Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
Warner Bros. | Release Date: November 18, 2016 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
66
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 50 Critic Reviews
Positive:
33
Mixed:
15
Negative:
2
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
The GuardianPeter BradshawNov 12, 2016
That entertainment enchanter JK Rowling has come storming back to the world of magic in a shower of supernatural sparks - and created a glorious fantasy-romance adventure. Read full review
88
St. Louis Post-DispatchCalvin WilsonNov 17, 2016
Shares the magical appeal of the “Harry Potter” movies, which should come as no surprise. Read full review
88
Charlotte ObserverLawrence ToppmanNov 16, 2016
The filmmakers beautifully balance goofy moments with Gothic darkness. Read full review
83
ConsequenceAllison ShoemakerNov 15, 2016
There’s something sad, frightening, or even disturbing around nearly every corner. Still, there’s delight in the world, and it’s hardly in short supply. Read full review
83
IndieWireEric KohnNov 12, 2016
The “Potter” movies were so well conceived that they contain endless possibilities for more entries, and “Fantastic Beasts” takes the bait right on cue, not repeating a formula so much as enriching it with a spellbinding polish. Read full review
80
CineVueJoe WalshNov 21, 2016
A great deal of love, intelligence and effort have gone into crafting a more mature rendering of the Wizarding World, where pertinent themes of segregation, racism, international politics bubble in the narrative cauldron. Read full review
80
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzNov 16, 2016
It’s all quite intricate and entertaining and terrific to look at. The “Fantastic” of the title might be stretching things a bit, but it doesn’t miss the mark by much. Better still, it makes you look forward to, and not dread, the next installment — and that’s real magic. Read full review
80
New York Daily NewsJoe DziemianowiczNov 13, 2016
Director David Yates, who helmed the last four "Harry Potter" films, is in his element with this mix of wand-waving and rollicking adventure. He keeps the overstuffed story zipping along for the most part. And he's thrown in all the eye-popping wonders that $180 million can buy. Read full review
80
Time Out LondonCath ClarkeNov 13, 2016
This entertaining first spin-off from the Harry Potter movies is both inventive and familiar – and Eddie Redmayne makes an endearing new wizarding lead. Read full review
80
The TelegraphRobbie CollinNov 12, 2016
The film is immaculately cast, and the chemistry between its four heroes holds your eye with its firework fizz. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleJosh KupeckiNov 16, 2016
While Fantastic Beasts suffers from some symptoms we’ve basically taken as par for the course in recent high-profile Hollywood spectacles: too many set-pieces, various plotlines stitched together like a quilt, and one-note supporting roles (pretty sure Jon Voight – playing a newspaper mogul – is just there to introduce himself for subsequent entries), it is also really fun. Read full review
75
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerNov 18, 2016
The film is fine enough to make you forgive, if not forget, the fact that it exists primarily as a corporate enterprise and not as an imaginative tour de force. Read full review
75
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanNov 17, 2016
The plot thickens, along with the emotional tension, which was always the best part of the Potter universe, and not the dazzling special effects. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliNov 17, 2016
Fantastic Beasts is an enjoyable stand-alone but its position as the progenitor of a new franchise remains unclear. Read full review
75
RogerEbert.comSusan WloszczynaNov 17, 2016
As with most complicated narratives, it is best to simply sit back at some point and enjoy the ride. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeTy BurrNov 17, 2016
The new film is a juicily enjoyable crowd-pleaser that works hard at expanding to fit the size of its ambitions and that wants to give the audience a high old time while slipping in reminders of how low some people may sink in the pursuit of power. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChroniclePeter HartlaubNov 16, 2016
It’s a solid first step into the magical world of the familiar. Escapist entertainment for crowds that prefer to know their destination in advance. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsNov 16, 2016
The storytelling rhythm gets a bit pokey for the amount of story being told.... But director Yates knows his way around this stuff. The visual evocation of '20s Manhattan with a twist offers considerable satisfaction, as does Redmayne's embodiment of a boy-man more comfortable in the company of animals than with humans. Read full review
75
USA TodayBrian TruittNov 16, 2016
Director David Yates’ entertaining introduction of awkward hero and magizoologist Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) is a confident and surprisingly funny adventure that’s more charming than most of the eight Harry Potter films. Read full review
75
Rolling StonePeter TraversNov 15, 2016
The real stars here are the beasts, supposedly ugly, weird and dangerous, but paragons of FX creativity in service of genuine ideas. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerTirdad DerakhshaniNov 15, 2016
Yates and Rowling skillfully weave their bleak – and very blunt-edged – message into the fabric of the story. It might be wildly out of place in a fantasy aimed at tweens, but it’s a welcome change from the usual vapid blockbuster. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperNov 15, 2016
The special effects are of course top level (though again, I wouldn’t say they’re breathtakingly special); the sets are amazingly rich in detail; the cinematography is fluid and vibrant. The result is an effective if not everlasting magical spell. Read full review
74
The VergeTasha RobinsonNov 18, 2016
While Fantastic Beasts’ erratic leaps between murderous gravity and childish silliness are distracting, one thing is consistent: the characters here can be silly, broad, naïve, bungling, or just one-dimensional, but a surprising number of them are in some form of pain. Read full review
70
The New YorkerAnthony LaneNov 21, 2016
In all, the movie is a cunning and peppy surprise, dulled only by the news that no less than four sequels await. Will the spell not wear off before then? Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesJustin ChangNov 17, 2016
