Fantastic Beasts SF Review: If Harry Potter Had Gremlins – The Pokemon GO of J.K. Rowling’s Wizarding World, with Cute, Funny, Unpredictable Creatures

Fantastic Beasts SF – If you asked me, I couldn’t articulate the plot as well as many Harry Potter fans. At times, the film may be a little slow and complex. But what I do know is that the film has more than its share of “fantastic” scenes with not only some interesting critters, but also some fun moments with Eddie Redmayne and his fellow actors. Of note is Dan Fogler, who you may not recognize was the lead actor from Balls of Fury, but who audiences will immediately bond with, based on his loyal and lovable character. Make sure you see this fast. Spoilers are all over the internet and, while it’s your typical cops & robbers story  (in a Harry Potter universe), there is some element of surprise at the end.

Fantastic Beasts SF

“Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” takes us to a new era in J.K. Rowling’s Wizarding World, decades before Harry Potter and half a world away.

Academy Award winner Eddie Redmayne stars in the central role of Magizoologist Newt Scamander, under the direction of David Yates, who helmed the last four “Harry Potter” blockbusters.

There are growing dangers in the wizarding world of 1926 New York. Something mysterious is leaving a path of destruction in the streets, threatening to expose the wizarding community to the Second Salemers, a fanatical faction of No-Majs (American for Muggles) bent on eradicating them. And the powerful, dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald, after wreaking havoc in Europe, has slipped away…and is now nowhere to be found.

Unaware of the rising tensions, Newt Scamander arrives in the city nearing the end of a global excursion to research and rescue magical creatures, some of which are safeguarded in the magical hidden dimensions of his deceptively nondescript leather case. But potential disaster strikes when unsuspecting No-Maj Jacob Kowalski inadvertently lets some of Newt’s beasts loose in a city already on edge—a serious breach of the Statute of Secrecy that former Auror Tina Goldstein jumps on, seeing her chance to regain her post as an investigator. However, things take an ominous turn when Percival Graves, the enigmatic Director of Magical Security at MACUSA (Magical Congress of the United States of America), casts his suspicions on both Newt…and Tina.

Now allied, Newt and Tina, together with Tina’s sister, Queenie, and their new No-Maj friend, Jacob, form a band of unlikely heroes, who must recover Newt’s missing beasts before they come to harm. But the stakes are higher than these four outsiders—now branded fugitives—ever imagined, as their mission puts them on a collision course with dark forces that could push the wizarding and No-Maj worlds to the brink of war.

“Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” also stars Katherine Waterston as Tina, Tony Award winner Dan Fogler as Jacob, Alison Sudol as Tina’s sister, Queenie, Ezra Miller as Credence, two-time Oscar nominee Samantha Morton as Mary Lou Barebone, Oscar winner Jon Voight as Henry Shaw, Sr., Carmen Ejogo as Seraphina Picquery, and Colin Farrell as Percival Graves.

The film marks the screenwriting debut of J.K. Rowling, whose seven beloved Harry Potter books were adapted into the top-grossing film franchise of all time. Her script was inspired by the Hogwarts textbook Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, written by her character Newt Scamander.

Warner Bros. Pictures presents a Heyday Films Production, a David Yates Film, “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.” The film will open nationwide November 17, 2016, in 2D and 3D in select theatres and IMAX, and will be distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.