As America legislates against magical creatures, nerdy zoologist Newt (Redmayne) arrives in 1926 New York with a suitcase full of them. His enigmatic mission is interrupted when three of them escape, linking him with wannabe baker Jacob (Fogler), witch detective Tina (Waterston) and her emotive sister Queenie (Sudol). In the ensuing chaos, Newt and friends cross paths with the rather too-aggressive Graves (Farrell), who works as an enforcer for America's wizarding President (Ejogo) to control public displays of magic. This prompts a series of captures, escapes and adventures while something truly nefarious is on the loose.

Virtually everything feels borrowed from other franchises: a deceptively small suitcase, children hiding special powers, a jazzy creature-filled nightclub, a city-levelling finale. The solid actors can sell the trite dialog and paper over action scenes that are shot and edited to obscure all detail of what has happened. But they struggle to bring the endless parade of animated, child-friendly creatures to life.

Aside from some vague innuendo, there's no subtext in the script or direction. The plot is flatly straightforward, including a couple of grim twists. And the production design is resolutely grey. Redmayne pours everything he has into creating the quirky, cheeky Newt, but without even a hint of back-story or discernible purpose, it's difficult to sympathise with him. Waterston gets to deliver Tina's past in random bursts of expository dialog, but never becomes a fully fledged character.

These same problems extend through the entire cast. This isn't as much of a problem with Farrell's hotheaded thug, simply because of his bluster. But the far more interesting characters like Morton's true-believer activist and her deeply disturbed son Miller are both underserved by the script. All of that said, the film is dotted with humorous moments, visual gags and witty interaction. And if the action can't be thrilling or inventive, it's at least sometimes dark and creepy. But if this is going to continue over four more movies, we really need characters we want to take the journey with, and they need to actually go somewhere.

themes, violence

16.Nov.16