I agree casting Johnny Depp was a pathetic choice. His 5 second appearance looked like the same role he has been doing for years. He also looks heavily bloated.

I find it hard to ever be too hard on Johnny Depp because I am such a fan of the early Tim Burton collaborations, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Blow, etc., but it is rather deflating when Colin Farrell (whose presence here is truly rather imposing and grim) turns into, "Oh, there is Johnny Depp in heavy makeup again." It is also an odd moment because he is such a famous actor, and I feel for a lot of people, those who do not devotedly follow casting news and spoiler sites, any sense of whoa-what-a-twist will be outweighed by, "Wait, Johnny Depp is in this?"

Also, this means nothing, but this is the second movie where he and Farrell have played the same character via a magical-transformation plot device. The first being The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. Which is a super undervalued movie, so I just wanted to mention it.

Pretty much no one after my press screening could exactly explain it either and I have read more than one review that expressed the same sentiment.

I don't think it's fair to compare these characters to Potter because those characters had 8 films of development whereas these have had one. The characters in this movie are more interesting than those in just about every blockbuster released these days. Harry didn't really have any character flaws until Order of the Phoenix when we discovered his nasty temper. And Ron and Hermione fit neatly into the "goofy best friend" and "know it all nerd" stereotypes.

I certainly didn't compare them. These characters were just annoying and bland as all hell.

Also, did Ezra Miller give one of the worst performances of the year in this or what? Oh my lordt.

Good to know that according to David Heyman he will be one of the main players in thisfranchise, alongside Grindelwald and Dumbledore.

He didn't have that many lines. I thought he was fine.

He spent most of the film somewhere between crying and going full retard.

I got tickets for Friday at 10 PM.

Aww, are you excited?

Not particularly, but my gf wants to see it, and I'm trying out couple seats for the first time (I think it's like a two-seater sofa) so I'm a bit excited about this concept.

I had two-seaters in almost every screening growing up.

Not enough explosions in this one for stuffp.

Those are usually offered with a built-in prostate massage. Have fun!

I agree. He played creepy/ill/tortured well enough.

This was super enjoyable for me. I love the Harry Potter films and I thought this was a worthy successor and I really want to see it again to catch anything I missed. It had an engaging story and characters and I'm excited to see where things go. It's not up to the standards of the original series yet but there are several films to go and I thought it did a good job of re-establishing this world and introducing fans to a new iteration of it. Alison Sudol and Dan Folger were the best parts of the film for me hands down, I loved them and they had a wonderful chemistry. A-

Also, we're really complaining about Ezra Miller's performance? I'm not even the biggest fan of the guy but he had like 10 lines and was perfectly fine. This was nothing compared to his trash split second appearance in BvS.

It was fine. I liked almost everything to do with the main plotline. The niffler scenes especially stick out in the opening, the type of playfulness I like in my magical word. The main girl is stiff, but Redmayne is acceptable and the new versions of Neville and Luna are charming enough.

Gosh this drags anytime it goes over to the orphanage plotline though. Such an unpleasant contrast, and not sold enough for that "twist". Oh the only kid at the orphanage who speaks turns out to be the important one? Shocking. And I also don't understand why Colin Farrell had to really be Johnny Depp. Are we only allowed to have one bad guy?

It was great being back in the Wizarding World though. It's a mostly good time and I look forward to coming back every two years.

He was an impostor in the MACUSA? Probably used Polyjuice potion to disguise as Graves who was a regular employee. But whatever the story behind that I'm guessing we will find out in the following movies.

Graves was coming off as kind of sympathetic at the end. He would have been a good #2 villain for the series alongside Depp. A Lucius Malfoy. But nope,I guess you are Voldemort or bust in this series.

We might see more of Graves. Who says Graves isn't a bad guy too? We do not know when/how/why the switch was made.

Yeah but Harry had a much bigger backstory ... the first 20 minutes of the first film were all about his life. We know practically nothing about Newt. I would have liked more personality and history from him.

Fantastic Beast is alright. It all seems quite good, it has a nice cast, but it doesn't excite. For a film about such a magical world with creative creatures one could say it actually disappoints. I wasn't though, because I didn't expect much either. It has a good story overall but it's quite dull and boring for stretches. I like the Depp cameo and some of the Potter tie-ins. Fogler and Sudol whom I've been previously unaware of have a good screen presence. I didn't feel that it was so concerned to set up a whole new universe, as a stand alone film it works well enough. It's just so overly bland that quickly puts this out of my mind for me.

C+

So did you like it? Every sentence contradicted the last one.

Me and zwackerm must have read different stuffp reviews. It is clear he thought it was dull but with a few redeeming qualities.