Somewhere around 15 years ago, my five-year-old self was standing in line with my mother and then-stepfather to see a movie that would forever change my life.
Still very new to the whole concept of film, I knew very little about “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,” let alone the entire Tolkien-esque Wizarding World surrounding the franchise. All I knew was that my mother owned a copy of the first book and that those Gringotts goblins in the trailer seriously freaked me out.
Flash forward another five years in third grade. I wasn’t a strong reader at the time, and with a recent move to another city, I decided to make a personal change by picking up reading. So I finally decided to read the first of J.K. Rowling’s books.
I was hooked. Not only did Rowling’s prose, developed characters and thoroughly detailed setting inspire me to read more books, but they inspired me to become a writer as well.
I’m not the only one who has been affected by Rowling in this way either, and that really shows by just how many teenagers and young adults showed up to see “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” on its opening night.
A prequel to the “Harry Potter” series set in the same universe, “Fantastic Beasts” is about the adventures of Newt Scamander, a magizoologist played by Eddie Redmayne.
After accidentally setting loose a multitude of magical creatures in New York City, Scamander must team up with a bystander Muggle, a non-magical human known in the United States as a “NoMag,” and an Auror, a sort of bounty hunter in the Wizarding World, for the wizarding version of our Congress.
While the plot itself is quite simple, the film’s characters and filming are anything but. This film easily competes with “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” as the prettiest in the franchise. While the CGI could sometimes be cartoonish, especially when the original octet had incredible practical effects, any film that captures New York City as beautifully as this deserves the utmost praise.
Unlike about 90 percent of the previous films, Steve Kloves did not write the screenplay for this film.
When I heard Rowling herself would write it, I was skeptical because novel-writing and film-writing are as similar as a goblin and a dwarf. Sure, they have very similar sizes and elements, but their anatomies are entirely distinct.
But I can say sincerely that her screenplay is probably one of the best features of this film. Her witty dialogue, layered characters and various connections to the books and expanding Wizarding World at large never made for a dull moment in the over-two-hour runtime.
While I do miss seeing Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint together on the silver screen, there is no doubt “Fantastic Beasts” did for “Potter” fans what “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” did for “Star Wars” fans.
Our anticipation is just as eager too for the arrival of the next installment “Fantastic Beasts” has to offer.
Until then, mischief managed.
