Jae’lynn:

Do the beasts in “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” really exist? If so, where can I adopt one? The anticipated film addition to the Harry Potter series was released on November 18th. The film follows Newt Scamander to New York and delves into the intriguing world of magical beasts. Throughout the duration of the film the viewers are introduced to the wonderful world of magic in the 20’s, the American Ministry of Magic, which is basically the government in the wizarding world, and a plethora of characters. But the movie was missing one key thing, Beasts. As the movie progresses action packed scenes fill up the movie, whilst minimal information is given about the beasts and even certain characters. References to the original Harry Potter series were also included, but one could only understand these reference if they have knowledge about the series. Alyssa Scanlon, a senior at NAHS and a film connoisseur, stated that she enjoyed the film but certain parts irritated her,“I liked it for the most but, like the first Harry Potter movie there’s a lot of things that needed to be set up for the future movies which really bugs me sometimes”. As a Harry Potter lover, the news about this film being created filled me with joy. Despite some of the flawed parts of the film, it embodied the same spirit as the original series. My overall rating for this movie is a 6.9/10.

Jessica:

Hearing of the new addition to the Harry Potter series, or rather its wizarding world brought a mix of emotions: joy, anxiousness and annoyance. Joy because I would once again be surrounded by the amazing magic the Harry Potter films gave viewers. Anxious and annoyed came from the possibility of the Fantastic Beasts turning out not to be so fantastic after all. However, the latter was disposed of immediately as the movie began. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them followed the expedition of wizard Newt Scamander and, of course, his beasts in the magical world in America in the late 1920’s. Viewers got a taste of how the ministry of magic worked and differed from that in London. Still, this was also one little thing that could have been a miss because of the fact that it was set in a different location. Anyone like me who loves Hogwarts, Hogsmeade or Honeyduke’s Sweetshop, would agree that seeing magic in London in the 20’s would have been a bit more exciting. Moving on to characters, we are now finally fully introduced to Grindelwald, an evil, dark wizard and numerous others including the very mysterious Newt Scamander. Along the way Newt encounters Jacob Kowalski, who adds light humor throughout the movie as it gets deeper and darker into the movie’ plot. Others like Queenie and Tina Goldstein, two divine wizard sisters who add a sense of completion to the movie, despite the fact that none of them are regular characters to the original series. Each beast mentioned in the movie, from the Bowtruckle to the Erumpent, were beautifully made and made the film that much better (a lot better). All in all, this movie was a good watch and satisfied my need for a Harry Potter movie, even if he never actually made an appearance. I would recommend this to a friend and rate it an 8.8/10.