We Watched 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them' And Here's Our Lo-Down

Just when fans thought they’ll never hear another magic spell uttered by a wizard ever again, Rowling dropped one of the best announcements in 2013 – one that will grant her fans with an opportunity to relive the Harry Potter phenomenon. A new movie, which is an extension of the Harry Potter universe, will be filmed in the years to come. The new movie will be based on one of her books, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, and will tell the tale of Newt Scamander.

Five years later, Potterheads around the world (including yours truly) are elated that this moment has finally arrived. The time has come for the premiere of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. As a fan, we’ve got quite a lot of expectations and reservations on this movie. Will it live up to the phenomenal success of Harry Potter? Or will it stray far from its original concepts and elements?

Before we proceed with the review, here are a few interesting discoveries and questionable facts that we learned after watching the movie.

#1 In UK, they have the Ministry of Magic (MoM), but in the States, they have the Magical Congress of the United States of America (MACUSA).

#2 According to the book written by J.K. Rowling, Newt graduated from Hogwarts. However, during the scene where Graves interrogates him, he says that he was expelled from Hogwarts after “endangering the life of a student”. Why the change in facts?

#3 How old was Dumbledore before he died? He was a Hogwarts teacher when Newt was still studying there, and this movie was set in the 1920s. Decades later, he’s the headmaster of Hogwarts and looks after Harry Potter.

#4 So, before Voldermort, Gellert Grindelwald was the most dangerous man of the wizarding world. What led him to join the dark side and how dangerous can he be? In the movie, he apparently escaped under MACUSA’s watch. But how?!

#5 American wizards seemed to be against marriages between muggles and witches or wizards. Any muggle who sees or experiences any form of magic will be Obliviated (a charm used to erase one’s memory). The UK is more open to this concept, as stated by Newt Scamander. Jacob and Queenie should’ve eloped and gotten married in Britain. *sobs*

#6 Americans don’t call non-magic people muggles. They refer to them as non-maj or non-magic.

#7 Newt Scamander comes to the States with an initial mission to bring back the Thunderbird back to its original habitat in Arizona. He studies these magical creatures and is working on a book titled Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.

#8 You’ll definitely be fooled by the end of the movie. Colin Farrell isn’t who people think he is. Be prepared for the most mind blowing scene!

The movie is set in New York during the 1920s. The opening scene shows Newt Scamander (played by Eddie Redmayne) being interrogated by an immigration officer upon his arrival. After getting clearance from the officer, the scene shifts to the streets of New York.A weird invisible thing seems to be on the loose, lurking around the city and destroying whatever that crosses its path. Maybe the thing woke up on the wrong side of the bed today? We don’t know. Colin Farrell, who plays Percival Graves, appears out of nowhere looking at the aftermath caused by the creature. There's something sinister about his character.

Newt then somehow ends up in front of a bank entrance, listening to a ceramah by the New Salem Philanthropic Society aka the anti-witches and wizards group. Side note: a tall boy with a mangkuk haircut and pale face from the group reminds us of Lurch from the Addams Family. Anyhow, one of Scamander’s creatures suddenly escaped from his bag and ran off into the bank. Here’s when the whole chasing sequence between Newt and his ‘pet’ began. Meanwhile, a sibuk makcik has been eyeing Newt ever since his arrival at the bank.

What on Earth is this creature? It looks like a cross-breed between an otter and platypus. Also, it has a penchant for shiny things – #GoldDigger. Elsewhere, Newt sits on a bench pretending to be a customer. He then gets up and accidentally leaves behind his egg. Yes, an egg. A man who’s at the bank applying for a loan for his bakery calls for Newt, but he can’t hear him.

Newt continues to chase his pet until they reach a high-security important-looking vault. The man, who Newt accidentally left his egg with, happens to be there too, but at the wrong place and time. “Alohomora”, Newt mutters. OMG! Finally! A spell! This is real! The vault opens up and Newt continues his chase. A bank officer appears. “Petrificus Totalus!” exclaims Newt and down goes the bank officer. OMG, another spell!

