Showing posts with label magic. Show all posts
Showing posts with label magic. Show all posts

Sunday, 12 February 2017

FILM - Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

The wizarding world's new story - based on the non-fiction book referenced in Harry Potter, Fantastic Beats and Where to Find Them, written by Newt Scamander.
It explores the coming together of his to-be-written book which, later, makes him a famous magi-zoologist.
However, the writing of this book isn't the focus of the story. Newt has come to New York to find a rare creature for his suitcase - a suitcase which holds a huge sanctuary for endangered species and injured animals that Newt has saved and learned about in his travels.
His simple plan to retrieve one creature soon spirals out of control and his creatures manage to find their way out of his suitcase...in a society where wizards and muggles are more divided than ever.
The plot is set up nicely, with promise of a hilarious adventure, and the great Eddie Redmayne playing our main character.
However, I felt that the film didn't quite live up to the hype. There comes a time when a successful franchise just needs to stop - I think the world of Harry Potter has already gone on too long (don't get me wrong - I am a big HP fan).
There are two main characters in the film that I think they could have done without (the mind-reading flapper girl, and the baker); they're not very fleshed out characters. There are also quite a lot of plot holes - how is our detective woman an auror in the American ministry of magic when she's such a bumbling mess all the time? There are wizards and witches who can read minds (without having studied occlumency)? There are also a few issues with the rules set out in the wizarding world - eg wand law (but I won't go into that now as it's super-nerd stuff).

Sunday, 5 February 2017

Book: Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson

Short and simple (much like this post), but brilliantly written. I read this cover to cover on a 3 hour train journey.
I think if I hadn't known the oh-so-famous twist it would have been more interesting - I suppose the phenomenon of double personality disorder was less known when this was written, hence the fictional, fantastical exploration of insanity in this book.
I loved the sinister description of Mr Hyde, and the magic elements of chemistry experiments. It's very much about the magic-like qualities of the basic elements of nature; scientific elements mirroring the basic elements of human nature.
When I say 'magic', I don't refer to the magic we see in Harry Potter or Narnia; it's more a darker, sinister, unnatural phenomena.
It's brilliant for a 'classic literature' fix, especially when you have got the strength/time/energy to make your way through the significantly heavier books of this sort, eg Dickens, Hardy etc.

I hadn't read anything by Robert Louis Stevenson before, but I'll be adding some of his to my mile long reading list...

This is another tick on my reading challenge!