Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them Review

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them


Release Date: 17th November 2016 - Australia


Production Companies
Warner Bros. Pictures
Heyday Films

Distribution
Roadshow Films


Genre: Fantasy

Rating: M

Runtime: 133 minutes


Budget: $180,000,000

Box Office Gross: $814,044,001 (Worldwide)


Plot Summary
In 1926, Newt Scamander returned from a global quest to find and document an extraordinary range of magical creatures. Landing in New York for a short stay, he could have come and gone without incident had it not been for a No-Maj called Jacob, a misplaced magical case and the escape of some of Newt's fantastic beasts, which could mean disaster for both the wizarding and the No-Maj worlds.


Cast
Eddie Redmayne - Newt Scamander
Colin Farrell - Percival Graves
Ezra Miller - Credence Barebone
Ron Perlman - Gnarlack
Katherine Waterston - Tina
Samantha Morton - Mary Lou
Jon Voight - Shaw Senior
Carmen Ejogo - Seraphina Picquery
Dan Fogler - Jacob Kowalski
Faith Wood-Blagrove - Modesty Barebone
Jenn Murray - Chastity Barebone
Kevin Guthrie - Mr. Abernathy
Alison Sudol - Queenie
Johnny Depp - Gellert Grindelwald
Zoe Kravitz - Lestrange
Peter Breitmayer - Mr. Bingley
Ranon Raftery - Langdon

Shaw
Josh Cowdery - Henry Shaw Jr.
Ellie Haddington - Mrs. Esposito
Martin Oelbermenn - Heinrich Eberstadt
Gemma Chan - Madam Ya Zhou
Christian Dixon - Momolou Wotorson
Wunmi Mosaku - Beryl
Sam Redford - Customs Official
Scott Goldman - Customs Official (Voice)
Tim Betnick - Witness
Tristan Tait - Reporter
Tom Hodgkins - Barker
Dominique Tipper - Auror 1
Guy Paul - Auror 2
Akin Gazi - Auror 3
Rich Hardesty - Auror 4
Andreea Paduraru - Auror 9
Walles Hamonde - Auror 10
Elizabeth Moynihan - Executioner 1
Miquel Brown - Executioner 2
Jane Perry - Female Customer in Bakery

Crew
Director - David Yates
Based on the Novel "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them"/Writer/Producer - J. K. Rowling

Script Supervisor - Anna Worley

Executive Producer/Unit Production Manager - Tim Lewis
Executive Producers - Neil Blair
and Rick Senat
Producers - David Heyman,
Steve Kloves and Lionel Wigram
Co-Producer/Unit Production Manager - Michael Sharp

Casting Director - Fiona Weir
Production Designer - Stuart Craig
Associate Production Designer - James Hambridge

Concept Artists - Robert Bliss,

Paul Catling, Peter Popken, Dermot Power

and Tom Wingrove

Art Directors - David Allday,
Leslie Tomkins, Guy Bradley, Toby Britton,

Peter Dorme, Gavin Fitch, Martin Foley,

Kate Grimble, Christian Huband,

Huw Arthur and Hayley Easton-Street

Art Directors: Second Unit - Su Whitaker

and Suzanne Austin

Construction Manager - Paul Hayes

Set Decorator - Anna Pinnock

Property Master - Ben Wilkinson

HOD Prop Modeller - Pierre Bohanna
Costume Designer - Colleen Atwood

Makeup & Hair Designer - Fae Hammond
Director of Photography - Philippe Rousselot

Second Unit Director of Photography -

Jean-Philippe Gossart

"A" Camera Operator - Des Whalen

Supervising Location Manager - Sue Quinn

First Assistant Director - Josh Robertson

Second Assistant Director - Tom Brewster
Second Unit Director - Stephen Woolfenden
Stunt Coordinator - Eunice Huthart

Choreographer - Wayne McGregor
Picture Vehicle Coordinator - Alex King
Special Effects Supervisor - David Watkins
Special Effects Coordinator - Victoria Cadiou

Visual Effects Supervisors - Tim Burke

and Christian Manz

Visual Effects Supervisors: Framestore -

Andy Kind and Stephane Nazé

Visual Effects Supervisor: MPC - Ferran Domenech

Additional Supervisors: MPC - Daniel Stumpf,

Asregadoo Arundi, Marco Fogila, Tristan Zerafa

and Paul Nelson

Visual Effects Producer - Olly Young

Senior Visual Effects Producers: Framestore -

Nick King and Imke Fehrmann

Visual Effects Consulting Producer - Emma Norton

Animation Supervisors: Framestore -

Kevin Spruce and Laurent Laban

Visual Effects Creature Animation Development/

Senior Animation Supervisor: Framestore -

Pablo Grillo

CG Supervisors: Framestore - Benjamin Loch,

Benjamin Huber, Francois Lord and Matthiey Bertrand
Editor - Mark Day

Sound Designer/Supervising Sound Editor -

Glenn Freemantle

Sound Designer/Re-Recording Mixer -

Niv Adiri

Sound Designers - Tom Sayers and

Ben Barker

Production Sound Mixer - Simon Hayes

Re-Recording Mixers - Ian Tapp

and Andy Nelson

Foley Artists - Pete Burgis and

Jason Swanscott

Foley Mixer - Glen Gathard

Music - James Newton Howard
Composer: "Hedwig's Theme" - John Williams

Score Recordist and Mixer - Peter Cobbin

Score Recordist - Shawn Murphy

Score Mixer - Kirsty Whalley


Review

The Harry Potter film series should have concluded when Deathly Hallows: Part 2 opened in July 2011 and put the future movies to rest before FANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM got officially announced. The prequel spin-off has attracted a large crowd while earning total income at the box office. FANTASTIC BEASTS should be another beginning of a series that will expand the mythological aspects that glorify the series and make it such a phenomenon. J. K. Rowling is a writer who knows every spell of magic and is every step of writing a fantasy book or story to keep it treasured by all Muggles. David Yates returns to direct this feature, but many actors from the original Harry Potter films are absent.

FANTASTIC BEASTS is a large assemblage of extraordinary visuals, bits of colourful laughter and an ensemble cast of Colin Farrell, Katherine Waterson, Dan Fogler and Ezra Miller. Each of them has a part to play in their characters. Noted English acting thespian Eddie Redmayne gets the standout role of Newt Scamander, a misguided wizard who has to retrieve his magical creatures before they can unleash the dangers into both worlds. Redmayne was a generous actor who had just gone through famous roles as Stephen Hawking and a transgender person. He had the misfortune of being in an antagonist role in Jupiter Ascending, which is unsuited for the character with awkwardness. Johnny Depp is in a surprise guest appearance as the evil wizard Grindelwald. I hoped to see more of his role in the upcoming sequels.

With the announcement of five more films in the series, the first instalment is a great start and worth watching on its own merits. I look forward to seeing the magic again if it benefits the newborn franchise.

Star rating: (8/10) Very Good Movie

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