DIRECTOR: David
Yates LEAD CAST: Eddie Redmayne, Katherine Waterston, Dan
Fogler, Alison Sudol, Ezra Miller, Samantha Morton, Jon Voight, Carmen Ejogo,
Colin Farrell SCREENWRITER: J. K. Rowling, based on her book, “Fantastic
Beasts and Where to Find Them” PRODUCERS:
David Heyman, J. K. Rowling, Steve
Kloves, Lionel Wigram FILM EDITOR: Mark Day GENRE: Fantasy,
Adventure, Family CINEMATOGRAPHY: Philippe Rousselot MUSIC BY: James Newton Howard PRODUCTON
COMPANY: Heyday Films DISTRIBUTED BY: Warner Bros. Pictures COUNTRIES: U. K., U. S. A. LANGUAGE: English RUNNING TIME: 2 hours & 13 minutes
Technical assessment: 3.5
Moral assessment: 3
CINEMA rating:
V13
Newt Scamander
(Eddie Redmayne), an alumnus of Harry's alma mater, the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry who specializes in studying and preserving outlandish fauna. The British wizard arrives in Ellis Island
carrying a leather briefcase that has seen better days. An unsmiling customs officer inspects it for
prohibited items but seeing only a neat pile of personal effects says to the harmless
looking passenger, “Welcome to New York”, without a smile to match. Little does he know that he has just welcomed
mayhem into the city for the battered briefcase is actually a portal to an
alternate reality where the fantastic beasts reside. An unfortunate accident causes some of the odd
critters to escape from Newt’s portable zoo.
With a clueless stranger he meets at the port, Jacob (Dan Fogler),
becoming his sidekick by accident, Newt sets out to retrieve his magical
creatures gone loose, with the help of a witch working for the American Magical
Congress, Tina Goldstein (Katherine Waterston), and her femme fatale sister
Queenie (Alison Sudol).
Penned and written
for the screen by J. K. Rowling of the Harry
Potter fame, Fantastic Beasts
takes the viewer to a world no less fascinating than Harry Potter’s, although
its target audience is the same fan base that patronized Harry Potter. Considering the treasure trove that the Harry
Potter franchise has turned out to be, it’s understandable why Rowling and
company would want to court this now-older audience, using pre-depression New
York as a fresh setting. Fantastic Beasts is a light story that’s
unhampered by a convoluted narrative, the better to focus the spotlight on the
literally fantastic animal species never before created by CGI masters. Costumes and sets are meticulously done.
The most enjoyable part of the movie for the
young at heart, in fact, have to do with being acquainted with the CGI
creatures of the title, which include a possum look-alike with an insatiable
appetite for anything shiny, a rhino-elephant cross that’s raring to mate, a
monstrous eagle-headed, dragon-tailed bird with three pairs of wings, and serpentine
blue dragon nestlings. Catchy for adults,
too, is the fuss-free dinner where dishes and napkins fly to their places, and
a perfect strudel is instantly created simply by waving a wand. Young children should be guided, though, in
discerning between reality and alternate reality as presented in movies of this
genre, lest their impressionable minds begin to expect a world run by
witchcraft and wizardry. They should be
taught firmly that battles between good and evil are not fought with magic
wands and spells. Do take these movies
as an occasion to remind young ones of fundamental Christian values, as
tirelessly taught by a dynamic Church.
