I was fortunate to win a pair of tickets to the European Premiere of the new JK Rowling film, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. It took place last night (15 November) in Leicester Square, London. It was an amazing ‘blue’ carpet experience, and we got to see the stars of the film as well as make our own ‘cast your own spell’ short video!
Our tickets were for The Empire Cinema, and we saw this brilliant new movie in their IMAX screen. We had amazing seats – albeit on the back row, they were right in the middle of the auditorium and we had stunning views of the vast IMAX screen.
Now, to confess a little secret … Harry Potter films, although very watchable, confused me. In these films there were lots of characters to remember and you needed to know what went before in previous films to get the most out of the newer one you were watching. I like Harry Potter – a lot – but I found viewing the movies hard work! So knowing that Fantastic Beasts was a kind of prequel to Harry Potter, I was somewhat worried that it would require total concentration to understand the plot. This really wasn’t the case.
JK Rowling, on being interviewed, said that this was her opportunity to focus on the ‘dark side’ – I heard her say this before the movie started and so I was expecting a film set in subdued light with lots of shadows and despair.
Fantastic Beasts, however, starts with a scene that reminded me of Titanic! The boarding (actually, in this case the disembarkation) of a 1920s ocean liner. This ocean liner had docked in New York, and from it walked the film’s main character, Newt Scamander, a ‘magizoologist’. Newt, or Newton Artemis Fido Scamander in full, had attended and been expelled from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and went to work at the Ministry of Magic in their Beast Division. In this film he was in the process of writing a book – Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them – and he was travelling the world studying and collecting these beasts to raise awareness of their importance and to help conserve them. He had come to the USA in order to release one of the creatures back into the wild, in Arizona. However, while going through customs having just got off the ship, a beast escaped and ran amok throughout New York!
Throughout Europe there had been a series of atrocities, caused by Gellert Grindelwald, one of the most dangerous Dark Wizards of all time. MACUSA (The Magical Congress of the United States) feared Grindelwald’s actions were an ‘act of war’, so when similar atrocities started to happen in New York, they believed Newt Scamander to be working for Grindelwald.
I’ve said too much! The film is basically Scamander capturing his escaped beasts and trying to convince MACUSA that he’s not who they think he is.
What sets this film apart from the Potter films are the beasts … oh I can see a huge opportunity for merchandising! From the lightfingered duck-billed Niffler to Pickett, an insecure Bowtruckle – these are beasts with a lot of character, and children are going to love them!
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is the first of FIVE films, so this one sets the scene, and it does it really well. The film starts with Newt Scamander disembarking an ocean liner, and it ends with him leaving New York on another … and a lot happens in between.
Do I recommend it? Absolutely! Was it scary? No. Was it funny? Yes, in places there were some brilliant comedy moments. Was it dark, as JK Rowling suggested? A little. These five films will explore Dark Wizardry, but Gellert Grindelwald (Johnny Depp everyone!) made his appearance only in the last few minutes of the movie … so hopefully we’ll see more of him in the next one.
You don’t have to know Harry Potter to enjoy this film. It stands on its own two feet and you don’t need to know anything about Hogwarts. They don’t even call non-magic people muggles! (In the US they call them no-majes – I prefer muggles personally.)
Book tickets and go and see it – you’ll enjoy it. I’m convinced 🙂
