The film Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them was simply that, fantastic.
This film reminded me of why I continue to love this world of wizardry and it made me feel like a child again.
An expansion of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter explored the 1920s in America with lead character Newt Scamander.
Scamander, played by Eddie Redmayne, had come to New York after traveling around the world in search of magical creatures he adored.
He was expelled from Hogwarts, the school of wizards and witches explored in the Harry Potter saga, which led him to America in search of more magical beasts.
However, when his briefcase holding those creatures gets loose, it creates turmoil amongst wizards and no-maj (non-magic) humans.
The film brought the nostalgia that Harry Potter fans loved, but also included new elements that kept viewers interested.
The nostalgia included familiar spells like ‘obliviate’, wipes memories of magic, and references to Potter characters such as Albus Dumbledore who was a professor at the time.
Not to mention other names like LeStrange and teases to upcoming events that were mentioned in the Potter saga.
The American wizarding world was introduced for the first time, and even mentioned the wizarding school Ilvermorny for the first time.
J.K. Rowling, creator of the wizarding world, made her debut as a screenwriter and showed that she is excellent at what she does, whether it’s writing a book or writing a film.
It was fun to explore a different scenery of this world and what made it even better was the CGI elements.
The creatures and magic-filled scenes were terrifically shot and edited as it seemed so realistic.
The nice surprise was that the beasts were not actually the antagonists in the film, but something bigger.
By the end of it, a shocking twist did enough to make those in the theater gasp and definitely enticed me to look forward to seeing the four sequels.
Overall, this film gets five out of five stars, with much anticipation to what’s next.
Although my love for the world of wizardry has never disappeared, it was reignited after watching the film, thank you Ms. Rowling.
