Lainey can’t believe I’m Gryffindor. We had a whole conversation about it—she thinks I should be Ravenclaw-but if you need proof, Lainey is a loud and proud Slytherin, and Gryffindors live to cockblock Slytherins, which will explain my review of奇妙的野兽和在哪里找到它们, which I didn’t love. It reminds me ofStar Wars: The Force Awakens-great characters, thrilling moments, but yikes on the actual story. Let’s start with the good, though, because there really is so much of it, and what works is totally delightful. First and most importantly, Eddie Redmayne is TERRIFIC as Newt Scamander, who is himself a terrific hero.
Amidst all the superheroes and space wizards, Newt Scamander is an awkward, shy, implied-family-embarrassment who was expelled from school and is traveling the world in what might be some kind of exile, self-imposed or otherwise. He’s no one’s definition of a hero—not articulate, not charismatic, not strapping, and as Redmayne hunches in on himself, not tall. With his curly forelock and Redmayne’s quiet, fumbling delivery, he’s like an escapee from a period romance.
He’s also a tree-hugging environmental preservationist, more interested in protecting his menagerie of fantastic beasts than concerning himself with the wizard politics unfolding around him. This is what makes Newt special—he’s KIND, and QUIET, and his big play to save the tragic antihero is COMPASSION. These are not traits we usually celebrate in superheroes (make no mistake, wand-waving wizards are definitely superheroes). Our Superman is a murderer, and even Captain America, the most moral of our superheroes, is a total hardass. But Newt Scamander is defined by his gentleness and his desire to protect his animals and educate others about them.
整个阵容都很出色 - 凯瑟琳·沃特斯顿（Katherine Waterston）和艾莉森·苏尔（Alison SudolCarmen Ejogois appropriately majestic as MACUSA President Picquery,Colin Farrellis sexy and creepy as Auror Percival Graves, and Dan Fogler is OUTSTANDING as aspiring baker Jacob Kowalski. (Johnny Depp is in this movie for thirty seconds. He doesn’t count.) Newt, Jacob, “Tina”, and Queenie are wonderful together, and however shaky the story is, the foundation of these four is solid. More adventures with Newt and his New York friends are welcome.
Where Beasts slides sideways is with the plot revolving aroundEzra Miller（谁是伟大的），作为一个超级令人毛骨悚然的达米安型（也很棒）的Credence。问题不是角色或他的特定故事，而是这个角色和故事情节存在于同一部电影中，纽特追捕了他（可爱的）尼夫勒在曼哈顿。纽特（Newt）与发光的犀牛一起进行愚蠢的交配舞蹈的电影也不需要包含一个关于虐待孤儿院的孤儿院的荒凉的故事情节，她在她的护理中鞭打了封闭的巫师。他们只是不兼容。
The whimsical elements of OGHarry Potterwork because they come with cute kids attached, and not for nothing, as those kids age, the whimsy drops off in favor of the darker wizard war storylines. But here there’s a lot of whimsy and nothing to attach it to except Newt’s animals, which ultimately don’t have anything to do with Credence or the Obscurious. The two storylines are almost entirely independent of one another. In fact, it would have worked out better for both stories if they had been split into two movies.
AllBeastsneeds to be is an introduction to the Prohibition-era American wizarding world via Newt and his escaped creatures. Then, once MACUSA is aware of Newt, they can call him back to New York in movie #2 to deal with the mysterious beast that turns out to be the Obscurious. That would let movie #1 just be an adventure caper with magical animals and movie #2 would have more room for the Obscurious, Credence’s story, and the newspaper subplot which is totally irrelevant as is. (We already understand the threat of exposure inherent in the Wizarding World.)
The worldbuilding is as detailed and transporting as you expect from JK Rowling, who wrote the script, but you can tell she’s a writer used to expansive novels where there’s a lot more room to play. Movies aren’t novels, they’re short stories, and Beasts needs some serious editing. This is supposed to be a FIVE film franchise—why are we rushing through SO MUCH in one movie, which is too long already and overcomplicated in some places while being under-explained in others. It’s like the film doesn’t trust Newt and his menagerie to be enough, but they’re the best part.奇妙的野兽和在哪里找到它们最终对野兽不太了解，而且它的差异较差。但是，当野兽是免费的时，它们确实真是太棒了。
