There are flying magical creatures and a wand-waving wizard community. But as Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them -- the Harry Potter spin-off -- unravels, we realise that the beast has been brought up to be so much more than just child's play and fantasy.
There's war on the brink, nations are divided. Bigotry lurks during political turmoil. Extremists in fear are chanting "burn the witch". Draw comparisons however you like: X-Men's mutants, the spurned Queen Elsa or the stigma of the real-world's LGBTI population.
It's not hard to see where J.K. Rowling, the author of the Harry Potter series and Fantastic Beasts' writer and screenwriter, is coming from with her representation of magical men and women. This is a war of identity, a tale of a community being abused for the nature they are forced to suppress and control. Conceal, don't feel, don't let them know. The suppressed and misunderstood then becomes a terrorising menace -- a dark force that's ready to unleash and wreak havoc on the unsuspecting.
To stay hidden, closeted and silent, or to tear the wall down with a bang -- which is right and which is wrong? (even, is either an absolute right or wrong?) -- will, of course, be explored further in future sequels of Fantastic Beasts. And, yes, there are many of them heading our way.
In all these heavy themes, the story is pushed forward with the misadventure of magizoologist Newt Scamander (Oscar winner Eddie Redmayne), the awkward Brit wizard who lands in 1926 New York with a suitcase full of magical creatures. After his suitcase is switched with the American "no-maj" (non-magic people, the "muggles"), Jacob Kowalski, Newt's creatures are loose in the city. That gets the two men entangled with the Goldstein sisters: Porpentina, a grounded auror (police of the wizarding world), and Queenie, the mind-reading, free-spirited bombshell, as well as law enforcement, both magical and no-maj.
In its 133 minutes running time, and millions of dollars on CGI, the film is stuffed with all creatures big and small that imagination could conjure up, and they're based on the Fantastic Beasts And Where to Find Them book that was released in 2001 as a companion -- a pseudo Hogwarts textbook of our Potter gang -- to the main Potter series. As the book has only descriptions of the beasts and no narratives, the story in the Fantastic Beasts film is an original conjured up by none other than Rowling in her screenwriting debut.
Set in the dazzling Jazz Age, the Beasts revive and add flair to the Potter franchise in a great way. Although, as a first in a five-part series, the film is packed with intertwining stories and subplots that almost leave things stuffy. Well, I guess Rowling has to lay down her base to build up in future instalments somehow.
Redmayne -- who, of course, has channelled roles like a singing revolutionist, a physicist and a transgender woman -- makes an endearing, mumbling Newt. His budding romance with Katherine Waterston's Porpentina is cute, though a little too fleeting. Dan Fogler as Newt's American sidekick Kowalski and Alison Sudol as Queenie end up stealing the spotlight and the story's romantic goodness. And then there's Johnny Depp making a cameo as dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald, but we'll leave it at that so as to not spoil the story.
As for the supporting men, several scenes of Colin Farrell and troubled teen Ezra Miller are surprisingly laced with seductive queerness, however abusive the relationship may seem. Rowling, as she previously outed her iconic character -- the sage Albus Dumbledore -- as gay, is not one to shy away from sexuality issues.
The story also strives to be politically correct and inclusive on gender and race, or at least it tries to, by having Carmen Ejogo -- a Brit actress with Nigerian ancestry -- in the supporting role of Seraphina Picquery, the president of the Magical Congress of the United States of America. A woman of colour in power, but that's very much as far as the inclusion goes. Needless to say, the majority of the main and supporting cast is white.
It's suffice to say Fantastic Beasts has taken the Potter franchise and migrated itself into an adult series of its own initiative. It's not anymore the coming-of-age drama we're used to. Audiences have grown up, and so have the movies. At times chattery and magical, as well as forceful and creepy, as a prequel the film is clearly the most disturbing Potter instalment so far -- though in quite a good way, unlike the previously released stage script of Harry Potter And The Cursed Child. That play has potential, but its story was a total blasphemy. Thank Merlin we don't have to venture down that road again.
While you don't need to watch or read the Potter stories to get what Fantastic Beasts is all about, it's highly recommended that you do so for maximum entertainment and understanding. The excitement of hearing familiar names (and more) gives all the oohs and ahs that only diehard fans would appreciate.
Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them Starring Eddie Redmayne, Katherine Waterston, Dan Fogler and Colin Farrell Directed by David Yates
