Yankee beast with Potter magic
suitcase that, like the Tardis and Mary Poppins’ bag, is far larger on the inside than the outside. In fact, its vast, barn-like interior seems to contain its own time-space portals, allowing its inhabitants to enjoy whatever kind of habitat – desert, the Arctic, cluttered set-designer’s attic – they desire.
The only thing the suitcase doesn’t have is a reliable lid, and Newt has barely arrived in New York City – the year is 1926, and Colleen Atwood’s costumes take lovely liberties with the period – before one of his more mischievous animals escapes, skittering around inside a bank and stealing shiny things. In the confusion, Newt’s case gets switched for that of Jacob (Dan Fogler), a portly, amiable baker who knows nothing of magic.
But by the time Newt realises he has the wrong luggage, he’s in the custody of Tina (Katherine Waterston), a security officer with the Magical Congress of the United States of America. (British spellcasters name their institutions Hogwarts, while the Yanks give them ugly acronyms, such as Macusa. They also call Muggles “No-majs”, which means “no magic”.) After Jacob opens the case, the escaped beasts leave a trail of mayhem across town. Tina later brings the two men to her apartment for a pit stop, where they meet her sister Queenie (Alison Sudol), a jazz-age hottie who reads minds and takes a shine to Jacob.
When the four try to collect all the escapees from Newt’s menagerie without making all of Manhattan aware of the magic around them, a Macusa operative named Percival Graves (Colin Farrell) shadows them.
Invention and effects are the name of the game, predictably, and this world invites us in as effectively as the best of the Potter episodes. Much of the production’s big wizarding-politics material will be appreciated – mostly by those who thirst for ever more backstory in Rowling’s universe. Whether or not the ensemble chemistry ever clicks to the extent it did for Harry, Hermione and Ron, Rowling clearly has an endless supply of lore left to share with those invested in her world. – Hollywood Reporter