The group's name is an acronym of the first letters of their first names arranged as a palindrome.
On the whole, a magical introduction to the new era wizarding world, and mostly it is fantastic.ABBA ( / ˈ æ b ə/ AB-ə, Swedish:, formerly named Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Frida) are a Swedish pop group formed in Stockholm in 1972 by Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad. On villain duty is Colin Farrell playing his dastardly role with smarmy relish and a chilling and heart-breakingly repressed Ezra Miller, though the latter is more ambiguous as a character whereas the former is full-on villainous. He is ideally matched by an affecting Alison Sudol, a charming Katherine Waterson and a highly amusing and amiable Dan Folger. Acting was top notch, apart from Depp (and Voight doesn't really have much to work with to make any distinction), with Eddie Redmayne on superbly eccentric and endearingly quirky form. Found myself really caring for the heroes and the creatures, and got a real sense of threat from the villains (excepting Grindelwald). The characters are well drawn and their personalities well established, with the only real glaring exception being with Voight's character.
There are no complaints to be had visually and technically, and, other than the slow start, could find little to fault with the way the story was told. David Yates was more than ideal as director, having the firm ground from having directed the last four Harry Potter films. Loved the little details as well, such as the wand-shining house elfs, the bake-offs, the office-cleaning and the magically translucent umbrellas. There is a lot going on in the story, but all in a way that is told with charm, exuberant and offbeat wit, enchanting imagination and nail-biting suspense. The references to details from Harry Potter will make die-hard fans squeal with delight, they certainly gave me a sense of nostalgia. The script has some grim social-commentary and suspense, which gives the film its darkness, while also bringing some perfectly pitched humour (mostly from Jacob and the Niffler), poignant emotion and sense of wonder, while balancing these different tones in a way that never makes one think "it's trying to be too many things" or "it doesn't know what it wants to be". James Newton Howard's music score has the right amount of the haunting, the whimsical, the ethereal and the rousing, always dynamic with the action and what's going on in the film. This said they are more than that, they are also creatures with their own distinct identity and purpose, as great as Demiguise, Occamy and Thunderbird the standout is the adorable Niffler who also provides some of the biggest and best laughs.
Even better are the special effects for the creatures, all of which are technical marvels. The standout is easily for the interiors of the suitcase, our looks of awe matching the characters'. The look of the film is spellbinding, from the wonderful use of colour, with perfectly contrasting shades of light and dark, to cinematography that is never garish and too simple or murky and convoluted, a standout of the latter being that long shot of Credence and Graves in the alley. 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them' lives up to its name visually. This said, the future films I'm sure will turn this around if they keep going forward rather than backward. It is too early to tell how well Grindelwald will fare as a villain, but first impressions weren't that promising with Johnny Depp's performance not really igniting my fire, for somebody who specialises in oddball roles he just seemed too lightweight for such an evil character. Jon Voight is wasted as a character with not much personality or development and with a subplot that practically is forgotten about, both by the viewer and by the film. 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them' takes a bit of time to get going, with a slow and overlong introduction that tended to also be confusingly written. A long film it is, but a vast majority of the time it doesn't feel like it, so engrossing is the world that the film creates. 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them' serves as an introduction to the new era of the wizarding world, and not succeeds brilliantly doing that but also works as a magical slice of entertainment in its own. Those high expectations were met, and more. Especially also with such good word of mouth. Having grown up with the Harry Potter books, and as someone who found a lot to like with all the films (though admittedly some were better than others), expectations were high for 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them'.
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