From the 70’s we jump to 2016 and the fantasy story from JK Rowling. After finishing the Harry Potter series, she remained in the same universe but span away from Harry Potter and come up with another story of a man writing a guide book called (surprisingly) Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them. Following in Harry Potters footsteps this was a box office smash grossing $814m on a budget of $180m that’s a lot of dosh in anyone’s eyes. The list of cast includes Eddie Redmayne, Katherine Waterston, Dan Fogler, Alison Sudol, Ezra Miller, Samantha Morton, Jon Voight, Carmen Ejogo, and Colin Farrell. And someone else I won’t mention here.
So, the plot follows Eddie Redmayne playing Newt Scamander who travels to 1920’s New York in search of some fantastic beasts. He is a British wizard with a mysterious case full of these creatures in a Tardis style zoo in his bag, there are disasters happening in New York at the same time and suspicion may fall at Newt’s feet as the balance is delicate between disaster and the wizarding world covering up and keeping itself secret. Keeping all of these creatures alive and not allowing them to escape is a difficult line to walk for Newt especially when a dark wizard as evil as ‘he who should not be named’ wandering around. Newt is now the subject of an investigation by Senior Auror Graves (Farrell) of the American version of the wizarding government. The story winds around a family with a particular child who is exhibiting some fantastic amounts of power. How can this mixture all come together? Well the conclusion was enough of a shock to keep many HP fans I know very happy.
This is a good film that I have resisted and not because of fearing it maybe poor or a story that was weak but because of the respect I had/have for Harry Potter story. It was a story that started in a children’s book that grew to international success and fair play to all involved that got this off the ground and I have no doubt this new spin off will be a success and will no doubt be equally as good as the original base story but I based my judgement on my pocket of cash. With the historic OCD of buying everything in a franchise is a difficult habit to grow out of and I can see this story running and running and my pocket money reducing and reducing so my daughter is a massive fan and I will no doubt end up paying anyway but this is a good film with a great story and I really felt for the character played by Dan Foglar when his mind is washed and the amazing story he helped to make is just washed out of his memory I genuinely felt for him. OK spoilers warning a bit late there. This is a great film that you really should give a chance and more than I did.
Comments