Rowling and Yates have given us a terrifically good-natured, unpretentious and irresistibly buoyant film. There’s a scene in a speakeasy where someone orders “six shots of giggle-water.” This film felt to me like twelve.
Big, bold and teeming with imagination, it is so busy world-building that it occasionally forgets to have fun. But with this heavy lifting done, there’s every reason to hope for an even more magical adventure next time.
Doesn’t quite enchant like the best Potter movies but there are enough thrills and genuine chills to satisfy.
Five years on from Harry Potter’s last screen outing, Fantastic Beasts could easily have seemed derivative or anti-climactic. Instead, it’s a thoroughly invigorating affair which only whets our appetites for its sequels.
The first instalment of a five-part saga, what follows is an undeniably big and entertaining fantasy adventure film. Happily, though, it doesn’t rely entirely on CGI trickery to cast its spell. Like its hero it’s full of magic, but endearingly modest with it.
David Yates revisits the Harry Potter universe for a thrilling, suitably magical spin-off starring Eddie Redmayne.
A disappointment that underlines how great the original Harry Potter films were.
Grand and giddy fun, Fantastic Beasts is just the snowy, wondrous escapism we need as Christmas approaches. It’s magic.
This highly entertaining twist on jazz age America breathes fresh life into the Potter franchise – and, with its themes of society divided and the persecution of minorities, the film finds itself to be perfectly timed.
Preview: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
General release. Check local listings for show times.