Fans of the “Harry Potter” series will enjoy “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.” Director David Yates and writer/producer J.K. Rowling merged once again for the new “Harry Potter” prequel/spin-off to the original eight films. Based off of a textbook in the “Harry Potter” universe.

“Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” takes place in the 1920s, 70 years before boy wizard Harry Potter is born. Main character Newt Scamander, played by Eddie Redmayne (“The Danish Girl”) is an Englishman who travels to New York City, but is not alone.

In his small luggage, he carries magical animals. Scamander and his friends journey to recollect escaped beasts and face challenges from the anti-hero American governing body of magic and other dark magic.

An Academy Award-winner, Redmayne does not fail in his role as the protagonist.

Jacob Kowalski, played by Dan Fogler (“Barely Lethal”), is a poor New Yorker who dreams of opening a bakery, but works unhappily at a factory. His life changes forever when he encounters Scamander, a magizoologist and is introduced to the world of magic. Both men meet sisters Porpentina, played by Katherine Waterston (“Steve Jobs”) and Queenie Goldstein, played by singer Alison Sudol (“Between Us”). Both women develop their roles throughout the movie and are at aid for the men in their search to find the beasts.

As for their counter-parts, casting Colin Farrell (“Solace”) as the villain Pericval Graves was a risk because of his shaky performances in past films, but he shocked the audience with an excellent performance. Young-up-and-coming actor Ezra Miller “‘The Stanford Prison Experiment”) brightly performed the mysterious role of Credence, an awkward and abused teenager who turns out to play a bigger role than what the audience originally expects.

Other minor roles succeeded in acting, but the performance of the six main characters were what caught the audience’s eye.

The beasts, all beautiful in their own way, were a joy to watch and definitely made the film fantastic. Niffler was cute and lovable, but a mischievous platypus type of beast that loved to steal money and jewelry and caused problems for Scamander. Bowtruckle is a walking-leaf, bonsai type of beast that has a close relationship with Scamander.

Swooping Evil, Occamy, Demiguise and Erumpent were other beasts that made worthy appearances in the movie. It was disappointing to see the thunderbird, Frank, the most beautiful of all beasts, get such little screen time. Fans will hope to see Frank if he appears in future sequels.

“Harry Potter” fans have to enter the cinema’s understanding that the trio cast of the original eight films will not appear, but Hogwarts, Huffelpuff and Albus Dumbledore will be referenced.

It is officially announced that there will be five films in the series and all films will have the title “Fantastic Beasts and…” with a different subtitle for each film. What is not certain is if Newt Scamander will be the focus in all future films, as the exact story is also unknown.