Absolutely adored it; loved the Harry Potter books and while the films were watchable, they weren't remotely magical for me. This captured the magic; enjoyed the creature aspect of it and the different location. Thought all four of the good side leads were excellent. Brilliantly cast in respect of those 4.

Eddie was such a fun warm character, can't wait to see more of newt

Spot on about Miller like Spock.

Matt Smith was rumoured for the part at one point.

The setting in general, and the ice sequence in Central Park in particular, really reminded me of Peter Jackson's version of King Kong. Fogler was excellent and carried the film.

I thought it was a really fun movie but it started to drag on quite a bit in the last 1/3 or so. That thing Jack Nicholson apparently said about the last LOTR movie having "so many endings" comes to mind

Spot on with the "it went all Narnia and x-men" at one point. But I did think the great relationships between characters -the potential, rather, was lost due to time constraints and ...well, Narnia time. A film gives "good feels" when the characters move around and with each other; when the story centres on the people. To me it lacked that. No fault of Yates, Eddie or any of the other terrific leads. It couldn't explore them in detail. Must add that the cameo by....J.D. almost stole the damn show! :D Great review, Mark.

I really enjoyed it. The old New York setting has a wonderful, slightly edgy feel.

I've just got home from the cinema and I am little disappointed. I wanted to like this film yet I found it slightly dull. The characters did not get chance to develop and build, which is probably due to the studios need to cram CGI sequences down the audience' throats at every chance. This movie could have been very good, there is no bad performance, in fact there are many excellent ones. Each character showed glimpses of real potential despite having very little to do apart from run round a very picturesque 1920's New York. However, the lack of the mysterious, mythical, threatening 'other' that was 'he who must not be named' in HP, meant that there wasn't a scene in the film where I felt the characters were threatened; which is a major flaw considering the script and various action sequences. Strangely, the script, pace and tone of the film were all over the place. At times I felt like I was watching a kids film, then BANG the next scene we are presented with really dark themes, then BANG Eddie R's chasing some other creature around NYC. Strange. If I was to some up the film in a three words it would be 'a bit bewildering.' ... perhaps I've been Obliviated.

I agree the setting and the characters were well played but I found it a bit dull. A fan-service movie with a thin storyline that could just about have filled the first half of a better movie. Mark kind of said this but seemed afraid of stating it outright. Let's hope the next one makes a big improvement.

Q the Winged Serpent reference? Does one of the Fantastic Beasts drop some body parts into the street?

I wasn't so fussed by the darker stuff, and it did go on a bit loo long, but I thought Eddie Redmayne was really great. The times spent with then beasts (the niffler in particular) were the standout parts for me. And I liked your blonde lass, there, she was good.

The film maybe long in parts, however the film’s well acted, stylish, well directed, effective & is A well characterised film. (77%) (4/5 stars) (positive)

well said!!

“Will we die, just a little?” - by XXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXX

the main 4 are great but the story itself is kinda all over the place; unfocused sometimes and found it hard to be interested in the side stuff.

I have a thing for Katherine Waterson! Mesmerising screen presence.

I liked this film very much. 😙😙

can someone please make a gif from 1.47-1.54

I like Samantha Morton, I think she is a great and very underrated actress. But I think I am going to give this one a pass, because I am still hungover from the last Harry Potter franchise. I want to see something different; something new.

The film had no story too it, I was bored on multiple occasions. It felt to me like The phantom of the menace. All CGI with no real story and you leave the cinema thinking... what was that actually about?

I find it strange that Mark can savage the first "Pirates of the Caribbean" film like he does, yet gives this a pass. The CGI is incessant and erratic, often leaving little time to actually take-in what's on screen (though Mark did touch on this) and when this isn't the case, such as Ron Perlman's scene, it only serves to break the immersion of the film. Tonally the story was all over the place and really didn't gel; it opens with a number of people being murdered, later a muggle is killed in a particularly horrific fashion and there are scenes depicting child abuse which are jarring when contrasted against the slap-stick humour (see Eddie Red performing a mating display for one of his creatures) of the film. It's like they wanted the darkness and high-stakes feel of HP films 4, 5, 6 and 7/8, yet the child-like innocence of the first 3 films and it just doesn't work. This effort is little better than the Hobbit trilogy; pumping a thin narrative full of CGI in the hopes that it will distract the audience from the lack of depth. The real problem is that the nostalgia this film invokes will likely be enough to satisfy most viewers, and so quality is likely deteriorate as the new franchise moves forward.

I can only echo what Mark said, I lost interest when the destruction started taking place towards the end which reminded me of man of steel, SvB 2 movies that I hated, other than that it was good.

Really, Mark? No mention of Alison Sudol, who almost steals the entire film?

Newt Scamander? As in the amphibians newts (that like frogs live in water) and salamanders (that live on dry land and are symbol of fire). Anyone else pick up on that?

Shame Matt Smith couldn't play Newt....the studio insisted on Redmayne I'd assume.

Was not a fan of Redmayne in this one... Always doing that Redmayne shy, silly, overplayed 'look at me, I'm so awkward and different and english' etc. You can be different and anti social without such obvious characterisations. More subtleness was needed. His voice was all over the place, could hardly hear him at times. I just feel like I've seen that character he's done before several times, and be done better. He was doing the same things he did with Hawking. Anyway, enjoyed the film. Ending was a bit messy.

I actually found this film very underwhelming and there were several occasions where I felt like snoozing which never happens to me in the cinema. This is coming from a Harry Potter fan although I’m quite biased since I don’t really like spin offs in general as I miss the original characters and story.

Lets fall apart together tonight!

iI tried to watch the film but was turned off within a few minutes mainly because I had no interest in the characters being presented. Also, I did not feel that I was watching something special or original. Yes, I guess the director was trying to honour the philosophy/style of the Harry Potter films in a sort of retrograde way given that it was all occurring 80 years before said films but in doing so the whole thing simply looked like a cheap copy and not a clever depiction of older magic.

Somebody please obliviate me after watching Phony Beasts and Where to Find Them

It's nothing like the Harry Potter movie series, it's just a rip off of The Pokemon and basically of all the blockbuster movies we've had in the las few years whereas Harry Potter felt so genuine and had such a great sense of adventure and commnity building...

Want to see a much better movie than this thats also out at the moment. Go see Arrival.

Anyone else get distracted a little by how much Jon Voight looked like Donald Trump?

An absolute mess of a film. Fun in parts, but tonally it was all over the place. One minute we're looking at cuddly CGI creatures and the next we're looking at child abuse.

Wrong

This film was so boring.

Sorry to say but... Redmayne ruined this for me...

Mediocre Characters and Where to Find Them.

its just awful.