Cereal: Went to see Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them over the weekend.

The Bad: I thought the world-building was pants, and the two leads, fairly devoid of personalities. I know he has an Oscar and all, but the sooner Eddie Redmayne figures out how to act without creating his characters out of a collection of ticks, the better. I think he's talented, but whenever I see him on screen, I feel like whatever is supposed to be the core truth of his character is buried underneath all the flashy jazz hands. Also, the pacing seemed kinda off? The movie seemed curiously low energy in parts for all the fanciful stuff that was happening on the screen.

The Good: It looked FANTASTIC. The creatures in particular were marvellous (that Niffler had about 100x more personality than its handler, I'm just saying). Kids are gonna be bananas for the film and it's gonna sell so many toys, my God. Like, I'm in my 40's and I totally want some merchandise. The visual effects folks have outdone themselves.

The two supporting characters in the adventure (Queenie and Jacob), while somewhat one-dimensional, were ADORABLE. The scene in which Queenie assembles the strudel in air! Their sweet little romance! I was charmed.

True to the Potter tradition, I thought the antagonists were dynamite. The Obscurus was a great concept and genuinely frightening, and Ezra Miller KILLED as the tormented young wizard. If the muggles/no-maj thing was an allegory for racial injustice, Obscurus seemed like it would map easily onto closeted homosexuality, especially given the disturbing relationship Credence had with Graves, which had a tinge of dangerous predatory sexuality. Which makes mapping it to closeted gayness incredibly problematic. But Grindelwald is canonically gay, I think? Their scene in the alley was so upsetting yet charged, it was kinda difficult not to see it (or maybe 20+ years in fandom has fried my brain, I don't know.)

Count me in among the folks who thought Colin Farrell was AMAZING (he had so much menacing presence) and was crushingly disappointed when he turned into Johnny Depp.

Concur with your assessment of Colin, Vonnie.

I was especially impressed with his wandwork. He really made it physical and imposing.

Weird to think it's this specialized element of acting that only matters to the HP movies, but I thought his particular solution was fantastic. Others have tended to make it more balletic or like fencing, but I thought his was more like a whip.

I thought his was more like a whip.

Yeap. Everything about him seemed so concentrated and intense, with nary a wasted movement. I could also go on and on about his costuming choice -- those dramatic black and white collars on his vest! The scarf!

I could also go on and on about his costuming choice -- those dramatic black and white collars on his vest! The scarf!

I *lurved* that costume! So cool.

So, Newt is totally a Hufflepuff, right? And I know they were not in Hogwarts (and Jacob is not even a wizard) but Queenie and Jacob are also totally Hufflepuffian. Tina is a Ravenclaw, I think.

My main objection to Fantastic Beasts was how little the fantastic beasts themselves actually mattered. I'm pretty sure the A plot would have played out more or less identically if Newt had apparated directly to Arizona, instead of traveling for no apparent reason by steam ship to NYC first.

Also how is an eagle whose magical power is making it rain native to the American Southwest? Does JKR even know where Arizona is?

Well, it was a Thunderbird, so I suppose she imagined it might be around thunderstorms from time to time .

I do agree with you on the lack of Beast plot action, apart from the Niffler setting the whole thing off really. That may be something more important in future parts though .

I spoke to another person today whose heart sank when he saw Johnny Depp, and who wished he and Colin Farrell had traded parts. It must be a thing .

I suppose an advantage of being a casual observer to the whole Harry Potter phenomenon is not being that horrified when someone turns out to be Johnny Depp.

Queenie and Jacob were thoroughly adorable, and oh how I loved Ezra Miller (have done since Perks of Being a Wallflower).

Both Matilda and I were almost suffocatingly relieved at the end when we saw that Jacob's memories seemed to have been at least partly protected from the Obliviate spell (presumably by Queenie's kiss, since love is already established as the Deepest Magic in the Potterverse), and we'd be perfectly happy to see an amiably shambling movie or two just following them both around.

I found them both adorable. It's hard to make a character who is at heart just a good, decent person work onscreen, but I thought Jacob worked wonderfully well. His hopeful wave at the pastries when asked if he had collateral made my heart turnover with love.