Did you even know that there was a new movie connected to the Harry Potter series? It is not a movie with Harry Potter in it but rather a connected story with the same level of amazing production and my older kids loved it!
The first thing to know is that neither Harry Potter nor anyone from the films is in this new stand alone production. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is a prequel to the Harry Potter movies and is based around the life of the author of a textbook from Hogwarts. It takes place in New York City in the 1920s and follows the adventures of Newt Scamander who is a kind of magic zoologist.
We follow him around the city as they battle an unknown destructive force and try to maintain the secret divide between those familiar with magic and those oblivious to it. As with any J.K. Rowling tale, the twists are plenty and the imagination is top shelf, as is the production.
Throughout the movie there are some darker themes and several deaths result. There is also some domestic violence and other more mature themes since this is essentially a story about an adult world. I took children 12 and older and they had seen the Harry Potter films … we discussed the movie afterwards and they handled it well but it may not be suited to all pre-teens in our opinion.
This is an amazing adventure for anyone including the adults and we really enjoyed the movie but it is also one to watch and debrief with your kids especially any younger ones. It is rates M in Australia meaning mature audiences only.
Trailer
