My Impressions of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

  

*WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD*

     Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them in my opinion is a great movie that is a very good addition to the Harry Potter universe. Even though this movie has nothing to do with Harry Potter himself or any of the other main story characters other than a few references to Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them has a plot that is just as interesting as the other main story movies that leaves the watchers with unanswered questions that hint at even more movies to come that will further expand the Harry Potter universe.

    The first thing that made this movie a great expansion of the Harry Potter universe is the character design. All main characters were well thought out and played key roles to the movies plot development. The main character Newt Scamander was a healthy change for the series that pushed the stereotype for the “hero” while not crossing over into “anti-hero” territory . Most heroes are thought of as outgoing, popular, and accepted. Newt Scamander is a character that is more reserved and less ready to jump into a fight than most heroes would be. At first it seems as if Newt Scamander only cares about these magical creatures that no one else in the series really seems to like. But throughout the duration of the movies you find out that Newt Scamander also cares about his friends and their well being. He cares about the conservation of these wonderful magical creatures that everyone else seems to think are more dangerous than anything. Another main character that I really enjoyed was Jacob Kowalski. Jacob Kowalski is a just a no-mag or muggle( non magical person). Jacob gets caught up in the wizarding world on accident when he accidentally acquires an egg that belong to Newt Scamander. After this he ends up getting bit by another one of Newt Scamander's creatures and has to be taken into the magic authorities in New York city. Throughout the movie Jacob Kowalski travels all over New York city with Newt Scamander trying to catch some of the magical creatures that were released and running all over New York city. In the end though he ended up losing his memory due to the law that muggles are not suppose to know about the magic or the wizarding world at all.

    The second thing that makes this movie a great is the magical creatures. The design of these creatures was very interesting and added a lot the plot. Mostly as problems to the main characters. There were a few creatures that was highlighted throughout the film such as the thunderbird. The thunderbird was actually the reason that Newt Scamander was in America. He was there to return his thunder bird which he rescued in Egypt back to its natural habitat in Arizona. Thunderbirds are a species very closely related to the phoenix and mad storms when they fly. Another creature that is important to the plot of the story is the Demiguise. This creature is able to become invisible when threatened and its sight is different from normal. It only sees the most possible or likely outcome of what is about to happen. This cause Newt Scamander as he tries to catch him, but also leads him to discovering that another one of his creatures has escaped. The other creature that escaped is called an Occamy. This is serpentine creature that has what looks like a bird beak that can grow to amazing lengths or shrink to tiny sizes depending on its habitat or what its eating. One other creature that plays an important part to the plot of the story is the niffler. A niffler is a smaller magical creature that is black and has a snout. These creatures have an obsession with anything that is sparkly or shiny. Newt Scamander's Niffler escapes and starts stealing everything that it can find. Newt chases it into a bank where he drops the egg that Jacob Kowalski has finds. The two are introduced and Newt teleports them through apparition and they go and find the Niffler in the vault of the bank. These are just a few of the magical creature that play big roles in the story and contribute to the plot.

    The other thing that I thought was very interesting in this movie was the main antagonist and main problem of the story. The main problem of the movie changes throughout the movie. The main problem shifts from Newts creatures being released to the appearance of an obscurus.  An obscurus in a magical parasite that is formed when a child( normally a child) with magical abilities has to suppress them. This magical parasite is very powerful and can strike out if the child wishes, but it will kill the child normally. In the movie a boy named Credence Barebone is tasked by the main antagonist to find the child with great power AKA the obscurus. Credence Barebone was adopted by a muggle organization that believes witches are real and evil. Credence wants to be a wizard, but has to suppress it. In return for finding the obscurus the main antagonist will teach him to be a wizard. What the antagonist does not know is that Credence is the obscurus that he was looking for. What makes this so special is that Credence is older than any other obscurus has ever been, which means that he is super powerful. He ends up attacking the main characters and causing vast amounts of damage. This is great main problem in my opinion because of the depth and the surprise that I got from it. The other thing that I thought was good about the movie was the main antagonist. The main antagonist is a wizard from Europe that caused huge amounts of damage and upset in the wizarding community. His name is Gellert Grindelwald. In the movie he is disguised as a magical authority named Percival Graves. In the movie at first you thing that Percival graves is a normal magical authority with a dark temper. As the movie progresses you get more and more of the feel that Percival Graves is not a normal wizard, much less a good one. Then at the very end when the you think that the story is over a major scene happens. Newt Scamander deduces that Percival Graves is actually Gellert Grindelwald. Gellert Grindelwald is then taken away saying more as a statement then a question “ do you really think you can hold me”. I thought this was an excellent way for the main antagonist to leave because it gives the sense of foreboding and dread that an villain this powerful might break out and cause trouble once again.

In conclusion Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is an excellent movie on its own and as an extension to the current Wizarding World of Harry Potter. In terms of plot Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them had many story and character elements that were interesting and kept the watcher on the edge of their seat the whole time. The movie is made even better by the nostalgia the watcher gets from stepping back in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.