It both benefits and suffers from the relentless commercial logic that has, for the moment, placed a bit of a stranglehold on its own considerable magic. Read full review
70
The New York TimesManohla DargisNov 17, 2016
With the strange caws and showy displays, these beasties provide a lot of the movie’s easygoing pleasures. The adults are rather less engaging. Read full review
70
VarietyPeter DebrugeNov 12, 2016
Maintaining Yates as director lends a consistency to the project, and yet, it would have been refreshing to get a completely new take on Rowling’s world with this series, especially considering how murky and self-serious they got in the final chapters. Still, Yates knows this world as well as anyone, and he excels at finding visual solutions for challenging ideas. Read full review
70
Screen DailyTim GriersonNov 12, 2016
Like the wizarding movies to which it’s connected, Fantastic Beasts is better the darker it gets, especially in a robust final reel where the film fully hits its stride. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeNov 12, 2016
Invention and effects are the name of the game here, predictably, and this world invites us in as effectively as the best of the Potter episodes.... Somewhat less effective is the film's character-bonding agenda. Read full review
70
TheWrapJason SolomonsNov 12, 2016
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them has all the makings of a huge family blockbuster, but all the bloated traps of those, too. It hasn’t quite got the balance right. Read full review
67
The PlaylistWill AshtonNov 17, 2016
As a world-building exercise, Fantastic Beasts often succeeds. It’s charming, playful and welcoming in ways these movies haven’t been since the first two installments, and the patchiness of the plot is often forgiven because these characters are likable, rather affable, and well-cast. Read full review
67
Entertainment WeeklyChris NashawatyNov 12, 2016
Fantastic Beasts is two-plus hours of meandering eye candy that feels numbingly inconsequential. Read full review
63
The Seattle TimesMoira MacdonaldNov 15, 2016
There’s room for improvement in the “Fantastic Beasts” universe; perhaps we’ll see it in the next installment or two. Meanwhile — even if you, like me, are a bit Pottered out and wish Rowling would devote herself instead to her marvelous Cormoran Strike detective-novel series (magic comes in many forms) — it’s still a pleasure to revisit the author’s world. Read full review
60
SlateDan KoisNov 17, 2016
While it’s a decent table-setter and a welcome return to a magical world that many of us love dearly, it’s no Force Awakens, bogged down as it is by exposition, dull characters, and sludgy pacing. Read full review
60
Village VoiceBilge EbiriNov 16, 2016
Fantastic Beasts is often lovely to look at, at times even stirring, but there's very little to hold on to, story- or character-wise. Read full review
60
We Got This CoveredMatt DonatoNov 16, 2016
Fantastic Beasts is both a slice of magical monster mayhem and severely underwritten storytelling, landing somewhere between “pretty passable” and “zany fun” – but certainly nothing fantastic. Read full review
60
TimeStephanie ZacharekNov 16, 2016
The picture—directed by David Yates, who also gave us the last four Harry Potter films, terrific ones—feels both sprawling and crowded, as if it were trying to pack too much mythology into one cramped crawlspace. Read full review
60
EmpireHelen O'HaraNov 12, 2016
Big, bold and teeming with imagination, it is so busy world-building that it occasionally forgets to have fun. But with this heavy lifting done, there’s every reason to hope for an even more magical adventure next time. Read full review
60
ScreenCrushE. Oliver WhitneyNov 12, 2016
Fantastic Beasts is a good movie, and offers a fun and inventive return to Rowling’s wizarding world, but it could have been a better movie if didn’t waste so much time setting up a new franchise. Read full review
60
Total FilmJamie GrahamNov 12, 2016
What Fantastic Beasts lacks in wonderment it almost makes up for in scares and subtext. Read full review
58
The A.V. ClubIgnatiy VishnevetskyNov 16, 2016
Patchy but occasionally charming, the Harry Potter spin-off Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them delivers most of what has come to be expected from J.K. Rowling’s book series and its successful film adaptations. Read full review
58
Tampa Bay TimesSteve PersallNov 15, 2016
Not even J.K. Rowling can say abracadabra and make a worthwhile movie franchise appear. The lightning that struck Harry Potter once merely grazes Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, turning the sorcerer's mentor into a fantasy apprentice. Read full review
50
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternNov 17, 2016
We can all use more magic in our lives, and that promise is fulfilled quite delightfully at first. But extravagant creatures of digital descent can’t sustain a story that does little more than set the scene for a long string of sequels. Read full review
50
MTV NewsAmy NicholsonNov 16, 2016
Newt lacks soul. So, too, does his movie. Read full review
50
New York PostSara StewartNov 16, 2016
Unfortunately, the cast of characters you’ll find here is a pale imitation of her Hogwarts heroes. Read full review
50
Movie NationRoger MooreNov 16, 2016
Perhaps some adults can lose themselves in this world, reveling in the magic, plumbing for Rowling’s themes and deeper meaning. Not me. Read full review
42
The Film StageDaniel SchindelNov 16, 2016
This is Marvel imitation at its most tedious. It’s particularly disappointing given how, in her original Harry Potter books, screenwriter J.K. Rowling demonstrated a deft ability to put in subtle foreshadowing and use characters and elements that would later take on new significance. Read full review
40
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinNov 17, 2016
The movie might pass muster for kids weaned on the Harry Potter films — I shudder to think of the movies that pleased me when I was 7 or 8 — and uncritical critics. But you’d have to be desperate for another Potter fix to think this is magical entertainment. It’s thoroughly No-Maj. Read full review
38
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Mark MedleyNov 17, 2016
The problem with this spinoff is, like homework, you’d rather be doing something else with your time. Read full review
38
Slant MagazineEric HendersonNov 17, 2016
The film exists resolutely outside of salience and doggedly within the comfort of escapism. Read full review
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