Although Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and the Harry Potter series are written by the same author, J. K. Rowling, and have the same ideas, they are extremely different.

Harry Potter follows a young boy’s journey to defeat Voldemort, the antagonist of the story. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them takes us to a time before Harry is even born.

Our hero, Newt Scamander, played by Eddie Redmayne, was a student at Hogwarts and is now an expert in magical creatures. When a simple trip to America results in the escape of some of his creatures, New York city is turned upside down. Newt is joined by the magical sisters Tina and Queenie, played by Katherine Waterston and Alison Sudol, along with No-Maj Jacob Kowalski, played by Dan Fogler, who provides comic relief.  With the new people he meets, Newt sets out on an adventure to find the creatures before they destroy New York.

Even I, being a huge Harry Potter fan, like many others, hoped for the movie to be like the journey of the young boy. While at first I may have felt a little disappointed, the movie was still fun and exciting. Strong characters are developed slowly over time and you are left with unanswered questions, begging for a sequel. Because the movie was thrilling, I would give Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them a 4 out of 5 star rating.