Wizards Come to America: A Review of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

By Emmanuel Gundran

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Yates, 2016) is a spin-off prequel to the famous Harry Potter franchise that, while it is not completely self-sufficient from its predecessor, is a enjoyable adventure with an overall likable cast of characters and engaging new world.​

The film follows Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne), a wizard from Hogwarts who studies and protects exotic creatures, travels to New York, where the creatures inside his magic suitcase escape and run free. He joins an aspiring but bumbling baker named Jacob Kowalski (Dan Fogler) to wrangle the creatures back into the suitcase before Newt and many other wizards in America are outed as magic users. For, in America, wizards are widely persecuted, especially by the New Salem Philanthropic Society run by Mary Lou Barebone (Samantha Morton), who warns people of the dangers of wizards and magic. Thus, Newt must navigate his way through New York, looking for his lost creatures while keeping his wizard profile a secret, fighting prejudice against magic, and a new, mysterious threat.

Tina Goldstein, Newt Scamander, and Jacob Kowalski (from left to right)

Despite the film’s connection to the Harry Potter franchise, Fantastic Beasts creates a memorable world and characters separate from its predecessors. Of the main cast, Jacob Kowalski is perhaps the most compelling and entertaining character. In general, the Harry Potter universe focuses mostly on characters who can use magic. With Fantastic Beasts, Kowalski’s status as a non-magic user, or a “No-Maj” as they are called in the film, in the midst of magic users like Newt and Tina Goldstein (Katherine Waterston) makes him more of a relatable and sympathetic character. He shares the same kind of awe and sometimes terror at the magic creatures and spells that most people would have.

Also present in the film is an extensive look at the relationship between No-Maj’s and wizards. Wizards in the Harry Potter series generally remain hidden from the world of non-magic users (or “Muggles”) at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. This film, however, shows more of wizards hiding among No-Maj’s and outside of their comfort zones. We take a look inside the New Salem Philanthropic Society, where we see children of magical background oppressed for their dangerous powers and focus in on the life of Credence Barebones (Ezra Miller), who is given especially cruel treatment by his adopted mother. We also see the pressure that the Magical Congress of the USA faces of keeping magic a secret to the No-Maj’s while Newt Scamander’s creatures are running free across New York and dealing with a new, dark creature called an Obscurial, the violent spirit of a repressed wizard.

Credence is forced to hide his magical abilities because of the stigma against wizards in America.

The one major fault that I believe the film has is its villain, Gellert Grindelwald (Johnny Depp). His ultimate importance in the narrative is only hinted at at the beginning and end of the film. Though he is technically working his way throughout the film from beginning to end, he uses an alias to go unnoticed. When Grindelwald is revealed at the end, it feels like a forced revelation as there was very little build up to it. His presence in the film is also where it falls short from being completely self-sufficient from the other Harry Potter films, as those who have followed the franchise would have a much better understanding of who the character is and why he is important. Furthermore, it also seems his presence at the end is used as a tease for the sequel planned to be released in 2018.​

Regardless of how the villain may have pulled the film down from being excellent, Fantastic Beasts was an overall enjoyable ride once again through J.K. Rowling’s Wizarding World.