“Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” takes us to a new era of J.K. Rowling’s Wizarding World, decades before Harry Potter and half a world away.Academy Award winner Eddie Redmayne (“The Theory of Everything,” “The Danish Girl”) stars in the central role of Magizoologist Newt Scamander, under the direction of David Yates, who helmed the last four “Harry Potter” blockbusters.There are growing dangers in the wizarding world of 1926 New York. Something mysterious is leaving a path of destruction in the streets, threatening to expose the wizarding community to the No-Majs (American for Muggles), including the Second Salemers, a fanatical faction bent on eradicating them and the powerful, dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald, after wreaking havoc in Europe, has slipped away…and is now nowhere to be found. Unaware of the rising tensions, Newt Scamander arrives in the city nearing the end of a global excursion to research and rescue magical creatures, some of which are safeguarded in the magical hidden dimensions of his deceptively nondescript leather case. But potential disaster strikes when unsuspecting No-Maj Jacob Kowalski inadvertently lets some of Newt’s beasts loose in a city already on edge—a serious breach of the Statute of Secrecy that former Auror Tina Goldstein jumps on, seeing her chance to regain her post as an investigator. However, things take an ominous turn when Percival Graves, the enigmatic Director of Magical Security at MACUSA (Magical Congress of the United States of America), casts his suspicions on both Newt…and Tina.Now allied, Newt and Tina, together with Tina’s sister, Queenie, and their new No-Maj friend, Jacob, form a band of unlikely heroes, who must recover Newt’s missing beasts before they come to harm. But the stakes are higher than these four outsiders—now branded fugitives—ever imagined, as their mission puts them on a collision course with dark forces that could push the wizarding and No-Maj worlds to the brink of war.Special Features:Before Harry Potter: A New Era of Magic Begins-Join J.K. Rowling as she, David Yates, and David Heyman return to Leavesden studios to build a new and exciting corner of the wizarding universe.Characters: The Magizoologistlogist-A wizard who is more comfortable with beasts than he is with other human beings. Cast and crew discuss Newt's character, costume and journey in the film.Characters: The Goldstein Sisters-Magical sisters with a strong bond. Cast and crew discuss Tina and Queenie's characters, costumes and journeys in the film.Characters: The New Salemersemers-A family intolerant of magic. Cast and crew discuss the family's characters, costumes and journeys in the film.Characters: The No-Maj Baker-A no-maj who is magical in his own way. Cast and crew discuss Jacob's character, costume and journey in the film.Characters: The President and the Aurornt and the Auror-Two of Macusa's finest. Cast and crew discuss their characters, costumes and journeys in the film.Creatures: Meet the Fantastic Beasts-Venture into the magical world of beasts and the creative team behind them.Creatures: Bowtruckle-Meet Picket: A bowtruckle with attachment issues. Cast and crew discuss the bowtruckle's character, what a bowtruckle is and how it was created for the film.Creatures: Demiguise-Meet the beast with the power of invisibility. Cast and crew discuss the demiguise's character, what a demiguise is and how it was created for the film.Creatures: Erumpent-Meet the beast that dances with Newt. Cast and crew discuss the erumpent's character, what an erumpent is and how it was created for the film.Creatures: Niffler-Meet the beast that loves anything shiny. Cast and crew discuss the niffler's character, what a niffler is and how it was created for the film.Creatures: Occamy-Meet the beast with the ability to change its size. Cast and crew discuss the occamy's character, what an occamy is and how it was created for the film.Creatures: Thunderbird-Meet the bird that can change the weather. Cast and crew discuss the thunderbird's character, what a thunderbird is and how it was created for the film.Design: Shaping the World of Fantastic Beasts-Get to know the creative team behind the construction, design, costumes and props of the wizarding world who discuss how the massive sets were brought to life.Design: New York City-Explore the streets of New York City in 1926. An inside look at the construction, detail and design that went into creating New York.Design: MACUSA-Explore the halls of Macusa. An inside look at the construction, detail and design that went into creating Macusa.Design: Newt’s Magical Case-Explore Newt's magical case. An inside look at the construction, detail and design that went into creating Newt's magical case.Design: The Shaw Banquet-Explore the Shaw Banquet. An inside look at the construction, detail and design that went into creating Shaw's Banquet.Design: The Blind Pig-Explore the Blind Pig. An inside look at the construction, detail and design that went into creating the Blind Pig.Deleted Scenes
D**.
Refreshing, perhaps even better and more visually impressive than the Potter-series
I was never a huge fan of the Harry Potter books and movies, although I appreciated the movies further into the series. In particular when we watched them again recently in sequence during family movie evenings.The Fantastic Beast was a feast however to me and my family. Really nice to meet a new set of characters in a slightly different setting with ties to the original material.Our kids thoroughly enjoyed the movie with it's many funny moments.Enjoyable journey that follows the introvert Newt Scamander through gothic New York during the jazz-age in a visually stunning spectacle, with a recognizable soundtrack. It's great that the story liberated itself from Hogwart's that started to feel increasingly tired.I'm sure there could be complains about the story line or how this movie clashes with the Potter canon, but we had a great evening of high quality entertainment with the family.We buy 3D Blu Ray’s where possible. You pay up for it but they enhance a great family-film evening. Fantastic Beasts in 3D looks very sharp and natural on our fairly high-end Oled LG TV, that gets supported by proper surround sound. I must say I tend to like 3D viewing more at home than in cinema’s these days. And this movie in 3D is particularly well-done; all looks very pleasant and natural to watch without excessive blast and parts flying towards your face.The set also includes a digital copy. Nice in a sense. But I get very frustrated by the fact that I now have to run 4 different apps from movie studios each filled with their own digital copy format; iTunes, Flixster/Ultraviolet, Googleplay ect. And so far there is no proper way to integrate my collections of digital copies. Moreover, most will require wifi, which is not always available when travelling. Until this is being addressed these digital copies remain a half-baked freebie in support of self-copies.
D**S
Great film enhanced by 3D
A great film enhanced by 3D, probably better than the sequel.
P**
Excellent series
Excellent series
G**9
Tried in PS VR. Quite good
Great film and the 3D aspect of it wasn't bad. Slightly blurry with close up shots but it was watchable. Not sure if it's just me but the picture kept going over to the side over time so had to recalibrate the ps vr headset by holding the options button. By the end of the film I would of done a 180 turn! I did take breaks every 30mins or so. Did love the film, the plot was quite interesting but I would still watch the Harry Potter films over this if given an option. Would still recommend to anyone that has and has not watched Harry Potter as it is set before those films.
T**J
A fantastic 3d film
Having an interest in harry potter this film expands upon the wizarding world so if you enjoy the harry potter films you’ll love the fantastic beasts just as much
M**E
Great movie. Great 3d
Found this movie to be thoroughly entertaining from start to finish and the 3d effects were superb. I was a bit sceptical about this movie as you often find that prequels are just a way of cashing in on a successful franchise and don't have much substance. Happily this is not the case with this movie.The ending leaves open the possibility of a sequel which would be great if it's done to the same quality.
T**Y
Fantastic beasts and where to find them.
Initially knowing it had something in common with the Harry Potter theme it took a while to understand what was going on.It took a while before you got into the film,great sets and characters and got better as the film moved on. It might become clearer as there is to be more films of this in the pipeline.
D**S
Wonderful film, really enjoy this new Era in the ...
Wonderful film, really enjoy this new Era in the Wizarding world. I love the actors they perform their roles very well. The non wizard jacob makes the movie quite funny as well as the niffler.Couldn't wait to see the extra's ass well, pity it didn't contain more of them.
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1 day ago
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