A little dictionary of animals called Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, written by Scamander in 1927 and by then in its 52nd edition, was read by Potter at school during his first year.

While the film may be new, the tiny book it is based on has a longer history. There is much here that will sail over the heads of little ones who are there for the animals and tie-in toys that will inevitably come – really, this is a film for the twentysomethings who might be tempted by the Moleskine journals (there’s a line of those already).Įddie Redmayne as Newt Scamander in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Rowling has said the film series will end in 1945, with the second world war coinciding with the defeat of the wizard Grindelwald – who Potter readers will remember has troubling ideas about wizarding superiority over non-magical humans. It is clear this world is our world, albeit with a twist Newt even served in the first world war (with dragons on the eastern front). Allusions to the history of US segregation pop up: magical and non-magical people are not allowed to marry – a rule that the Englishman Newt frowns upon – and house elves are only seen in service roles, as wand shiners, and so on. There are many references to the positives of equality and embracing differences. As the author has demonstrated so often on Twitter, she’s political and not afraid to show it. For her new world, Rowling has included more familiar troubles Newt’s world is closer to our own than Harry’s was. Harry Potter’s fourth outing, The Goblet of Fire, contained the franchise’s first onscreen death, starting a trend that escalated with every following film by the two-parter finale, Hogwarts teachers are laying out bodies in the school hall.ĭarkness does not come in the form of death in Fantastic Beasts.

Mexican filmmaker Alfonso Cuarón directed the third, The Prisoner of Azkaban, and introduced a much darker, Tim Burton-esque aesthetic. The first two films, Philosopher’s Stone and The Chamber of Secrets were directed by king-of-the-kids-film Chris Columbus, and were packed full of twinkly-eyed charm.

We first meet him in 1920s New York – almost 60 years before Harry is even born – where he is attempting to return one of his animals to its native habitat in Arizona when shenanigans ensue and a bunch of beasts escape from their home in his Mary Poppins-style briefcase.Ĭomparing the first Harry Potter film (2001’s Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone) with the last (2011’s Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part Two) is somewhat akin to comparing Bambi with Reservoir Dogs. While the scale of her world was previously constrained by Potter departing to Scotland every year to get an education, with Newt, a thirtysomething public servant, she has access to a far wider canvas. Rowling makes clear from the outset that Newt is not Harry 2.0.

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