A movie review written by: Lee Sonogan

(2016) 2h12mins/Adventure, Family, Fantasy

The Harry Potter prequel that we have all been waiting for. This movie is based 70 years before Harry Potter reads his book in school. Located in New York, a writer called Newt Scamander has adventures with the secret community of witches and wizards. With a budget of 180 million, it made 801,571,325 million at the box office. This successful film has a different feel to it compared to the other movies.

This movie is the screenwriting debut of J.K. Rowling, the writer of the Harry Potter Novel series. J.K. Rowling has stated that this film “is neither a prequel nor a sequel to the Harry Potter series, but an extension of the wizarding world. Newt’s story will start in New York, seventy years before Harry gets underway,”. The film was originally intended to be a trilogy, but as of October 2016, it has been confirmed as a 5 part movie series.

Within the Harry Potter universe, Newt Scamander’s “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” was first published in 1927 and became a massive bestseller, as well as an approved textbook at Hogwarts. By the mid-1990s, when the Harry Potter series is set, it was in its 52nd edition. Scamander also has the distinct honour of having his own Chocolate Frog Card.

Straight from the start, it is different, but some familiar type of magic and mystery. For a spin-off movie, I liked this movie. The imagery in this movie is very well done changing New York back into the 1920s. The story creates interest with all the magical creatures. The movie is also good with clever humour, soundtrack, characters, CGI, and more. The ending starts with a twist and then an epic battle. Then at the of the battle, a surprising cameo that you would not expect. I recommend this movie to fans of the original stories and new people to the series. If you were a person that never heard of Harry Potter before and this was the first of it that you have seen, then watching the rest in order would blow your mind. I am excited for the sequel of this movie to come out.

7.8/10