Starting the year before The Hunger Games movies came out, I spent every night over my Thanksgiving vacation reading the novel out loud to my older cousins before going to sleep in my uncle’s workout basement. Then tradition became everyone read the next novel themselves over the year (I finished them myself all in that first Thanksgiving weekend), and then we’d all go see the film together. Now that that franchise is over (or, at least until they do a spin-off like the actors said they’d maybe be interested in), what other movies are there for everyone to see at Thanksgiving?
1. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
It’s Harry Potter, so obviously this is number 1. And North America finally got the answer we’ve all been waiting for: did the entire world (besides French Girls who go to Beauxbatons Academy of Magic and the Northern-European Durmstrang) go to Hogwarts? Answer: no. There are even more institutes of magic than we ever imagined, but this movie focuses on North America, and one British wizard, Newt Scamander. Newt’s adventure begins in 1920’s New York City after he accidentally let magical creatures escape his case, endangering all American wizards who have awful relationships with No-Majs (“no magic;” American’s name for “muggle”). The film stars Eddie Redmayne as Newt Scamander, who is also an ex-Hogwarts student—he was expelled for endangering the life of another student (like Hagrid!)—and wrote the Hogwarts textbook Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (which is also the title of the film). Basically, what isn’t awesome about this film?
2. Doctor Strange
Yes, I know it came out before Thanksgiving, but who cares? The latest Marvel film with Benedict Cumberbatch? Say no more. And, it’s the first time mainstream audiences get to see Marvel’s magic side (up until now, everything except the Asgardians have been science, or secretly infinity stone,-based). And while the white washing was a big scandal, I actually like the explanation of “The Ancient One being a title rather than a single person.” So I won’t let that keep me from the movie theater for this one. I’m also super excited to see Cumberbatch go up against his second Mikkelsen brother (he opposed Lars in the third season of BBC’s Sherlock). I also hear the story is entertaining and the visuals are amazing, so I’m super excited about those.
3. Moana
Can you actually believe I put a Disney film at the bottom of a (very short) list? According to my favorite YouTuber, this film isn’t getting a lot of good press which surprises me given who’s attached to the project, but I don’t care. The story sounds fun and Lin-Manuel Miranda (if you don’t know who he is by now…) wrote music for it and sings at least one song (according to the trailers). Plus, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is voicing a demigod. That just sounds like a really kid-friendly, happy adventure. And after this election season, I think we could all use a brief respite from the madness. And what better way to recapture your innocence than watching a Disney movie? Sure Harry Potter could do it, but those have always had the threat of Voldemort in them (Fantastic Beasts is threatened by Gellert Grindewald—the big bad before Voldemort). And Marvel has its fair share of funny quips, but given they’re all dipped in sarcasm, à la Tony Stark (and sometimes Bruce Banner and Black Widow), it’s clearly for an older audience. So, Disney is the winner in the childhood arena, and that’s why no amount of bad reviews will stop me from seeing this movie.
What about you? What are you planning to see this Thanksgiving season?