When I first heard that “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” was becoming a theatrical spinoff of that scar-faced boy wizard series, I rolled my eyes and groaned. I interpreted as many folks did, a cash grab that would be thrown together clumsily and without regard to artistic quality. All that mattered was the bottom line, and association with the biggest cultural juggernaut of the 2000s would mean that to meet the monetary expectations, little effort would be needed.
Rest assured, I referred to the “Harry Potter” franchise as I did in the first sentence in ironic jest. Like many of my generation, J.K Rowling gave me some of the fondest memories of my childhood and adolescence. I’ve read each book at least half-a-dozen times and I see the eight films, decent at worst (“Goblet of Fire”) and a masterpiece at best (“Prisoner of Azkaban”), are the standard bearer for serialized, long form cinematic storytelling. The scene in “Boyhood” where Ellar Coltrane and Lorelai Linklater attend the midnight release of the “The Half-Blood Prince” in costume gave me the biggest nostalgiagasm I can remember.
And to potentially besmirch all of that with “Fantastic Beasts,” which was subsequently announced to be a five-film series even before the first was released, is like if Da Vinci decided to do another portrait of the Mona Lisa when she was in her mid-80s, her beauty ransacked by time and age.
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