If your parents where anything like mine, then Harry Potter was a massive no no, you know, witchcraft and all of that.

After secretly reading Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets when I was 11, I was just like nah, this is the masterpiece that my parents' have been keeping me from?!

Anyway, I decided to read all the books near the end of secondary school and I can literally remember the moment I finished Deathly Hallows and just feeling deflated. Like damn, this 7 book series has really just come to end, what am I supposed to do with myself now?

Weirdly enough, as much as I may love a series or franchise etc, when I hear about spin-offs and such, I'm so uninterested, like just let the thing die, don't keep dragging it out. I'll freely admit that I had zero interest in Fantastic Beasts nor any intention to watch it but November 30 arrived and I hadn't gone to the cinema, I was like, "God, please let me know what I should watch' because I was spoilt for choice and violà, Fantastic Beasts was the one.

I hadn't seen a trailer and didn't know who was a part of the cast except for Eddie Redmayne and I think after this, when I can, I'm going to start watching movies with as little prior knowledge as I can because it just made for a different kind of viewing and left me a lot more susceptible to surprises.

It's 1926 and Newt Scamander has just arrived in New York from London with a suitcase full of magical creatures, where he soon encounters Mary Lou Barebone, a No-Maj (the American version of a muggle) who is the leader of the New Salem Philanthropic Society, (NSPS) an extremist group that persecutes witches. After a scuffle involving one of his creatures and another No-Maj, Jacob Kowalski, a kind baker, Newt attracts the attention of Tina Goldstein, a witch who works for the Magical Congress of the United States of America (MACUSA) who takes him in for various offences, that he accidentally committed.

The MACUSA have bigger fish to fry however, as there has been a mysterious, magical force that has been devastating New York (what else is new?) which threatens to expose witches and wizards to the human world. This situation is further worsened as the contents of Newt's suitcase are released and various dangerous creatures are all over the city.

So, I really enjoyed this film! It was so fun and entertaining and literally one of the few releases I've seen this year where I wasn't thinking about the time. JK Rowling did a fantastic job on her screenplay and all the little references to the future Harry Potter world that well all know were so cute, the visuals were stunning and the characters were both engaging and refreshing. The film has a really great cast, some of whom I was familiar with and others that I was introduced to. Eddie Redmayne's characterisation I will say, left me feeling very uncomfortable to start with and honestly took me a while to get used to but I do believe he was the perfect fit for Newt. The key standouts for me were Ezra Miller, a phenomenal actor, and Dan Fogler who was such a delight and put a smile on my face several times.

Whether or not you're a fan of Harry Potter, Fantastic Beats and Where to Find Them is definitely one to watch.

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