Being a self declared die hard Harry Potter fan, I'd been itching to watch Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them since I heard it was going to be made into a movie. I would have went to the midnight premiere if Reece had been here, he isn't a huge Harry Potter fan, but he'd have been dragged along whether he liked it or not! I didn't really do much research before I went to see the film, a I wanted to experience it first hand in the cinema and not have it spoiled for me like so many other films and books have been.

I was a bit apprehensive when I heard that J K Rowling was opening up the world of Harry Potter and creating a new dimension, if you will, to the place we all know and love so much. I haven't seen the play, but I have read Harry Potter and The Cursed Child. I've wrote a review on the book and in that post I let you know how I found it rather disappointing, to be honest. I didn't want to be disappointed with Fantastic Beasts. But this story is different, it's set way before Harry was even thought of and there is no link except this story is based in the same magical world. I'm glad of that. As much as I love Harry and his story, I think J K Rowling left it at the correct place, with the ending of Deathly Hallows. The story came to a natural end, Harry left school and his life went on. This is why I'm not a huge fan of Cursed Child as I find it a little rushed and as if they're trying to fit too much time into one play!

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, was originally a side book that J K Rowling released along with other books such as The Tales of the Beadle and the Bard and Quidditch Through the Ages, which were both books she brought to life after them being mentioned in the Harry Potter books. I own all three books, my friends Sarah and Emily bought me The Tales of the Beadle and the Bard for my 16th birthday and my Mum has bought me the other two over the years.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them follows Newt Scamander, on a trip to New York where he plans to travel to Arizona to free one of his fantastic beasts. Without giving away too much, I guess we could say that Newt comes across some hurdles on his mission, meets a few people and gets his hands into all kinds of mischief.

I went to see the film with one of my good friends, Sarah, on the opening weekend. We're both big Harry Potter fans and we were hoping and praying that this wasn't going to destroy the franchise. When the film started we both look at each other, myself holding back tears, as Fantastic Beasts started the same way that Harry Potter did, in the clouds with the film name gradually appearing behind it. I found that throughout the film there were a few nods to Harry Potter, just to remind you that this is the same world. I liked that. I liked that they didn't throw Harry Potter in your face, there was a mention of Dumbledore and a glimpse at the Deathly Hallows symbol. It was nice.

I like that this story has no resemblance to Harry Potter, which I didn't expect to say. This isn't a film about a boy who goes to school and fights off evil people, this film definitely opens up the wizarding world for you a more than Harry Potter ever could. The stories are completely different and Fantastic Beasts deserves it's own credit.

I really thought I was going to be disappointed by this film, I honestly thought I was going to leave the cinema sad and angry at J K Rowling for not just letting Harry Potter be, but I'm glad she decided to delve into the wizarding world again. I want to go and see this film again and again and I definitely will be before this goes out of the cinema. Here's something else for me to get attached to and cry my eyes out when it's all over!

I'm going to dig into the book over Christmas as I have a lot of travelling to do so I'll probably read it cover to cover a couple of times before this year is out! I'm excited!




I just wanted to throw in at the end here my theory of how I think Fantastic Beasts is going to play out. So, Harry Potter fans, we all know that somewhere along the line of these films, Dumbledore is going to appear. We've already seen Grindlewald (in the last 30 seconds!) and we all know that fthey were really good friends and then not so good friends. If you've read the Harry Potter books, you'll know that the little girl in the painting in Aberforths home was Arianna, their sister. The books delve into her story a little bit, explaining that she unintentionally killed her mother when she caused a magical explosion and that she herself was killed by a curse due to a duel between Aberforth, Albus and Grindlewald. 

My theory is, what if, Arianna is a obscurus? What if she wasn't killed accidentally, but either on purpose by Aberforth or Albus in order to protect her from Grindlewalds wicked ways? Or whether Grindlewald got what he needed from her? I have a feeling that this is going to be the route that J K
Rowling goes down and I'm excited to see where she takes it - and how Newt plays into this!

Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them gets a..







Let me know if you've seen Fantastic Beasts and what you thought of it in the comments below!