It’s not uncommon for a film to have a demo reel. While usually reserved for individual artists to showcase their skills, certain films have their own demo reel to present the possibilities that can entail. It’s meant to convince a studio to invest in the film by highlighting how breathtaking and involving it can be. It’s not always successful, in rare cases such as “Deadpool” the leaking of the footage drummed up interest amongst the masses after being rejected by the studio. Successful or not, they’re a nifty asset to have in one’s pocket.
“Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” feels like a feature length demo reel. It is littered with dazzling special effects that bring to life the magical imagination of J.K Rowling. Creatures small and large prance about the screen, quite often mugging for the camera. Every detail of their skin is finely tuned, every action crisp and smooth. There’s a bevvy of cutesy creatures to show off: one representing a cuddly rodent whose kleptomania is triggered by shiny objects, another that resembles a deformed rhinoceros with magical beams swirling around inside its head. Others are harder to describe, smart from a business perspective, as it demands people see the film to experience the wonderment. If the visual and special effects department need an example to spice up their resume, there’s no better example than this!
The film as a whole struggles to shake off this demo reel vibe, however. A good chunk of the film feels more like a highlight reel than an engaging story, an overload of magical imagery to wow the senses. Couple that with cheeky humor, mostly of the slapstick variety, and you’ve got a recipe for a pleasant crowd-pleaser. Helping matters are the slew of colorful and charming creatures that will forever reside in the subsection of the internet comprised of adorable imagery to warm the cockles of the heart. What’s missing is the humanity that made the “Harry Potter” franchise such a booming success. This film has heart, no doubt, and the characters show semblance of the depth and humanity seen in the aforementioned franchise, but are stifled by the special effects.
It’s such a strange occurrence to befall “Fantastic Beasts,” as J.K. Rowling is responsible for the screenplay and David Yates (a mainstay of the “Harry Potter” series) is in the director’s chair. Together, the two have brought the books to life with the right amount of movie magic and drama. One would expect the same to be the case here, but they seem stuck in first gear. They’re both too busy showing off the prestidigitation of their world to fully develop the characters and story. Seeing as how this is the first in a five-film series, I guess the notion is that this is forgivable, as the holes will be filled in as the series progresses. This is simply the appetizer to the main course.
This isn’t an unfamiliar course, though. It is a prequel to the “Harry Potter” stories, sharing the same wizardry and awe. The audience doesn’t need convincing of how amazing it all is; they already know. They’re here to be whisked away into another engaging story, not be subjected solely to special effects. They’re be spellbound by them, no doubt, but I suspect that’ll wear off rather quick. It did for me, at least.
To drive home my point, I’ll present the act in which structures the entire story. Magizoologist Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) has traveled to New York City with ulterior motives, which are quickly dashed when one of his creatures escapes his suitcase and embarks on the town. What ensues is a frantic rush to retrieve said creature and a few more before they unintentionally wreak havoc on the town, spooking the natives and exposing the wizardly world. Along for the ride are Magical Congress Agent Tina Goldstein (Katherine Waterston), her sister Queenie (Alison Sudol), who can read minds, and Jacob Kowalski (Dan Fogler), a Muggle who inadvertently got mixed up in Newt’s scheme after accidentally switching briefcases.
The group race around New York City trying to salvage the creatures and their good names, all the while Auror Percival Graves (Colin Farrell) is hot on their trail. He too is trying to clear his name with the Magical Congress, President Seraphina Picquery (Carmen Ejogo) to be precise. His inability to capture Gellert Grindelwald has brought him great shame, and he’s dead set on proving that beasts are at fault for the slew of deaths and not one man as to mask his incompetence. Newt’s cavalcade of creatures are the perfect catalyst for his scheme, as is Credence Barebone (Ezra Miller), the adopted son of a modern-day Salem witch trial prosecutor who harbors his own dark secret (which I presume doesn’t need spelled out).
This is all fine and well for a first act, but not an entire story. It resembles that of the first level of a video game, where the player is sent scavenging to collect items as a way of learning the controls. Those trial levels last but briefly, yet here they amount to seventy-five percent of the experience. There’s only so much cheesy catch-and-release shenanigans I can take before I throw in the towel. It becomes more troubling when secondary plots that offer much more depth are cast aside in favor of tacky humor.
The Second Salemers, the modern-day Salem witch trial prosecutors, pose so much promise and depth to scour. What drives Mary Lou Barebone (Samantha Morton) to fear witches and believe they’re a threat to society? How do these fanatics go about combatting witches and warlocks? Surely protests in front of banks isn’t their only tactic? They try to go to the press, but newspaper tycoon Henry Shaw Senior (Jon Voight) is too focused on his son’s political campaign to pay them any mind. Speaking of which, the Shaw family and the evils of politics play such a little part in this film that it seemed frivolous to include them. They’ll certainly play a bigger factor down the line, but they’re nothing more than a footnote here. And yet, there’s an attempt (noble as it is) to develop them here by showing their selfishness and fears. Too bad it’s suffocated by the requisites of an introductory film. I know, I know, they’ll be developed further down the line and that patience is a virtue. Even so, there must be some satisfaction in the introduction, not just constant teases.
It’s not until the third act that the film finally starts to find itself. The characters finally start showing their motivations, endearing us to them. Up to this point, they were nothing more than sweet but simple caricatures: Newt the mawkish optimist, Tina the driven but aloof agent, Queenie the big-hearted free-spirit, and Jacob the lovable comic relief. Newt’s troubled past, Tina’s insecurities, Queenie’s doubts, and Jacob’s rudderless life show themselves, giving the film dramatic heft that it so desperately needed. They don’t have much time to breathe, however, as everyone is in a mad dash to get to the finale, a showdown between good and evil that also feels rushed. It’s a fight driven by morals and emotions, but suffocated so much up to that point that their impact doesn’t feel earned.
There is so much lying beneath the surface of this film that it’s such a shame it didn’t get to shine. The tremendous set design that transported the audience back to 1926, the film noir vibe that encompassed the investigations, the wizarding underbelly of the city including bars run by devious elves (one voiced by Ron Perlman), and the politics of it all. The metaphors on segregation and the depravities of man are not subtle but blatantly spelled out by characters’ exposition in order to keep up with the pace. James Newton Howard’s score is a recycled amalgamation of familiar beats meant to guide the viewer’s emotions to accustomed results as opposed to complementing the tone and becoming its own.
Now that we’re out of the introductory stage, I hope the demo reel takes a backseat to the rightful mixture of drama and magic that this series is famous for in the next installment.
Final Rating: C+