The Potter styled magic has returned to the muggle world after a gap of 5 years with Fantastic Beasts And Where to Find Them. Based on the popular Hogwarts' book, the film chronicles the journey of magizooligist Newt Scamander in New York and gives a glimpse of an upcoming big threat to the city. JK Rowling has already announced Fantastic Beasts to be a five-film franchise, therefore making it an official Harry Potter spin-off.
The deal with spin-offs is that they always draw comparisons from their original films. The treatment and few characters are the same and there is always a hope of some crossover. But with Fantastic Beasts the case is very different. The era of the film is set way before Potter universe came into existence. No one here has ever heard of Voldemort and Dumbledore is still a young professor at Hogwarts. The biggest threat in this wizarding universe in Grindelwald. Yes, the same man who is known as one of the-most-terrifying dark wizards of all times and owner of the famous Elder Wand.
While Potterheads are bound to draw comparisons between the two there are many reasons why Harry Potter can't and shouldn't be compared to the Fantastic Beast series.
Darker World
Fantastic Beasts has a darker plot than any of the Potter films. JK Rowling's debut franchise was written as an introduction to people in a world full of magic and wonderment. It centred around an 11-year-old boy and a school. However, Fantastic Beasts is for a mature audience who understand wizardry and is going to be played on the higher level of ministries and spells, something that came into Potter films much later.
While the world of Harry Potter represented bravery, friendship and unity, the world of Fantastic Beasts require much more than that to get rid of its evils. Plotting, tactics, betrayal and strength form the core of this story. One can easily say, that Fantastic Beasts franchise is like an upgraded, rebooted version Rowling deemed us ready for.
Grown Up Wonders
Remember the feeling you got when you first learned about Hogwarts? A school for wizards full of magic. Rowling captured the wonderment of children who never knew anything about magic. However, Fantastic Beasts is about creatures and techniques of training them.
The wonderment here is of learning something more than learning- something new. While Potter universe was confined to Britain, Fantastic Beasts is going to tour the world with Newt Scamander and his briefcase full of mystical creatures. The canvas here is larger thus making it completely different.
Little Nostalgia
While there is some mention of Hogwarts and we are sure it will become frequent in the upcoming films of the franchise, other than Dumbledore there might not be any other familiar name that makers will carry from Potter universe and that's fair. In order to grow as a franchise of its own, Fantastic Beasts needs to get out of the Harry Potter shadow. So instead of complaining about no nostalgia and seeing it as a flaw, one should appreciate the efforts put in by makers to out-grow an immensely popular series. Yes the film reminds us very little of its parent franchise but hey, isn't it what a good spin-off story should actually do?
World Saving War- A Background
This is one of the key points why Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts shouldn't be kept in the same closet. Right from the point we learnt about Harry Potter's history with Lord Voldemort, we knew what the epic climax would look like, but the end was always doubtful. Fantastic Beasts, on the other hand, never really dwells on the ending as we already know that Grindelwald will die and Dumbledore will win. It is a chapter of history whose conclusions are known but consequences and confrontation are not wildly reported.
Thus, Beasts is a journey and not a story.
Moreover, the franchise is titled Fantastic Beasts, making the wizarding world's creatures the central characters. So while Dumbledore will prepare for a war against Grindelwald, it's the creatures who will shine in every film alongside Newt Scamander.
Respecting the Eras
Always remember, the world Harry Potter and the company lived in was forged by histories of various eras. So while we can never get over the trio and the company, we should learn to accept the fact there were many more characters like them long before they existed. No one can ever replace them but we can find similar ones in Rowling's wizarding world again, isn't it great?
It's time to live the history and instead of comparing it with the future we already lived, let's open our eyes and see what actually created the world we all fell in love with 15 years ago.
Trust JK Rowling with the fact that Fantastic Beasts franchise is going to be magical mystery ride which will amuse us in every turn just like this recently released one. It's time to move on or rather back from Harry Potter series and give Fantastic Beasts a fair chance to prove it's worth. We know it's easier to watch a well constructed magical world through the keyhole of Hogwarts but it's time to step out to a broader world of magic.
As Dumbledore puts it, "We must all face the choice between what is right and what is easy," and Rowling has presented us a right film to move on to, now the 'choice' is ours.
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