The Magic in Fantastic Beasts Lays Elsewhere

The world Fantastic Beasts takes place in is a dark and David Yates wastes no time in showing off this fact.

Fantastic Beasts PosterThe backstory in Warner Bros. Fantastic Beasts hides a troubled political time in the world and part of it is revealed in Secrets of Dumbledore. I firmly believe these movies are setting the stage for showing the Nazi’s rise to power. The visual motifs are there and my prediction is that Grindelwald will become one of Hitler’s elite. He’ll have his own department to wrangle the war so one social order dominates the world.

It’s a concept fans of Hellboy (and Indiana Jones) are familiar with. I’m hoping that’s the finale JK Rowling’s navigating towards. Although my prediction for this third film is wrong, I’m okay with it. There’s two more films that may address it, and wrap up the story.

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Fantastic Beasts is Fun, and The Pandora’s Box is Something to Worry About

A tiny bit of that familiar Harry Potter magic is all that’s needed to spin Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them into its own yarn.

fantastic-beasts-sequel-03aug16By Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)

* Spoiler Alert

A tiny bit of that familiar Harry Potter magic is all that’s needed to spin Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them into its own yarn. While most of the music is original, the signature tune from the Potter films reminds viewers about where this new series fits in a greater whole. The movie has all the intrigue from, say The Untouchables (1987), but when that familiar formula from the books J.K. Rowling wrote about the titular character, the young man in this new film has hints of Nicholas Rowe (ala Young Sherlock Holmes) feeling lost, embroiled to his own world, until reality hits him hard.

The wizarding world J.K. Rowling invented is expanded upon. With this new film, the very precocious Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) is getting the spotlight even though a bigger issue (which will span several movies) is afoot elsewhere. He arrives in America by boat (through New York) and meets Jacob Kowalski (Dan Fogler), Porpentina “Tina” Goldstein (Katherine Waterston) and her sister Queenie (Alison Sudol). An accidental switch of suitcases belonging to the two men opens up a Pandora’s Box of problems.

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