MOLLY VANDENBERG
Staff Writer
If you’re a “Harry Potter” fan, you’re also probably familiar with the textbook “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,” written by fictional character Newt Scamander, which is a required textbook for all first-year Hogwarts students. J.K Rowling published a reproduction of Harry’s own textbook in 2001 as a companion to the book series.
On Nov. 18, a movie adaptation of “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” will hit theaters. This project will be Rowling’s debut as a screenwriter. The movie is directed by David Gates, who also directed the last four “Harry Potter” films.
This will be the first movie in a new series of five films as a spinoff to the original “Harry Potter” film series. There are hints throughout the movie that it is a prequel.
“Fantastic Beasts” takes place in 1926 with Newt Scamander, played by Eddie Redmayne, having just finished a global expedition to find and document a remarkable display of magical creatures. Scamander is a scatterbrained scientist with a very likeable screen presence.
As he arrives in New York City for a brief stop, he comes across a no-maj (American slang for “muggle,” which means non-magical folk) named Jacob, a lost magical case and the escape of some magical beasts. As you can imagine, this creates trouble for both the wizarding and no-maj worlds. Scamander must scramble to track down and recapture the escaped creatures.
So far, the film has stellar reviews. According to a film review from Variety, “‘Fantastic Beasts’ does double-duty as yet another imagination-tickling fantasy adventure and a deeply troubled commentary on tolerance, fear and bigotry in the world today.”
Because the film has been designed for the most devoted of “Harry Potter” fans, it may be confusing for newcomers, but those who stick around will appreciate that the film never talks down to its audience.
According to a film review from The Guardian titled “J.K. Rowling Goes Steampunk,” “‘Fantastic Beasts’ is a rich, baroque, intricately detailed entertainment with some breathtaking fabrications of prewar New York City.”
Furthermore, the on-screen magic is as familiar as ever. “The muggle or no-maj world we are seeing is a century old [compared to the original Harry Potter films], but the basic language and furniture and procedure of magic is not in anyway older or rudimentary. It is the same thing. They have moving pictures on newspapers in the same way as the present day. As ever, magic is a state within a state, a secret in plain sight, and part of the fun is being let in on the secret.”
But there are some differences and expansions to Rowling’s wizarding world. There is a scene in a speakeasy where someone orders “six shots of giggle-water.” “Giggle-water” was never mentioned in the book series. It’ll be interesting to see what new magic and special effects we get to see in “Fantastic Beasts.”