surprising depending on how closely you follow your recent casting news.
On that note - the cast are a mixed bag too.
As much as I liked Fogler I disliked Redmayne in equal measure.
His performance relies almost entirely on blinking and head tilting and a nervous, quiet delivery of lines.
Newt is a character who seems amazingly under written.
We know that he is writing a book about beasts and that he has traveled the world in order to do so but beyond that little is known about his standing or his powers as a magic enabled type.
Taking up the slack however is the delightful Katherine Waterston who is a huge part of my decision to see this movie at my earliest convenience.
Waterston is a delightful and fascinating actor who has range and the ability to convey emotion with great economy.
Often a furrow of her brow or a widening of her amazing eyes will tell us all that we need to know about her characters current state.
I loved her brief turn in P T Anderson's underrated "Inherent Vice" and it was no surprise to me that her work here also counted as a highlight in this film.
Her Sister Queenie played by Alison Sudol is another nice piece of casting.
I don't recall having seen Sudol before but she is pitch perfect as a gentle, sweetly romantic woman.
"Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them" wants to address issues such as accepting people who are different and it is easy to say that this is allegorical for gay rights or racial harmony but it really only brushes across the surface and doesn't really sink its teeth into these themes.
I wasn't bored as such but I started to grow weary of Redmayne's performance and the obvious stalling as the second hour drew to a close.
I don't doubt that this film will draw big box office dollars and all power to it I say.
David Yates is a good choice for these films and brings a fair amount of the darkness that he did to the last few episodes of the Harry Potter films.
This one does have some pretty grim stuff in it and is likely to cause a bit of grief for parents of very young Rowling fans.
Ultimately the fascination in seeing what this new fuss is all about and the quality of the visual effects and the performances of Waterston, Fogler and Sudol provided entertainment enough for me and I do love sitting in a sold out cinema surrounded by people genuinely excited to be there.
(I'll be the same late on December 14th as I wait for the midnight screening of Rogue One to begin)
So I liked this movie but having seen it I can tell already that I am in no hurry to do so again.
RATING: 74 / 100
CONCLUSION: Visually accomplished and with at least three quality performances the humour and effects prowess does only just enough to make up for a plot that is often plodding and a running time that is 20 - maybe 30 minutes too long.
Starring: Eddie Redmayne, Katherine Waterston, Colin Farrell, Ezra Miller, Alison Sudol, Zoe Kravitz, Jon Voight, Dan Fogler, Samantha Morton, Ron Perlman, Gemma Chan, Carmen Ejogo, Christine Marzano, Jenn Murray
Screenplay: J. K. Rowling
Music Score by: James Newton Howard
Cinematography: Philippe Rousselot
Cinematography: Philippe Rousselot
Edited by: Mark Day
Running Time: 133 minutes
Language: English
Rated: M - Violence
Running Time: 133 minutes
Language: English
Rated: M - Violence
Okay - usual caveat time....
I don't love the Harry Potter movies.
I like them just fine and even saw each and every one on opening day.... I just wasn't very excited at the prospect or even by the end result.
To me they are just fine - nothing more, nothing less.
I do enjoy that a whole heap of people do love the hell out of them though.
Which of course leads us to "Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them" the first in what we are now informed will be a five movie series.
I'll probably continue as I started and see all of them day one but once again- it doesn't look like there will be much excitement for me in it beyond being part of an audience who are clearly plenty excited enough to cover my lack of excitement.
As a franchise starter I suppose this film does enough to get the job done.
We are introduced to Newt Scamander (Redmayne) as he arrives in 1928 New York.
He carries a mysterious suitcase which we learn contains most of a collection of strange creatures - Fantastic Beasts if you will.
When he encounters a Non-Maj (a Muggle - a non Magic person) while trying to retrieve one such beast there is an incident that results in the Non-Maj Jacob being made aware of the existence of Magic without the required memory wipe to resolve this sticky issue.
He is arrested by a young woman named Tina (Waterston) who soon - along with her Sister Queenie (Alison Sudol) and Jacob (Fogler) form a team to locate the missing creatures.
It isn't quite as easy as my summary would have you believe and there is some to and fro and of course some mysterious figures dipping their noses in periodically.
One of these is a harsh, apparently cruel woman who runs an orphanage and is using the children to spread the bad word about Witches.
The very strange Credence (Ezra Miller) seems to bear the brunt of her cruelty for some reason.
And then there is Percival Graves played by Colin Farrell in a leather long coat and sporting a haircut
so severe that he may as well have a Swastika on his arm.
Percival is a sort of Wizard Cop who investigates strange goings ons of which there are plenty.
 |
| Eddie Redmayne... another twitchy performance |
Each and every one of the beasts on display here are wonderfully imagined and realised.
The visual effects are spectacularly good and the production design utterly phenomenal.
It isn't only the big set pieces that benefit from these.
There is a funny little platypus like creature that had the preview audience going 'aw...' with every appearance.
This is a very funny little guy.
Humour is also readily provided by Dan Fogler's Jacob.
He is there to have stuff explained to so that the audience will likewise be informed.
Fogler is great and provides by far the most funny moments.
For all of the wit and imagination that goes into creating the world and the inhabitants I was less impressed with the plot itself.
It seems to stall itself at regular intervals in order to pad out the needlessly long running time.
If you break down exactly what happens you realise that it all could have been accomplished in considerably less time.
And it isn't as if an abundance of character stuff is packed in there either - I am still confused as to exactly how powerful a wizard Newt is.
There are about four endings on this thing too including one that reveals a surprise that may or may not be that surprising depending on how closely you follow your recent casting news.
 |
| Katherine Waterston and Alison Sudol |
As much as I liked Fogler I disliked Redmayne in equal measure.
His performance relies almost entirely on blinking and head tilting and a nervous, quiet delivery of lines.
Newt is a character who seems amazingly under written.
We know that he is writing a book about beasts and that he has traveled the world in order to do so but beyond that little is known about his standing or his powers as a magic enabled type.
Taking up the slack however is the delightful Katherine Waterston who is a huge part of my decision to see this movie at my earliest convenience.
Waterston is a delightful and fascinating actor who has range and the ability to convey emotion with great economy.
Often a furrow of her brow or a widening of her amazing eyes will tell us all that we need to know about her characters current state.
I loved her brief turn in P T Anderson's underrated "Inherent Vice" and it was no surprise to me that her work here also counted as a highlight in this film.
Her Sister Queenie played by Alison Sudol is another nice piece of casting.
I don't recall having seen Sudol before but she is pitch perfect as a gentle, sweetly romantic woman.
 |
| Alison Sudol, Dan Fogler, Colin Farrell and Ezra Miller |
I wasn't bored as such but I started to grow weary of Redmayne's performance and the obvious stalling as the second hour drew to a close.
I don't doubt that this film will draw big box office dollars and all power to it I say.
David Yates is a good choice for these films and brings a fair amount of the darkness that he did to the last few episodes of the Harry Potter films.
This one does have some pretty grim stuff in it and is likely to cause a bit of grief for parents of very young Rowling fans.
Ultimately the fascination in seeing what this new fuss is all about and the quality of the visual effects and the performances of Waterston, Fogler and Sudol provided entertainment enough for me and I do love sitting in a sold out cinema surrounded by people genuinely excited to be there.
(I'll be the same late on December 14th as I wait for the midnight screening of Rogue One to begin)
So I liked this movie but having seen it I can tell already that I am in no hurry to do so again.
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