By Emilio Frenk
Director: David Yates
Cast: Eddie Redmayne, Katherine Waterston, Samantha Morton, Alison Sudol, Dan Fogler, Ezra miller, Carmen Ejogo, Colin Farrell and Jon Voight.
Rating: Excellent.
Acclaimed writer J.K. Rowling, comes back with another magical adventure and teams up once again with director David Yates in “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find them” and I was very surprised and pleased with the result.
Set before the Harry Potter era, “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” tells the story of Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) a magizoologist and writer who arrives to New York after World War I with a mysterious briefcase that contains magical creatures in form of animals.
In the story he will meet Jacob Kowalski (Dan Fogler) an aspiring baker who accidentally swiches his briefcase with Newt’s; he opens it and all the animals in Newt’s case will be released.
Now Newt will be try to recover the animals with the help of Tina Goldstein (Katherine Waterston) who works at the Magical Congress of the United States of America, her sister Queen Goldstein (Alison Sudol) and Jacob.
When all the animals are released it will draw the attention of Percival Graves (Colin Farrell) a powerful Auror who will try to put an end to Newt’s creatures and to him as well.
Now Newt not only has to recover the animals but he has to battle an evil spirit that threatens to destroy the city. Now he has to hurry up before it’s too late.
What I like of “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” is despite of being a fantasy film and is related to the Harry Potter franchise, you don’t have to watch the movies from the franchise to understand it.
It gives the viewer some information about the other characters of the succesful franchise but is really straight forward.
J.K. Rowling who created Harry Potter makes her feature screenplay debut with this film and I was really impressed of the wonderful and crafted script she created.
It also helps that David Yates, who directed the last Harry Potter films since “The Half Blood Prince” knows Rowling’s work and again he delivered.
Yates is a director that is common in making movies that have brilliant visual effects and spectacular imagery. Not only that was worth seeing but the characters of the film have a lot of heart and you feel identified with them immediately.
Eddie Redmayne’s performance again is a winner and is such a delight seeing this young actor. He portrays Newt Scamander with so much realism and wit that is so fun to see and has very funny moments.
Colin Farrell plays a great villain in Percival Graves and he does it again with so much realism and you immediately feel terrified and intimidated by his performance.
The thing that I have to mention is that the film is slow paced and you have to be prepared and patient . I understand the reason why it had this length but still there were scenes that were in the third act that they weren’t necessary.
I´m not a big follower of this kind of films since most of them have been more focused in the look of the film and not in story. There are exceptions and this was the case here. Not only is a fantastic visual experience but is a great piece of narrative as well.
“Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” is a entertaining, smart and engaging. I highly recommend it and I can guarantee you that you will not be dissapointed.