“Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” just premiered in Brazil, on November 17th, and is already a success. The movie is a prequel, set years before Harry Potter, and was produced and written by J. K. Rowling, in her screenwriting debut — inspired by her book of the same name.
In the movie, Eddie Redmayne is Newt Scamander, a shy and fumbling British magizoologist visiting New York City in 1926 on a mission involving his fascination with magical animals. Newt wants to attend his magical suitcase full of creatures in peace, but a chance encounter with the non-magical (the american term for “muggle”) wannabe baker Jacob Kowalski (Dan Fogler) and the anti-magic fanatic Mary Lou Barebone (Samantha Morton) sets some of his charges free, and he has to recapture them all with the help of Tina Goldstein (Katherine Waterston).
The cast of “Fantastic Beasts” was a good surprise. Besides Eddie Redmayne with his British charm as the main character, the down-to-earth, grounded witch and former Auror Tina Goldstein (Katherine Waterson) is the one that has the best ideas, while her sister, Queenie (Alison Sudol), is the optimistic one. However, it’s the non-maj Jacob Kowalski that is the most captivating and likeable character.
Even though the main plot of “Fantastic Beasts” is about Newt trying to track down his creatures, we can identify different plots through the movie. Besides Newt and his monsters, there are the villain Grindelwald/Percival Graves (Colin Farrell), Credence (Ezra Miller) and Tina’s stories. The writers and producers did a great job of weaving them together, however while the individual characters are charming, their relationships are not that well-explored — that because so much time is dedicated to jumping between plotlines.
Rowling was able to expand the magical universe without recycling elements to make the public feel nostalgic. In fact, she introduces new concepts and shows us complex themes, especially the prejudice between witches and no-majs.
About the beasts? They are cute and, of course, fantastic — and made us wish to have one of our own. The movie was not a surprise for the Harry Potter fans, but made they pretty anxious for the next one, which will be released in 2018. After all this time, the magic is still in their hearts.