The Quick & Dirty on: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

There was a line in Iron Man 2 where Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) says, "Dead for almost 20 years, you're still taking me to school."

The Harry Potter phenomenon is far from dead, but this film is like being taken to task all over again as you're introduced to an entirely different wizarding world and some of the most interesting fantastic beasts seen to date!

Bad pun, I know.

The movie takes place in 1920's New York were Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) comes to initially find a creature only to find that breading magical creatures is illegal in the united states.

Too bad he's got an unassuming leather case full of them, and those creatures cause quite a bit of mischief!

Tina (Katherine Waterston) finds Newt having a helluva time trying to contain them and does her best to maintain order, but she's got her own troubles to deal with which end up causing both her and Newt a world of trouble which includes her sister Queenie (Alison Sudol) and a no-maj named Kowalski (Dan Fogler).

On top of that, relations between the no-Majs (non-magical folk) and wizards are strained as there is a dark force known as an obscurius that's attached to poor Credence (Ezra Miller) tearing through the streets with no mercy for the innocent. It attracts the likes of Graves (Colin Farrell) but you're not really sure if that's a good or bad thing.

Hint, it ain't good.

If that wasn't enough, Grendelwald (super secret person that rhymes with Donny Jepp) has been quietly building his army and a crapload of fear while still being nowhere to be found.

There is a lot going on in this film, but like the Harry Potter books of days past, it's nearly seemless. J.K. Rowling actually wrote the scipt for this film, and it shows as this is her world. She has lived in this life for longer than most of us can comprehend, and it's displayed brilliantly on the screen.

Eddie Redmayne does a fantastic job bringing Newt to life. A man who enjoys his creatures to human interaction, he is a prime example that not all Hufflepuffs are timid as he bravely moves throughout this world to try and help Tina put New York back together as well as help a child before an obscurial takes their life.

All the characters were great, but were nothing compared to the creatures who inhabited the place. The niffler was probably my favorite next to the Erumpent who was... in season.

I couldn't take my eyes off the screen from beginning to end, and lucky for us, there will be four more movies culminating in the battle of Grendelwald, Albus, and Aberforth which ends up killing their sister Ariana.

How friggin' cool is that!!!!

I'm geeking. You all have no idea.

J.K. has a fantastic eye for detail which can only come from having written in this world for as long as she has. I can't wait to see what comes next in these films as she is writing them as well.

I also hope they can keep David Yates on as a director. He directed the last four Harry Potter films, and they were the most bad ass ones of the entire series.

Also, my patronus is a stag and I'm in Ravenclaw. What house are you in?

Catch Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them in a theater near you. I doubt it's going anywhere anytime soon. This movie is the beez knees!!