Struggles desperately to be three movies at once: One about Pokemon, one about proto-Voldemort and one (uncharacteristically dark story) about child abuse. But none of these three movies are bad movies so Fantastic Beasts gets a pass from me. I was particularly fond of the degree to which it tied into the Harry Potter world at large. There were moments were I went “Oh Harry’s used that same spell before!” or characters that fitted naturally into the narrative being mentioned, as opposed to getting all Agents of SHIELD season 1 on us, and awkwardly name-dropping something from the other films every 5 minutes, just in case we forgot, which was what I was afraid it might do. End result, Fantastic Beasts is a flawed film that I was still very happy to have watched, and exceeded my expectations. Final rating:★★★ - I personally recommend you give it a go.