Co-written by JK Rowling and long-time Harry Potter screenwriter Steve Kloves, Fantastic Beasts is the third in a five-movie extension of Warner Bros’ franchise. While it’s the weakest, most rambling so far, it also delivers rich, immersive and thrilling moments – and offers loads to love and laugh at.
The first two movies tracked the rise of Grindelwald in 1920s NYC and Paris. Now it’s 1930s London, Berlin, and, surprisingly, Bhutan, as Grindelwald steps up his power grab.
Despite lots of trademark brilliant inventive flourishes, the core plot stinks. Grindelwald can see the future, so Dumbledore assembles a plucky gang of heroes: Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne), his furry duck-billed mole and stick-man accomplices, his bro Theseus (Callum Turner), that sweet New Yoick baker from the first movie, and some random newbies. It gives them overlapping secret instructions to ‘confuse’ Grindelwald – and everyone else as well. These involve the gang swooping off to Bhutan with five identical brown suitcases, one of which may or may not contain a cute baby deer. It’s a ton of fun, but it lacks substance, menace, emotional heft. Often, it lacks sense too.
The cast is ace, especially Redmayne: hopefully his career as a riff on a young David Attenborough lasts as long as his muggle counterpart’s has. One hilarious scene has Newt and his uptight big brother escaping from a horde of scorpion crabs teaching them to salsa, sideways.
Jude Law, though, is miscast as the young Dumbledore, haunted by his dead sister. He does pretty well despite this, but where was Mark Rylance on casting day? This is essentially his movie and it’s a shame that subtlety and depth are missing. There are no secrets about Dumbledore that we don’t already know, and he’s a vacuum at the centre of a story which needed a beating heart.
As Grindelwald, the genuinely European villain Mads Mikkelsen makes a fantastically sinister replacement. (More Mads, please!) And fans are speculating why former franchise star Katherine Waterston – seen for about 20 seconds here and hardly at all in the film’s promotion – has been demoted in this instalment.
And this movie, with its gentle humour, japes, and truly fantastical beasties, is an appealing escape for kids and kidults alike. Even at its weakest, the Potterverse – with its fun, mayhem, and world class ability to create imaginary worlds of epic sweep and a million tiny details – retains its transportive power. Go see this one at the cinema where the big screen and sound will wrap you in a warm, duvet of delight.
Out in UAE and KSA cinemas Apr 28.
