by eabaker » Wed Aug 08, 2018 6:53 pm
Managed to stay awake - not easily - through Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them last night.
What was supposed to be the actual story there? What was the objective of the protagonists? What was the objective of the antagonists? Who even were these people and why should we be invested in them?
At the end, Newt claims that he's changed through this adventure. If the movie had demonstrated this in any way, there'd have been no need for that line. But we didn't see a change; we didn't even see a starting point, much less an ending point that was any different.
And, considering the title, one would assume that the "Fantastic Beasts" are supposed to be a major part of the appeal. But we didn't spend much time with them, and when we did, they were mostly pretty mediocre CG creations that rarely felt like they were in any way a part of the physical world occupied by the characters, much less like they were creatures those characters were interacting with in any meaningful way.
I guess it did some "world building," for whatever little that's worth. But world building should exist to support a narrative, not the other way around.
Tokyo, a smoldering memorial to the unknown, an unknown which at this very moment still prevails and could at any time lash out with its terrible destruction anywhere else in the world.