An idea that sounds great during a brainstorming session should be put together better on paper and screen. While there are some positives to the Fantastic Beasts franchise, I was mostly left with negatives after watching the first movie. Too many negatives it seems, I’ve yet to sit myself down and watch the second movie.
Now we’ve spoken about this many times, but it’s the first time we’re sharing our thoughts with you. Maybe, we’ll end up posting our 8 page movie review that was typed up after opening weekend. If we remember correctly, it wasn’t a positive one. Regardless, we don’t want to bash the Fantastic Beasts movies for this post, we just want to talk about how we would’ve made the Fantastic Beasts movies.
How Many Movies Should We Make? One Movie, Three Max
Slating Fantastic Beasts up for five movies was way too much of a commitment for a franchise just starting out, even if you’re riding on the Harry Potter swag. Commit to one movie with the possibility of creating a trilogy, if that first one is successful. This, ultimately, would create an organic story with a stronger conclusion. Imagine if you only had one movie to tell a story about Newt Scamander. I believe that movie would look alot different than what we got.
Grab Inspiration from Indiana Jones
I never pictured Newt Scamander as this shy book worm who had a tough time interacting with people. Either way, Eddie Redmayne played that role spot on, and kudos to him, the way he interacts with his magical creatures compared to humans is night and day. His acting in this movie is one of our bright spots. Moving on, Newt Scamander, to me, always seemed like he was an Indiana Jones type character. Someone like, Charlie Weasley, a strong intellectual who could hold their own against dragons, but also be sweet to a bowtruckle.
You could take each Indiana Jones movie individually and they would work as great movies. Each one has it’s own unique problems and adventures. That’s how these movies should be put together.
Newt’s Journeys
Taking Indiana Jones into account, Newt would/could start out his adventures going off to chronicle some exciting or dangerous magical creature, but always ends up caught in some crazy adventure. Indiana Jones isn’t someone who seeks out death defying activities, he’s just capable of handling them.
Newt, shouldn’t be someone who seeks out these crazy events but is still capable of handling them. This was something I felt that the movie got right, however, should these crazy events involve an historic magical event? Probably not, you’d be rewriting your history books if you did that. The book Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them lists plenty of opportunities for stories that would be unique and separate from each other. We thought we’d try our hand at coming up with some of our own.
- While researching the Ukranian Ironbelly, Newt runs into a gang of illegal dragon trappers and traders. Being the good hearted wizard he is, it’s now up to Newt to help these creatures.
- Acromantula’s have fallen ill across Europe. While wizards across the continent are celebrating the disappearance of these dangerous creatures Newt senses something more sinister is at play. He decides he will discover and stop whatever is causing this rapid extinction.
- Mysterious magical creatures have appeared running amok with reckless abandonment. Magical governances have been worn ragged maintaining the chaos. These creatures are threatening the International Statute of Secrecy and must be contained before the wizarding world is exposed. After making a name for himself, Newt faces his toughest challenge yet.
Not all of them are winners, but there’s some promise here.
Newt’s Look
You gotta give Newt the rugged Professor look like Indiana Jones, someone who’s clean cut in the classroom and ready for adventure out in the wild. He’s a wizard hunting down and studying magical creatures in their habitat, he could use an extra-protective cloak, sturdy boots, and a magical bag (a la Hermione Granger) with plenty of extra space in it. I liked the premise of Newt carrying around all these magical creatures in a suitcase that includes his own workshop, but the idea of confined animals is never a happy one. He should develop some magical spells to help fortify the creatures’ natural habitats. He can’t keep them confined forever. Maybe, in the end, Newt developes a magical reservation for these animals, a place that’s protected and not interfered with.
Friendships Along the Way
Each movie and story provides Newt with the opportunity to meet new people and create friendships along the way. Who’s to say he couldn’t meet Jacob Kowalski (who’s without a doubt the best part of the movie) in the first movie and develope a long standing friendship with him in the updated version? There’s opportunity for reoccurring characters, but introducing new faces along the way wouldn’t hurt.
While the Fantastic Beasts franchise was certainly an endeavor worthy of admiration, it wasn’t without it’s flaws. Are our ideas gold? Probably not, but we’d enjoy seeing a Fantastic Beasts movie follow our “guidelines.”
Thank you for your time, let us know your thoughts, what’d you think about the Fantastic Beasts franchise, would our changes improve it, or make it worse? Let us know.
Remember, a light from the shadows shall spring.
– The Wandering One
Of Blades and Kings 