Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them, a spin-off film of Harry Potter movie series, has failed to impress the critics with its storyline. They believe that the fantasy film is overloaded with information and it will not be appealing to the viewers.
The movie, based on a book of the same name, marks the screen writing debut of British novelist JK Rowling. It hits the big screens worldwide on Friday, November 18, in IMAX 4K laser, 3D and other format theatres.
The Harry Potter spin-off film stars Eddie Redmayne in the lead role along with Katherine Waterston, Alison Sudol, Dan Fogler, Ezra Miller, Jon Voight, Samantha Morton, Colin Farrell and Carmen Ejogo in supporting roles.
Check out the reviews on Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them below to find out what the critics have to say about it:
USA Today
Like most franchise-starting vehicles, Fantastic Beasts tries to do way too much in two hours. Wizarding is serious business and some of the darker scenes seem inconsistent with the film's light-hearted nature. Rowling's screenplay, adapted from a short Potter "textbook," emphasizes gags and set pieces more than strong characterisation, though she conjures some engaging relationships.
Time
There's so much going on in Fantastic Beasts that after the first act, you almost can't be bothered to care what happens next. In the movie's world, there's a magical explanation for everything, which means story logic too often gets left by the wayside. And even though the movie preaches tolerance, its ideas never quite jell. Still, Yates and Rowling are intent on working their charm on us, and some of it sticks have low-key, breezy allure.
Variety
Unsurprisingly, Fantastic Beasts amplifies both the strengths and weaknesses of Rowling's storytelling approach, which unfolds in the episodic style of vintage serials — a cliffhanger-oriented tactic that works well in novels, where readers might otherwise be tempted to put the book down after each chapter, but feels less elegant on screen, since viewers invariably commit to taking in the entire story in one sitting.
Entertainment Weekly
Fantastic Beasts is two-plus hours of meandering eye candy that feels numbingly inconsequential. The film, directed by seasoned Potter pro David Yates, unspools like a kiddie version of the X-Men flicks. First, there are the performances, which aside from Redmayne's are surprisingly flat. And second, the thinness of the source material gives the whole film a slightly padded feeling.
The New York Times
As promised, the title critters in Fantastic Beasts are whimsically entertaining and occasionally as entrancing as those animals both real and imagined crawling through a medieval illuminated manuscript, with their gaudy hues and hints of gold. Unlike the Potter movies, which grew darker and heavier as Harry and the series developed, Fantastic Beasts is playing peekaboo with the abyss right from the start.
