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Fantastic Beasts
(Cert 12, 133 mins,
Warner Home Video, Fantasy/action/adventure/ Drama/comedy/romance, available from March 13 on Amazon Video/bt TV Store/itunes/sky Store/ Talktalk TV Store and other download and streaming services, available from March 27 on DVD £10/ Blu-ray £14.99/3D Blu-ray £19.99/4K Ultra HD Blu-ray £24.99)
Starring: Eddie Redmayne, Katherine Waterston, Dan Fogler, Alison Sudol, Colin Farrell, Samantha Morton, Ezra Miller, Johnny Depp.
Zealots called the Second Salemers, led by Mary Lou Barebone (Samantha Morton) and her adopted son Credence (Ezra Miller),
preach hell and damnation in 1920s New York, following a reign of terror perpetrated by dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald (Johnny Depp). British magizoologist Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) arrives in the Big Apple at the height of this paranoia, carrying an enchanted suitcase with hidden pocket dimensions full of endangered creatures. A non-magical baker called Jacob Kowalski (Dan Fogler) accidentally picks up Newt’s luggage and releases otherworldly species in breach of the Statute of Secrecy. Beasties go on the rampage and Newt tries to recapture them aided by Jacob, a former Auror called Porpentina Goldstein (Katherine Waterston) and her mindreading sister, Queenie
(Alison Sudol). Meanwhile, Percival Graves (Colin Farrell), director of magical security, becomes convinced that Newt’s illegally imported creatures are responsible for a
brutal attack. Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them is a visually sumptuous fantasy set several decades before the escapades of the boy wizard with a lightning bolt-shaped scar. The first film written for the screen by JK Rowling is a surprisingly bleak affair about tolerance, prejudice and integration that strikes an ominous chord following the racially divisive rhetoric of the US presidential election. Redmayne is a charmingly ill-at-ease hero, whose unerring dedication to creatures in his care draws fond parallels with Hagrid. Waterston is a spunky, if underserved, foil, while Fogler and Sudol – channelling the sex bomb naivete of Marilyn Monroe – illuminate their romantic comedy subplot.