Film
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
A prequel to Harry Potter set in 1920s New York, following a magizoologist navigating wizarding bureaucracy and escaped magical creatures. It's a handsomely crafted adventure that favors spectacle and charm over narrative momentum, designed for fans of the Potter universe and newcomers who enjoy whimsical world-building with real stakes underneath.
If you liked this
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban2004
The Potter film that proves the franchise could be genuinely smart and visually inventive. Cuarón's direction brings wit and visual sophistication to the world-building that Fantastic Beasts aspires to.
But If you've never seen a Potter film, starting here skips essential groundwork. Also, it assumes you care about characters you haven't met.

Paddington 22017
A film about an outsider navigating a bewildering city with the same warmth and meticulous craft. Funny, clever, beautifully designed, and it actually earns its emotional moments instead of declaring them.
But It's a film about a bear, and that's not everyone's entry point. The whimsy might feel overstretched if you prefer grittier adventures.

The Secret of Roan Inish1994
Gorgeous, mysterious, and genuinely felt world-building about magic and belonging. Delighted in its own mythology without needing explosions or complex plots to justify itself.
But The pacing is dreamy and deliberate. If you need forward momentum every five minutes, this will feel slow.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities2022
Both are love letters to magical creatures hidden from the everyday world, but del Toro uses that premise to explore beauty and mortality rather than spectacle.
Eight standalone horror stories from a filmmaker obsessed with creatures and wonder. Each episode is a small masterpiece of atmosphere and design—del Toro understands what Fantastic Beasts reaches for but doesn't quite grasp: that monstrosity and beauty are not opposites.
But It's horror, not adventure. Some episodes are genuinely disturbing, and the tone is Gothic rather than charming.

More like this (8)
Willow1988
Ron Howard's fantasy adventure is similarly structured—ordinary person thrust into magical danger—and it commits fully to the world without worrying whether you believe it. Endlessly watchable.
But The effects haven't aged gracefully. Its earnestness about magic might feel dated compared to modern irony.

The Spiderwick Chronicles2008
A film about discovering hidden magical creatures in the real world, with genuine atmosphere and real stakes for its young characters. Sharp direction and actual suspense.
But It's aimed at younger audiences and moves quickly past character development in favor of plot. Some will find it thin.

A Monster Calls2016
A quietly devastating film about loss disguised as a magical adventure. It understands that fantasy is a language for processing grief, which Fantastic Beasts understands only intellectually.
But It's fundamentally sad. The fantasy elements serve the emotional core, not the reverse, which is a different kind of story.

The Invisible Man2020
Leigh Whannell's remake transforms a classic concept into something urgent and alive. Proof that well-executed genre storytelling can be both clever and genuinely affecting.
But It's a creature feature centered on dread and paranoia, not wonder. The tone is completely different from Fantastic Beasts's whimsy.

The Shape of Water2017
Del Toro creates a meticulously designed world where magic and monstrosity coexist with grace. Fantastical but grounded, with real emotional weight beneath the spectacle.
But It's a slow-burn love story, not an adventure. The sensuality might feel at odds with what you want from a creature-based fantasy.

Doctor Strange2016
Released the same year, it's a similarly confident dive into a hidden magical world. The visual design is inventive and the protagonist's arc—arrogant expert humbled—mirrors Newt's journey.
But It's a superhero film first and foremost. If you're fatigued by MCU formula, the magical window-dressing won't be enough.

The Tale of The Princess Kaguya2013
Both center on a figure from another world learning that they don't quite fit in either place. Fantastic Beasts plays this for adventure; Takahata plays it for heartbreak.
Takahata's animated masterpiece tells the inverse of Fantastic Beasts: a magical being navigating the human world. Breathtakingly drawn, emotionally devastating, about displacement and belonging rather than adventure.
But It's a feature-length hand-drawn animation that moves at its own meditative pace. If you want plot momentum, this will frustrate you. It's also profoundly sad.

The Ballad of Little Jo1993
Both are fascinated by outsiders navigating rigid systems in specific historical moments, but one solves its problems with wonder and the other with quiet survival.
A period film about survival and belonging set in the same era as Fantastic Beasts, but grounded in genuine hardship rather than spectacle. Maggie Greenwald's direction is precise and unsentimental. A Western masquerading as a character study.
But It's a quiet film about a woman passing as a man in the frontier, not a fantasy adventure. The landscape is beautiful but unforgiving, and there are no magical solutions to real problems.

People
Cast
Eddie RedmayneNewt
Katherine WaterstonPorpentina 'Tina' Goldstein
Dan FoglerJacob Kowalski
Alison SudolQueenie
Colin FarrellGraves
Jon VoightShaw Senior
Ron PerlmanGnarlak
Ezra MillerCredence Barebone
Samantha MortonMary Lou Barebone
Carmen EjogoSeraphina Picquery
Josh CowderyHenry Shaw Jnr / Senator Shaw
Johnny DeppGrindelwald
Directing
- David YatesDirector
- Josh RobertsonFirst Assistant Director
- Terence MaddenOther
- Anna WorleyScript Supervisor
- Tom BrewsterSecond Second Assistant Director
- Stephen WoolfendenSecond Unit Director
- Dominic FyshSecond Unit First Assistant Director
- Katharina HingstThird Assistant Director
Writing
- J.K. RowlingWriter
Production
- Fiona WeirCasting
- Alice SearbyCasting Associate
- Michael SharpCo-Producer
- Neil BlairExecutive Producer
- Rick SenatExecutive Producer
- Tim LewisExecutive Producer
- Dan WhittyLocation Manager
- Georgette TurnerLocation Manager
- Callum HarlingPayroll Accountant
- David HeymanProducer
- J.K. RowlingProducer
- Lionel WigramProducer
- Steve KlovesProducer
- Kaitlyn SmithProduction Coordinator
- Samantha MaggioloProduction Coordinator
- Teodora IlieProduction Coordinator
- Winnie WishartProduction Coordinator
- Jon WarneProduction Manager
- Michael SharpUnit Production Manager
- Tim LewisUnit Production Manager
Recommended by
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, The Tale of the Three Brothers, Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium