I'm pretty sure that this movie is going to be all about people's expectations when going in to it. If you are super pumped and want something Harry Potter level - you will probably be disappointed. If you go in thinking it is a lame knock off of the Harry Potter movies - you will probably be surprised and like it. If you are down the middle - you will walk out thinking it was a pretty good movie and a good setup for a spinoff franchise moving foward. I fell into that third group. They did a good job of developing the main characters (although Newt Scamander kind of felt like my least favorite one). They did good with the effects on the "beasts" and the story progressed well enough to keep you interested as the tension built. The only real knock I'll make against the movie is that I had hoped that when it started with a quick story update via newspapers in the opening credits that the movie wouldn't be so long. I was wrong and it was definitely longer than it needed to be.
I would recommend people checking this out. Not that my thoughts ultimately matter on this. You were either definitely seeing this or definitely not seeing it already. Just keep your expectations not too high and you will be able to enjoy the movie more.
