Sruthi_Me

Fantastic beasts and where to find them is a true Rowling story. It reminds you of the first two Harry Potter films ie it gives priority to the story. For example, simple things like the wands in this movie made me beam with joy because they looked exactly as they were supposed to - a normal piece of wood that holds immense power.

From the beginning of the film (when the newspaper montage is shown) one can see Rowling's flair and style of writing. The film is a mixture of dark scenes and vibrant bright scenes which (like her books) has the effect of the ever lasting battle between good and evil.

The story covers it all - romance, mystery, plot twists and turns and a brilliant climax. As always, JKR uses her eye for detail and leaves nothing to imagination. As the story begins, the audience starts having questions and as the story progresses, all those questions are indeed answered.

The only negative here perhaps is that if you haven't read the books (and especially if this is your first Harry Potter experience), you probably won't appreciate it as much as a seasoned Potterhead would as there are a lot of references (that arnt explained in detail - they don't have to be if you have read the books) from the Harry Potter series. For a seasoned Potterhead however, these references, some subtle - like the Hallows' necklace; some not - like Leta Lestrange; make the movie all the more enjoyable.

Finally, Jonny Depp is Gilderwald to the T. The few minutes he is on screen makes your skin crawl in a magnificent way as you want to face him but somehow do not.

Bottom line - I loved it. Can't wait for the next part. Cannot believe it isn't a book. And simply cannot stop obsessing.

If you ask me, I should have probably walked in just in time for the second half of the movie. Of course, I wouldn't have understood all that much, but anyway.

I will be dividing this review into two parts everywhere. The first half and the second half!

1. Direction - First half - It was crude, slapstick and down right boring. Right from the beginning fast and furious like sequence all the way to the intermission, it was a drag. Samantha down right got on my nerves. So much so, I wished to god I could slap her right across the screen. Second half - The direction was pretty much the same. Bad sequences and badly down fights. Of course, one thing that always amazes me is how Indian cinema forgets blood. A guy will be hit right across his face with a sharp object and when he falls to the floor, there will be no blood around him!

2. Writing - First half - Puts you to sleep! Second half - Perks up a bit. The story finally stars unraveling. And the plot starts making sense.

3. Acting - Vikram - Wasn't exceptional. Was just like any other tamil actor. Trying to act cool and macho with his lame jokes. Trying to take on way more bad guys than he can deal with etc etc.

Samantha - This girl blew me away. She is the sole reason I enjoyed the second half of the movie and the sole reason I am rating it a thumping 8. Her acting as the usual dumb damsel in distress wasn't exceptional. But in the second half when she rose as the warrior princess of the clan, my god, I was really impressed. She did herself and the tamil cinema proud. I hope she gets to act in more domineering roles like that rather than the usual mousy ones women are always subject to.

4. CGI - Forget it. It was so boring, it was like a bad video game.

5. Sound - Irrespective of what the public says, I quite liked the sound track and the song sequences.

Bottomline - If you are a guy looking for "hot masala" this movie is not for you. If you are a woman who believe in women empowerment, go for the second half.

I have no idea how people give such high scores to crappy movies on IMDb. My score of a 4 is me being generous.

1. Direction - Okay. I guess the director did do a good job! The animation was on spot. There was no shoddy scenes or weird cuts.

2. Writing - Oh my god. Kill me already. Boring. Boring and so very Boring. I don't know how many times I dosed of during the film. The story was dry, monotonous and a complete, utter waste of time.

3. Acting - Well, Jack Black blew us away as usual. The "Champ" guy was pretty awesome too and so was the puppet. I think personally, the two that really let me down were the hero and the heroine. There was negative chemistry literally between the two. They could have passed off as siblings. Watching them kiss was just down right weird.

4. Production design - Loved the costumes, the outfits and the props. It tied the movie up very nicely.

5. Sound - The sound track and the background score wasn't memorable. I indeed liked a couple of songs but they were not exclusive to the movie and were pop songs already out on the internet.

Bottomline - GO watch if you used to read Goosebumps in your younger days. Go watch if you are 10 or below. Go watch if your kid is 10 or below. Else, do not bother.