Review: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, 2016, dir. David Yates

I didn’t like The Legend of Tarzan, the first of two movies on David Yates’ slate in 2016. I also didn’t like Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, his second movie, but I liked it much more even if its failures left me feeling aggrieved more than Tarzan‘s did; it’s perhaps the 2016 franchise film that is most symptomatic of all the worst qualities of the modern franchise film, in that it is far too invested in setting up the next four (four FOUR four) movies in the series for its own good. All of the portent sucks energy out of the stuff that’s actually good, but how about this: If you read my full review at Paste Magazine, I won’t have to explain myself twice. Win win!