Unlike the early Potter adventures, Fantastic Beasts, the first film in an intended five-part series, is darker, and more suited for older viewers who can grasp the film’s themes of segregation and xenophobia. A subplot involving a religious crazy (Samantha Morton) who mistreats kids and hunts witches might be especially disturbing for young kids.

Most of the film is overwhelmed by extensive use of CGI, the plot of this caper seems a bit trite at times, but considering this is one-fifth of a new franchise, one hopes that better adventures will follow, with a profound insight into the Dumbledore-Grindelwald relationship.

Minor gripes aside, do not miss a minute of this film. It's probably one of the best films you'll watch this year that's consistently engaging and entertaining.

Full of Spielbergian wonder and spectacle, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is a well-written, well-directed and well-acted family film. It is rare that a spin-off of a highly popular franchise genuinely works as a film and not just exists as a cash cow (The Hobbit, Puss in Boots).

The titular beasts themselves are imaginative and fascinating, and how Scamander is connected to the beasts is an interesting commentary on how humans treat something they are not aware of in a negative manner. When the film isn’t dark and scary it’s also quite funny which is a breath of fresh air from the persistent gloom and doom of the previous four films.

I cannot watch the movie multiple times but if you are a Potterhead, you must definitely watch it once.

There is enough escapist entertainment, from well-staged battle sequences and signature British wit to explorations of Scamander’s never-ending suitcase (occasionally hampered by stodgy CGI), to make the film perfectly primed for the dreary times in which humanity finds itself.