Fantastic Beasts & Where To Find Them

Starring: Eddie Redmayne, Katherine Waterston, & Colin Farrell

Rating: 4 1/2 out of 5

J.K. Rowling may have ended the Harry Potter series, but she isn't done writing about her magical world. Her latest series Fantastic Beasts has finally hit theaters, with the first of what will be a five film series, that starts off a hundred years before Harry Potter stepped into Hogwarts. The film is centered on Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne), who has come to New York City as part of his quest to save the endangered species of the magical world. These creatures live in what appears to be a suitcase, but when some of them escape and a muggle is exposed to Scamander's attempts to retrieve them, he finds himself in a world of trouble. Scamander's only salvation is that with another unknown creature and a dark wizard on the loose, there are other things to worry about, so he is sent with an agent (Katherine Waterston), and the muggle, to collect his creatures and to try to help figure out what is going on. Even though this movie takes place a hundred years before Harry Potter the special effects and especially the CGI on all the creatures involved is amazing! Even if I watched this film without the sound on, I'd still be blown away by how visually impactful it is. As for it's star, they cast one of the biggest up and comers in Hollywood, Eddie Redmayne, and he is perfect for the role. Redmayne is exactly like Harry and the kind of character Rowling loves to write about. He's this geeky, skinny, soft spoken, lovable loser, that no one would expect to be perhaps a hero in waiting. Aside from some corny jokes thrown in for the kids and die hard Potter fans, this movie was absolutely fantastic and I can't wait to see where it goes next. Rowling has stated that the other films will focus on other characters, including a younger Dumbledore, which I'm a bit indifferent to. I really liked this film, and I am curious to know what would be the point in a sequel that starts over. I'd imagine it would be to introduce everyone and then bring them all together in the end, but no matter what they do, the producers will be hard pressed to out due this film.