‘Fantastic Beasts’ wins over Harry Potter fans

Fantastic Beasts wins over Harry Potter fans

Delaney Garrelts, Reporter

“Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” is an enthralling tale of an English wizard who travels to 1920s America to release a Thunderbird named Frank back into the wild.

Newt, played by Eddie Redmayne, is a caretaker of magical creatures. Within his first day in America, he loses a Niffler, a creature that looks like a mole and platypus combined, that attempts to steal various valuables in New York.

Tina, played by Katherine Waterson, is a witch who attempts to stop Newt in fear his creatures will cause mayhem and expose the wizarding world, but she eventually develops a meaningful friendship with him.

A nomaj, or non magical person, named Jacob gets swept up into the action and ends up accidentally witnessing unimaginable creatures and astounding magic.

Fans also get to meet Queenie, played by Fine Frenzy, who is Tina’s sister as well as a witch who can naturally read other people’s minds.

It turns out to be a bad time for Newt to arrive as an Obscurial, a mysterious smoke like entity, is wreaking havoc in the streets. The damage caused could easily be explained away by Newt’s creatures as a few manage to escape the suitcase he was storing them in.

With small but significant nods to the original Harry Potter series and with the music harboring similarities to that of the eight original films, it’s easy for fans to flock to this movie despite the completely different cast.

Fans have high expectations for anything within the Harry Potter brand, but they surely won’t be disappointed by this movie.

The creatures look amazing, and in the short time of the movie, it’s hopelessly easy to fall in love with them.

“Fantastic Beasts” had dark moments, but it was also full of hilarious scenes.

It was the perfect balance of emotional and light hearted, and it would be easy to recommend not only to die-hard Harry Potter fans, but to those who have never seen a Harry Potter movie as well.