Who doesn’t love a little magic in New York City? Over the years it’s been host to everything from Goza the Gozarian to Gargoyles and the witch queen, but here it’s the work of the modern day maestro of the wizarding world in the movie adaptation of J.K. Rowlings’ Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them. The film is based on the book of the same name and is a bit of a prequel or earlier spinoff from the Harry Potter series, taking place in the same magical world, but with an earlier timeline.
With Harry Potter And The Cursed Child on at the West End in the second half of 2016 too, it was clear that there’s still plenty left in the closet under the stairs for the JK Rowling magical fantasy fiction series. We’ll be very surprised if a movie doesn’t follow the paly in the not too distant future. For now, though, there’s the prospects of massive monsters and the might of magic running amok in New York, so there’s more than enough wand fire-power to keep Harry Potter fans happy for a little while yet.
Release date
Cinema:
The film hit the big screen in 2016 with a UK release date of Friday the 18th November 2016 and a US release on the same date. You only see minor flashes of the special effects wonders that are an integral ingredient in the film in the trailer below, but with so much potential visual magic it went on to be available to view in both 3D and IMAX, as well as 2D screenings.
DVD, Blu-ray and digital download:
The DVD has been confirmed for a UK release date of the 27th March 2017, putting it in a good place to be one of the must-see family films out in time for the Easter hols. It’ll also be available on Blu-ray, 4K UHD Blu-ray and digital download.
Story
Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them is one of those rare occurrences in which the film does pretty much exactly what it says on the tin. It’s set in 1926 as wizarding world magical zoologist Newt Scamander arrives in New York having recently completed a global expedition to find and document the most incredible magical creatures imaginable.
However, things get complicated when a muggle called Jacob stumbles into the scene, resulting in the misplacement of a very magical suitcase and the release of some of Newt’s fantastical beasts in the city. It turns out to be a big problem for both the wizards and the muggles alike and they must rally to put things right once again.
Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them trailer:
Cast
Eddy Redmayne (Jupiter Ascending) leads the cast as Newt Scamander and he’s joined by Dan Fogler (Free Birds) as Jacob and Colin Farrell (The Lobster) as Percival Graves. Katherine Waterston (Inherent Vice) plays Tina, Alison Sudol is Tina’s sister, Queenie, Ezra Miller (Batman Vs Superman: Dawn Of Justice) is Credence, Samantha Morton (Minority Report) is Mary Lou, the legendary Jon Voight (The Champ, Transformers) is Henry Shaw, Sr., Ron Perlman (Pacific Rim) is Gnarlack, Carmen Ejogo (Selma) is Seraphina, Jenn Murray (Brooklyn) is Chastity and newcomer Faith Wood-Blagrove plays Modesty. Johnny Depp (Pirates Of The Caribbean: Salazar’s Revenge) puts in a small cameo too.
Production
Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them marks J.K. Rowlings’ first foray into screenplay writing, and she’s also one of the film’s producers along with David Heyman, Steve Kloves and Lionel Wigram, who all worked together on the Harry Potter movie series. David Yates is the director, having had the role for the final four films in Hogwarts canon, and Philippe Rousselot (Beautiful Creatures) is the director of photography.
Age rating
The film has been given an age rating of 12A by the British Board of Film Classification with “moderate threat”, so if anyone’s prone to nightmares then you might want to give it a skip for now.
Review
All signs pointed to this being a big fan favourite and delivering some incredible visual effects along the way and the end result does just that. The trailer gives you a good indication of what to expect from the film, without giving too much of the action away, and the cast and production team behind it were more than enough to make it a critical success. The DVD is easily one to add to the collection, but if you’re looking to make the most out of the stunning visuals and special effects then you might be better off going for either the HD digital download, Blu-ray or 4K version of the film instead. Read our Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them DVD review for more details.
You can also see more on the film and keep tabs on Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find The 2 with J.K. Rowling’s Twitter page.
