That's the start of it, but only the start.
J K Rowling's first self-penned screenplay is a refreshing return to her Harry Potter universe. Gone are the Hogwarts students and the contemporary British setting, to be replaced with an adult cast in 'Roaring Twenties' New York. Yet from the wizarding news montage at the start, this film had me back somewhere thrillingly familiar - and this time I didn't know the ending!
J K Rowling's first self-penned screenplay is a refreshing return to her Harry Potter universe. Gone are the Hogwarts students and the contemporary British setting, to be replaced with an adult cast in 'Roaring Twenties' New York. Yet from the wizarding news montage at the start, this film had me back somewhere thrillingly familiar - and this time I didn't know the ending!
Newt Scamander, unassuming hero of the movie, will be familiar to Potter fans. He's the author of Harry's magical creatures textbook Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, and a historically famous 'magizoologist'.
Here we meet the globetrotting Newt as he arrives in Manhattan on creature-related business, his Tardis-like suitcase stuffed with enough beasts to fill a wizarding safari-park. A random encounter with affable muggle Jacob Kowalski (the American word for a non-magical type is 'no-maj') sets in motion events that throw Newt's visit into chaos. Soon he is dealing with the American magical governing body and tied up in events that threaten to engulf all of the city, magic and no-maj alike.
On numerous levels this new story is a treat. Twenties NYC, reproduced in gorgeous period detail, is a perfect backdrop for the sorcery, the magic meshing with the Art Deco stylings of this era perfectly. Eddie Redmayne brings his masterful physicality to the role of the eccentric Newt; he stoops and falters (and is sometimes a bit too mumbly) when interacting with other humans, but comes into his own when engaging Attenborough-style with his beloved 'beasts'.
Dan Folger is hugely endearing as Kowalski, the muggle swept up in the supernatural proceedings, while Katherine Waterston and Alison Sudol up it to a winning quartet as the Goldstein sisters, the boys' chalk-and-cheese guides into New York magic.
This is a film of contrasts - the beasts are as fantastic as you might wish, while the darker elements are truly dark, on a psychological level. Shades of villainy are represented here - from sympathetic to deeply wicked. There's a lot of plot too - introducing Newt and co, establishing the magical environment and setting up the evil that lurks in the shadows - so that you do feel the film's length at times. Nonetheless it's all well-explained, better than in the crammed Potter adaptations, so that casual viewers will actually make sense of it all. As for seasoned Potter fans, they'll be squirming gleefully at one wizarding reference after another.
Rowling is utterly at home in the world she has created, and so invested in the film franchise that it feels like an extension of her mind. Fantastic Beasts is rich in detail - full of invention, humour, jeopardy and romance. One commentator said recently that J K is 'flogging a dead horse'. She's not. She's riding a thoroughbred hippogriff, and it's got serious wings.
On numerous levels this new story is a treat. Twenties NYC, reproduced in gorgeous period detail, is a perfect backdrop for the sorcery, the magic meshing with the Art Deco stylings of this era perfectly. Eddie Redmayne brings his masterful physicality to the role of the eccentric Newt; he stoops and falters (and is sometimes a bit too mumbly) when interacting with other humans, but comes into his own when engaging Attenborough-style with his beloved 'beasts'.
Rowling is utterly at home in the world she has created, and so invested in the film franchise that it feels like an extension of her mind. Fantastic Beasts is rich in detail - full of invention, humour, jeopardy and romance. One commentator said recently that J K is 'flogging a dead horse'. She's not. She's riding a thoroughbred hippogriff, and it's got serious wings.
No comments:
Post a Comment