This past Friday, December 16th, my dad and I traveled to the Rocky Mount theater to watch the movie that is set to take place prior to the well-known Harry Potter series, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Wizard lovers and Harry Potter fanatics were anticipating a highly exciting 2 hours and 13 minutes full of magic, wonder, extraordinary effects, and mystery. My experience, however, left something to be desired.

When I first walked into the theater, the crowd consisted of an impressive number of two people. For a Friday night, it struck me as odd that such a few number of people showed up to watch the film. During the opening scene, 5 immediate deaths, occurring during a snowy night, added to the mysterious plot. Directly afterwards, an interesting segment of newspaper articles were displayed that gave automatic recognition to Hogwarts. The main character, Newt Scamander, played by English actor Eddie Redmayne, was introduced and quickly arrested in New York city within the first 10 minutes.

The most unique and exciting aspect of the movie was all the creative creatures that lived within Newt’s brown leather suitcase. My favorite was the jewelry thieving hybrid cross of a platypus and mole, Niffler. Niffler has a special interest in shiny things, so breaking into a jewelry store to steal merchandise was a common occurrence. Some of the animals introduced include: Billywig, Bowtruckle, Demiguise, Occamy, Thunderbird, and Lethifold.

One of my favorite characters was a No-Maj (people without magical abilities) named Jacob Kowalsky. He was humorous, dedicated, a master at face expressions, baker, and apparent favorite of the women despite his full appearance. One of his lines that stuck out to me was Kowalsky’s response to entering the mystical world of animals located in Newt’s suitcase. “I don’t think I’m dreaming. I don’t have the brains to make this up.”

Fantastic Beasts is a great movie for the targeted audience of Harry Potter watchers. However, for those that are not caught up on the world of Harry and his friends might get lost or not experience the movie to its full effect. Let just say that the animals were not the only thing that “unfortunately escaped,” in words of Porpentina “Tina” Goldstein. According to the box office, Fantastic Beasts did not bring in the money it was originally expected to, but  producers are still hopeful.

Media Office rating: ⅗ stars.