I’m a huge Harry Potter fan; I adore the books, I love the movies!

So when I heard that there would be not one, but five Fantastic Beasts films, I felt elated. Some people would say that the Harry Potter world should have stopped at ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows’, and I agree, to a certain extent. But I just feel like having the world extended through plays, other films and script books in a brilliant way to welcome the younger generations to the fandom.

I decided to go and see Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them a week after it was released with my family and it’s safe to say that I absolutely loved it.

The film follows Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) as he travels to New York City in the year of 1926. Scamander has just completed a round-the-world trip finding and documenting an array of magical creatures so that he can write his book. Whilst in New York, he gets caught up in the world of No-Maj’s (American term for ‘Muggle) when his case containing all of his fantastic beasts gets swapped with a No-Maj called Jacobs’ (Dan Fogler) business case. Some of the fantastic beasts escape which causes trouble for both the wizarding and No-Maj world. But there’s also a darker force that has to be reckoned with.

It’s fair to say that Eddie Redmayne is absolutely perfect as Newt Scamander. He’s socially awkward and brilliant (let us not forget the mating dance he did during the film!) The whole film was full of a brilliant cast who bought the sense of magic back to our screens whilst also adding the sense of humour that’s needed to appeal to the younger generation.

I felt like the storyline of the Obscurus held down the fort of the underlying dark themes that the Harry Potter franchise had with Voldemort and his horcruxes. However, it did feel like the Obscurus plotline was finished once Fantastic Beasts had ended. Hopefully, it’s storyline continues throughout the other four films as I found it to be really interesting.

Fans of Harry Potter can expect to see little links from Fantastic Beasts to the Harry Potter world that we all know and love. If you havent’ seen Fantastic Beasts yet, watch it and keep your eyes peeled for the hidden links between the two time periods.

Am I allowed a quick moan? Just one… and it’s Johnny Depp.

Johnny Depp makes a small cameo at the end of the film and I absolutely hated it.

He is a known domestic abuser so why is he being cast in a role that will make him millions? I just felt like it was such a wrong move for J.K Rowling to cast Depp in the films. It’s sort of like saying: ‘hello to all of the ten-year-old kids who love Harry Potter, just to let you know that if someone is ever abused, they can get away with it, so all is good’. Just no. That is not the message that needs to be conveyed to the world. Also, apart from the abuse issue, I just feel like Depp isn’t the right actor to be in the wizarding world. He doesn’t have the right acting skills, (I’m not saying, he’s a rubbish actor because I don’t think that he is) I just feel like his personality does not fit into the world of magic, I feel like he’s a caricature.

Anyway… Moaning aside.

I do think that this is such an amazing film and I recommend that everyone (Harry Potter lover or not) goes to see this film. It’s got action, comedy and the magical spells we all know and love.