Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

The Harry Potter books have made J.K. Rowling rich and famous beyond the dreams of avarice or ego, but she’s not one to rest on her laurels. With Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, she ventures into screenwriting. Unfortunately, she’s not very good at it.

Fantastic Beasts takes its title from a textbook at Harry Potter’s Hogwarts School; written by Newt Scamander, it’s an encyclopedia of the creatures of the wizarding world. Rowling wrote and published a version of the book as a benefit for the Comic Relief charity. For the movie, she concocts a backstory for the book, set in 1926 and chronicling the adventures of Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) and several of his magical creatures in New York City.

Rowling’s story isn’t merely dark – it’s dreary and absurdly convoluted, with no trace of the wit and fun that sold 400 million Potter books. It bristles with schoolmarmish tut-tutting over the evils of bigotry, as anti-wizard sentiment flourishes in 1920s New York, led by a crusader named Mary Lou Barebone (a snarling Samantha Morton) – a swipe by Rowling, perhaps, at her own fundamentalist detractors. Other characters are the American wizard president (Carmen Ejogo), her security chief Percival Graves (Colin Farrell) and Ms. Barebone’s mopey teenage adopted son Credence (Ezra Miller). There’s also a lot of wizardly hand-wringing about the whereabouts of Gellert Grindelwald, a name tossed off in the Potter books and now being set up as a Dark Wizard to equal Lord Voldemort.

With Redmayne’s Newt are disgraced Auror Tina (Katherine Waterston), telepathic Queenie (Alison Sudol) and Jacob Kowalski (Dan Fogler), who unwittingly sets off a crisis in the wizard universe.

None of these actors make much impression. The problem is Rowling’s borderline-incomprehensible writing, exacerbated by medicore direction by David Yates, who added little to the last four Potter movies. Yates encourages actors to mutter their lines in inaudible whispers. The worst offender is Redmayne, who mumbles into his shirt collar – a fatal flaw when describing such beasts as Bowtruckles and Chizpurfles.

This is supposed to be the first of a five-picture series. Never underestimate the devotion of Rowling’s (and Harry’s) fans, I guess, but personally, I’m not looking forward to the second one. And I’ll be surprised if the third even gets made.

FANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM (1 1/2) Directed by David Yates • Starring Eddie Redmayne, Katherine Waterston, Alison Sudol • Rated PG-13 • 133 min. • At Century Cinemas Del Monte, Century Marina, Maya Cinemas, Northridge Cinemas, Lighthouse Cinemas, Cannery Row XD