Warner Bros. has unveiled a brand new trailer for the highly anticipated adaptationFantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Based onJ.K. Rowling’s ancillaryHarry Potterencyclopedia/Hogwarts textbook of the same name, the film takes place in 1926 and starsEddie Redmayneas Newt Scamander, a magizoologist whose briefcase of fantastical creatures comes loose while in New York City, setting into motion a series of events that threaten the Wizarding World community. Rowling makes her screenwriting debut on the picture, withHarry Potter and the Deathly HallowsfilmmakerDavid Yatesdirecting, and one can clearly see Yates' stylistic fingerprints all over this sucker, which is for the better at the end of the day.
Having some sense of stylistic uniformity between Yates' run ofHarry Pottermovies would usually signal - at least to me - a lack of originality, but considering the fact that this is an entirely new series of characters in the same world, I can see the benefit in this case. It certainly helps that the film looks gorgeous, and that the world looks to be teeming with imagination, from design to wardrobe to performance. Most of the footage focuses on Redmayne’s magizoologist, but there’s plenty of scenes with the likes ofDan Fogler,Katherine Waterston,Jon Voight, andCarmen Ejogothat look enticingly bombastic and imbued with an exhausting level of visual detail. So, for the time being, I’m moved to ignore the fact that the film will just follow the same stylistic template as Yates’Harry Pottersequels, and keep up hopes that Yates will find other ways to giveFantastic Beastsits own unique flavor. We’ll know for sure come this November, when the film arrives in theaters.
Watch the newFantastic Beasts and Where to Find Themtrailer below. The film also stars Waterston, Fogler,Alison Sudol,Ezra Miller,Samantha Morton,Voight,Ron Perlman, Ejogo, Jenn Murray, Faith Wood-BlagroveandColin Farrell.Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Themopens in theaters on November 18th.
Here’s the official synopsis forFantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them:
“Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” is an all-new adventure returning us to the wizarding world created by J.K. Rowling. Academy Award winner Eddie Redmayne stars in the central role of wizarding world magizoologist Newt Scamander, under the direction of David Yates, who helmed the last four “Harry Potter” blockbusters. The film opens in 1926 as Newt Scamander has just completed a global excursion to find and document an extraordinary array of magical creatures. Arriving in New York for a brief stopover, he might have come and gone without incident…were it not for a No-Maj (American for Muggle) named Jacob, a misplaced magical case, and the escape of some of Newt’s fantastic beasts, which could spell trouble for both the wizarding and No-Maj worlds.
