This review may contain spoilers.
Fantastic Beasts is a textbook definition of what is wrong with the modern blockbuster, both on a storytelling and cinematic level.
First off I would like to say that I enjoy a few of the Harry Potter films with POA being my personal favourite and feeling as if the last three were not great films. The biggest problem with Fantastic Beasts is the common problem of scale, for a film based in the Harry Potter universe the overall scope of the film is tiny and there is no sense of wonder.
It was only a month before the film came out that i started to gain interest in Fantastic Beasts, hoping it could be the perfect catalyst alongside Rogue One to revive the blockbuster. Now I am very cautious about hyping myself up for movies, I have been burnt too many times within the last couple of years but i thought that if we had a film that could at least match the sense of wonder and scale of the first few Harry Potter films then it would be a very fine film indeed.
Eddie Redmayne was the best part of Fantastic Beasts, hands down, it was so shocking to see an actor that was genuinely enthusiastic about being in a massive film, in both his performance and behind the scenes he comes across as giddy. I really enjoyed watching Redmayne play this type of role and its a shame that the film around him was not better because his performance was amazing. Everyone else on the other hand were forgettable, none of the characters really worked and Dan Fogler was the live action Jar Jar Binks. Collin Farrell didn't really come across as a real threat and the reveal that he was Johnny Depp was silly and felt rushed.
The story felt limited both in scope and as a narrative within a grand universe. Some beasts going missing in New York could have been a good side plot to something far greater. The film does try and flesh out the wizarding world of America but nothing really sticks, rather than being a film within the universe of Harry Potter it feels like someone desperately trying to make a Harry Potter film without caring about the film-making that helped make Harry Potter so believable.
It must come as no surprise that i had issues with the cinematography in this film, for a film set in a wizarding world it was awfully dull and washed out. What is the big thing about having a washed out image, its really distracting when the foreground does not blend with the background and everything is very disjointed, it could be down to the cameras being used but it is obvious to me that it should stop. The visual effects are horrible, why did they not learn from The Force Awakens that using practical effects is a far superior option and it is not like the film had a limited budget. It is becoming a problem a massive problem that these studios and film makers don't understand the importance of making the frame feel believable. Why spend upwards of $100 million when it looks worse than some $20 million films.
Overall Fantastic Beasts is a film with massive potential, but was squandered by a lacking story and poor film making and the one saving grace being the performance of Redmayne. A cynical attempt to cash in on the "cinematic universe" craze and the Harry Potter franchise. Not the worst film of 2016 but certainly one of the most disappointing.
6/10
Written By
Ashley Harvey
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