Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them 4K 2016 Ultra HD 2160p

The events of the motion picture unfold in the Harry Potter universe about 70 years before the books described in the main cycle. New York 1926 saw new dangers for magicians. A mysterious threat of exposure looms over the wizarding society. The powerful dark magician Gellert Grindelwald escaped justice again. Meanwhile, tensions are growing in the city, mainly due to the radical organization "Nomej" (not possessing a magical gift of people) "New Salem", whose members intend to destroy all the wizards in the world. At this turbulent time for New York, the writer and naturalist Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) arrives in the city to meet with an important official at the Magic Congress of the United States of America. Newt took with him a magical suitcase that contains a number of dangerous magical creatures and their natural habitats. When these creatures escape from the suitcase, the American wizarding authorities rush in pursuit of Newt. All this will lead to a series of amazing events that can put the worlds of wizards and "nomadj" on the brink of war.

The script for the fantasy film Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is based on the book of the same name by J.K. Rowling in 2001 and quickly gained popularity among fans of the young wizard. Now we again have a chance to plunge into the amazing atmosphere of the magical universe of Harry Potter, because the film was directed by David Yates, who is responsible for the last four films about Harry and his friends, and the script was written by the eminent writer herself.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them 4K Review
British wizard Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) arrives in 1920s New York City with a magical suitcase containing enclosures for many magical animals. Newt is studying these animals and is preparing to write a book about them. When Salamander walks into the bank, he confuses the suitcases, and Jacob Kowalski (Dan Fogler) has his travel bag - an ignorant worker who was trying to take out a loan. Since Kowalski is unaware of what is in the suitcase, some of the animals burst out, and Salamander has to catch them. In this he is helped by Jacob and American sisters, sisters Tina and Queenie Goldstein (Catherine Waterston and Alison Sudol). Newt meets Tina when she arrests him for illegal use of magic. Meanwhile, high-ranking Auror Percival Graves (Colin Farrell) is plotting against the long-standing relationship between American wizards and the common people.

Previously, we knew J.K. Rowling as the author of the superbest-selling books, turned into the most popular movie cycle. We can now recognize her as the creator of the original scripts. Fantastic Beasts is the first in a planned five-part series to set the scene for the world of Harry Potter in the first half of the 20th century. Technically, this is a prequel to the "Potterians", but almost all of its characters are new heroes, not rejuvenated "Potterians". So David Yates did not shoot the backstory of his past films, but a fresh blockbuster.

When the film was being prepared for distribution, its title seemed strange and unfortunate. The trailers promised a confrontation between humans and wizards, and it could be assumed that the fantastic creatures from the Scamander's bag would only be part of the magical surroundings of a dramatic political intrigue. It is now clear, however, that Rowling's title did not miss.

The title of the film promises fantastic creatures, and this is what the picture first of all offers the audience - the hunt of the eccentric magozoologist Salamander for bizarre creatures that have scattered across New York. Some of them are so small that they can easily fit in your pocket, while others are so large that they can disperse visitors to Central Park or demolish a couple of buildings. The imagination of the authors of the tape did not disappoint, and each monster turned out to be amazing and delightful in its own way. Accordingly, none of the "hunting" scenes are like the other, and Yates and Rowling made them all funny, entertaining and enchanting.

Since modern New York bears little resemblance to 1920s New York, the film's street scenes were filmed in studios in London and Liverpool.
The only drawback of these wonderful fragments is that Scamander knows a lot about his charges, and therefore he always has a plan. It would be much more interesting if the zoologist was dealing with creatures that he had never caught before and which he had to “bite through” on the fly. It's always more fun to watch a smart person improvise than to see how he acts according to a previously worked out scenario. However, there is a charm in, for example, trying to guess before the new friends of the Salamander why a kettle and a cockroach are needed to hunt a huge monster and why Newt is sure that his plan will work.

And what about the magic politics promised by the trailers? It is also in the film, but it is much less interesting than hunting monsters. She simply has not been given enough time to move beyond the flat clichés already familiar from the "Potter". In addition, the main character is mainly concerned about his animals, and Newt only towards the end of the tape begins to actively participate in "human" events. And the attitude of the central character to the world always colors the viewer's view of things. Finally, Fantastic Beasts's magical combat is much weaker visually than the psychedelic magical combat we saw recently in Doctor Strange. Compared to the reshaping of reality, the emitting of lightning and the incessant teleportation (sorry, “apparat”) seem commonplace and outdated.

The new heroes of the cycle also do not please as much as we would like. Newt Scamander too clearly fits into the stereotype of a talented but autistic eccentric imposed in his teeth, and the hero is saved only by Eddie Redmayne's super charm. Unlike her colleague, Katherine Waterston is not endowed with super charm, and her faded, well-wishing heroine, not distinguished by special intelligence and abilities, “drowns” among the colorful partners.

Dan Fogler squeezes out all the possible gags from the image of a comical fat man, but the film only needs his character in order to gaze with his open mouth at everything that Jacob encounters in the wizarding world. He has nothing special to help the wizards. At least he makes the audience laugh pretty well.

Modeled after Marilyn Monroe, Queenie looks impressive and entertains the audience by reading minds without stopping, answering unasked questions in the spirit of the police from "Diamond Hand", behaving like a "sexy cat" and is more useful than her sister. But since the plot pushes Queenie into the background, the full potential of this heroine is not revealed.

It seems that Rowling would have acted smarter if she had combined the Goldstein sisters in one woman. True, in this case, the film would have only one romantic line (the writer brings Newt to Tina, and Jacob to Queenie). But since Rowling is better at drawing family trees than at writing compelling love dialogues, the film would benefit from cutting back on romance, not lose.

Finally, Colin Farrell once again reminds us that he has a little less charisma than he needs to be a powerful central character. He's not bad in his role, but there should have been someone more impressive in his place.

It should be noted that the film was rated 12+ for a reason. Of course, in "Creatures" there is no eroticism, curses and bloody violence, but the film contains gloomy, unpleasant scenes for impressionable viewers, which, by the way, are not very well combined with a cheerful hunt for ramps and scent. It confirms what the filmmakers say in interviews - that Rowling and the studio had different ideas about the tonality of the tape and that the final result is the fruit of a hard-won compromise. Which, as is often the case with compromises, completely satisfies no one.

In general, having paid for a ticket, you can have fun and see a lot of beautiful and amazing things. But if you are demanding, then you will leave the room with the feeling that "Fantastic Beasts" is less developed than Rowling's books. No, this is not a Star Wars prequel compared to the first trilogy, but it is not an equivalent "sequel to the banquet."