Hats have to come off here to Eddie Redmayne. I reckon he must have spent virtually all of the filming days staring at a green screen reacting to CGI. That's my problem with this. Though set in a fantasy world, there's nothing remotely authentic about it. Not his "Newt Scamander" character, nor the constantly changing scenarios that are busily trying to engage our eyes without bothering with our brains. "Newt" arrives from Britain into the USA with a magical suitcase full of creatures that is the target of the dastardly "Grindelwald" (a few fleeting appearances from Johnny Depp). When it is stolen and some of the beasties escape, it looks like a bad time to be insuring the properties of New York's Fifth Avenue and with all hell breaking loose, "Newt" and his new muggle friend "Jacob" (Dan Fogler) to round them all up and thwart a plan that will bring the wizarding world to the brink chaos. There's no denying that the film looks great, with astonishing attention to detail and an impressive imagination behind the design of mystical creatures and their animated visual effects. The thing has no soul, though. Unlike with her earlier "Potter" characters, JK Rowling hasn't really created anyone here about whom I really cared. There are some fun critters - the curious platypus and their own mini version of "Groot", but Redmayne just seems to be rushing around reacting all the time, without us really getting to know him or much about his mission. Colin Farrell, Ezra Miller and Depp suffer likewise, with little effort put into imbuing them with much persona. Even the magic itself seems sterile and derivative. It's not terrible, it's more a sort of "so what" that you just know will spawn loads of predicable sequels and "Newt" and "Grindelwald" square up for a battle royal.
