Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
(I first saw this film in 2017 so this is not part of my 2018 list; as such this "review" is idiosyncratic even for me.)
One of the most interesting, charming, and also frustrating elements of the Harry Potter films was that they would include iconic scenes from the books that were strictly unnecessary to the stripped back plots of the films. (Occasionally they were unnecessary in thee books especially some of the longer, later ones). Fantastic Beasts doesn't have that problem so everything in it is there because the filmmakers want it to be. So what do they want?
They want a lot of the titular Fantastic Beasts, these forming the main elements of Newt's plot for the first two thirds of the film, as well as making the majority of the action sequences and instigating or solving most of the problems. They want a love story. Maybe two! They want to look at the relationship between No-majs and Wizards. They want to look at 1920s New York quite a bit, though it's more backdrop and style than front and centre. They want to show us our heroes, (mostly) powerful wizards but not the chosen ones, coming up against (arguably) the greatest wizard in the world. And they want to show us what happens when you bottle up magic and don't let it out (SPOILERS: It's Bad.)
Anyway I liked it; coherent, fast paced, lots of beasts.
One of the most interesting, charming, and also frustrating elements of the Harry Potter films was that they would include iconic scenes from the books that were strictly unnecessary to the stripped back plots of the films. (Occasionally they were unnecessary in thee books especially some of the longer, later ones). Fantastic Beasts doesn't have that problem so everything in it is there because the filmmakers want it to be. So what do they want?
They want a lot of the titular Fantastic Beasts, these forming the main elements of Newt's plot for the first two thirds of the film, as well as making the majority of the action sequences and instigating or solving most of the problems. They want a love story. Maybe two! They want to look at the relationship between No-majs and Wizards. They want to look at 1920s New York quite a bit, though it's more backdrop and style than front and centre. They want to show us our heroes, (mostly) powerful wizards but not the chosen ones, coming up against (arguably) the greatest wizard in the world. And they want to show us what happens when you bottle up magic and don't let it out (SPOILERS: It's Bad.)
Anyway I liked it; coherent, fast paced, lots of beasts.
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