Wick's Review

Summary - Good 3.0

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them felt like a forced march as much as a magical experience. With so much exposition to get in, this first of five Fantastic Beasts movies is more episodic than rhapsodic.

The march is worth taking however, since the magical experience introduces us to a gaggle of engaging characters, some of them adorable. Foremost among those is Eddie Redmayne as Newt Scamander, another of J.K. Rowling’s wizard creations. Unlike her Harry Potter, Scamander is more quizzical than confused, a grown man who – in his own way – is supremely confident. He will be a pleasure to watch over the four sequels. Indeed, Fantastic Beasts 1 may not be great, but as origin stories go, it sure is darn good.

Acting - Great 4.0

Eddie Redmayne’s oddball intelligence and awkward physicality are ideal for playing Newt Scamander. Wikipedia describes the character as “an eccentric, introverted wizard, magizoologist and an employee at the Ministry of Magic. Scamander is the future author of the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry standard textbook Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.” His supporting cast isn’t quite so strong.

• Katherine Waterston is more wan than intrepid as an agent charged with hunting Dark Wizards.
• Dan Fogler is cute as a clueless guy who falls in with some wizards.
• Alison Sudol is adorable and intriguing as Queenie Goldstein, a wizard who can read minds.
• Colin Farrell is appropriately heavy as a high-ranking wizard.
• Carmen Ejogo is striking in little more than a cameo.
• Ezra Miller is eery as a troubled young man.
• Samantha Morton as a crusader against wizardry
• Ron Perlman is lip-smackingly good as a goblin gangster. It turns out that Perlman doesn’t need his impressive physique to play a heavy.
• Jon Voight is suitably starched as a media magnate..
• Josh Cowdery cuts the right profile as a U.S. senator.
• Ronan Raftery underwhelms as his younger son.
• Faith Wood-Blagrove looks like a haunted young girl.
• Johnny Depp cameos briefly as a dark wizard.
• Zoë Kravitz appears somewhere, but maybe just in a picture.

Film - Good 3.0

J.K. Rowling has another characteristic creation on her hands in Newt Scamander and the American wizarding world he upends. She’s done a creditable job writing this film directly for the screen, as the title refers to a textbook she ghostwrote in support of the Harry Potter series.

It helps that her most trusted director is at the helm. David Yates directed the final four Harry Potter films, including the perfect Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2. He also directed the under-appreciated Legend of Tarzan from earlier this year.

Edge - Risqué 1.6

Reality - Fantasy 4.1

Aside from the fantasy that’s characteristic of the wizarding world that J.K. Rowling created, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is notable for some pointed social commentary.

As in Harry Potter, she uses wizards as stand-ins for those who take a path through life that’s different than the unthinking majority. Here she punches that up by imagining a Salem Witch Trial crew of crusaders who seek to persecute wizards. This is a common trope in fantasy stories, most notably with the X-Men movies. In all cases, identity groups who feel persecuted can identify with the magical characters in the story.

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