Printer Friendly Version - The Actors as Endearing and Fanciful as 'The Fantastic Beasts'

Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) holds one of his smallest beasts while Jacob Kowalski (Dan Fogler) looks on in awe in J.K. Rowling’s latest fantasy, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Photograph copyright Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. and Ratpac-Dune Entertainment LLC

In a lighter-weight addition to the ever-expanding J.K. Rowling’s wizarding world, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them centers in a re-imagined Roaring ’20s in New York City. The story scrambles about like the beasts who race and fly through the metropolis, having escaped from “magizoologist” Newt Scamander’s mysterious suitcase. Audiences have become enamored with Eddie Redmayne in The Theory of Everything and The Danish Girl, and here he broadens his already innocent face into an even more wide-eyed, wistful expression as Newt (apropos name), who rescues, protects, and returns magical beasts to their habitats.

A dark wizard, Grindelwald, in whirling smoke and streaks of light, has already descended on New York and the city’s magical community desperately tries to contain the force so that its non-magical population, known as the no-majs (or muggles in England) won’t suffer magical events—but magic can’t be contained. Along with the impending evil, a platypus-like creature, a dragon bird, and the little preying mantis look-alike tucked into Newt’s clothes, swarm the city, topple Art Deco buildings, and upend cobblestone streets in their wake.

Two witches, sisters Tina (Katherine Waterston: Steve Jobs, Inherent Vice) and Queenie (Alison Sudol: TV’s Transparent, also a singer), help Newt and no-maj Jacob Kowalski, played by the affable Dan Fogler (TV’s The Goldbergs, Secrets and Lies), to escape the forces out to subdue them. Sudol adds allure and Waterston spunk as they spin their magic.

In possibly the strongest part of Fantastic Beasts, Kowalski, who wants to be a baker and can’t get a bank loan, stumbles into Newt’s life, and along with him, the viewer experiences the magic that expands his ordinary senses. In each succeeding scene, Fogler endears himself more. He is at turns, bumbling, lovable, and grumpy, his round face like a stunned child’s, lighting up at each breathtaking experience. He is pulled into Newt’s suitcase and introduced to the different beasts, intentionally similar to real animals, and the landscapes in which they thrive. One weaker moment occurs when a giant rhino-like creature wants to mate with Kowalski and Newt tries to entice the beast into the case by duplicating its mating rituals. Meant to be funny, Redmayne just looks awkward dancing around shaking his behind.

Jon Voight (Transformers, TV’s Ray Donovan) and Ron Perlman (Hellboy, TV’s Sons of Anarchy) have bit parts in the film, with Perlman’s voice being used as a bartender elf. They basically walk through their roles, but are good additions.

Director David Yates, who spearheaded four of the Harry Potter films, carries through the same flavors here—picturesque worlds overlaid with ominous forces swirling in to wreak havoc—and brings out the best in his actors. Even though the flight of the events is similar to Harry Potter’s adventures quashing evil forces, the actors immerse themselves in their characters, especially Sudol/Queenie and Fogler/Kowalski engaging in touching moments as their attraction blossoms. Colin Farrell (The Lobster, TV’s True Detective), who dons an American accent, adds his fierce look, and a surprise actor appears at the end who will most likely take Fantastic Beasts into the second of its trilogy. Everyone involved works diligently to make the unbelievable real, and the fantastic, even more fantastic. Their wand work is fun to watch, too.

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