By Kieva McLaughlin

If you are a fan of the Harry Potter franchise, Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them is a must see. JK Rowling and David Yeats came together again for the first of five movies about Newt Scamander, played by Eddie Redmayne, and his adventures with magical beasts.

While none of the main characters from Harry Potter appear in the movie, Grindelwald, a dark wizard and Dumbledore’s ex-best friend, is mentioned multiple times, with the headmaster himself even mentioned once. You do not need to have seen any of the Harry Potters to understand what is going on but if you are big fan, there’s plenty of exciting references you will recognise.

Eddie Redmayne plays the part of Newt Scamander exceptionally, and he is incredibly believable as the animal loving wizard he is portraying. Katherine Waterston, Dan Fogler and Alison Sudol star alongside him. Dan Fogler plays the loveable ‘nomaj’ (American word for muggle) Kowalski, who you will leave the cinema only hoping he will reappear in the next movies. Katherine Waterston plays Tina, Newt’s love interest, with Alison Sudol playing her beautiful sister Queenie. My only criticism with the acting is that there is no real visible spark between Newt and Tina and the love story the audience is truly rooting for is the one between Kowalski and Queenie.

The special effects and graphics are superb, but with a budget of $250 million it ought to be. All of the magical beasts and spells are done amazingly and you really believe the little furry blue sloth-like animals and tiny trees are just as much there as the actors and actresses.

There is a lot of humour throughout the film and you will be laughing throughout. There’s inside jokes for the true Harry Potter fans as well as new jokes especially for this newest magical franchise, ‘Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them’.