*Puff* They disappear and reappear in another place. The egg suddenly hatches. Is it a dragon? Nope. A chicken? Least likely. We have no idea, really. The cops begin to catch up on them and then *puff* suddenly they’re outside of the bank. Before Newt can Obliviate him, the man hits him on his head with his suitcase and takes off. That suitcase is very similar to Newt’s. We’ll bet a million Ringgit that he has mistakenly taken Newt’s suitcase instead.

The sibuk makcik that ‘stalked’ Newt earlier in the movie suddenly appears. “What did you do, who are you?” questions start to pour in. Said lady then proceeds to flash her important-looking ID, identifying herself as an auror for the MACUSA and ‘arrests’ Newt.

The lady, who turns out to be Porpentina Goldstein, brings him to meet MACUSA’s top guns including its president, Seraphina Picquery. Side note: this president really has some Yuna vibes going on with her turban and OOTD. Moving on, Goldstein confidently claims Newt's suitcase is filled with magical beasts. To her embarrassment (and as we've predicted), the bag is filled with delicious looking pastries and bread instead. What's more, as it turns out, Goldstein is actually no longer an auror and has been demoted. Any chance of reviving her career is now down the drain because of this boo-boo.

Both Goldstein and Newt track down the aspiring baker in his nearly-demolished apartment and finds out that half of the creatures from the bag have escaped. Poor guy appears to be fazed after being bitten by a Murtlap. Goldstein then decides to take both men home.

Oh wow, who is this bombshell waiting at Goldstein’s home? She’s so pretty! Okay, they’re sisters. But they don’t even look the same. Hmm.

Both of them prepare dinner for the men and to the muggle’s amazement, Goldstein’s hot sister whips up strudel right in front of their eyes. Now, if only it's possible to prepare dinner with the mere flick of a wand! The aspiring baker and hot sister seem to have a connection with each other. Will they eventually fall in love? We’ll see. Hot sister apparently is of Legilimen descendent and has mind-reading powers.

Time for bed. But as usual, Newt cannot be bothered. He opens his suitcase and climbs down into it. Wait, what? Holy-cow what is happening?! Newt then invites the baker, who is now lost for words, to join him.

Screw Narnia. This is a whole new level of an alternate world inside a freaking suitcase! It has four seasons to cater to the creatures’ habitat! Can you believe that? Turns out, Newt has been harbouring magical creatures in his suitcase all for the purpose to “protect, heal, and conserve”. He’s sort of a nature-loving scientist with a mission to educate other wizards about these creatures.

After Newt shows off his mini ‘zoo’, the aspiring baker finally comes to terms with whatever he’s been experiencing. “I ain’t got the brains to make this up,” he says. Well, to be honest, us too. This ‘research lab’ inside of Newt’s bag really blew our minds!

Continuing their search for the missing specimens, the two men head to Central Park. Here, Newt does a funny mating dance to catch his rhinoceros-looking pet with a weird lava blob on its head. Eddie Redmayne really took the ball out of the park with his dancing routine. We are now officially his fan!

Sibuk makcik, being the busybody that she is, appears again out of nowhere and closes the suitcase after both men and the rhinoceros-looking creature successfully went in the bag. With her poyo I’m-definitely-right-this-time face, she marches back to MACUSA to make her case.

She interrupts a super-important meeting between the MACUSA president/Yuna and other important-looking witches and wizards. Colin Farrell's character confiscates the suitcase and all hell breaks loose from then on.

As potong stim as it may sound, we'll stop here and let you enjoy the fantastic-ness of the movie yourself. As a devoted Harry Potter fan, we're giving it a nine out of 10 rating. Eddie Redmayne’s portrayal of Newt Scamander went far beyond our imagination; I don’t think anyone is more fitting for the job than he is.