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maltatoday, SUNDAY, 27 NOVEMBER 2016 40 This Week IN CINEMAS TODAY Embassy Cinemas Valletta Tel. 21 227436, 21 245818 Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (PG) 10:30, 14:30, 17:45, 20:45 Doctor Strange (12A) 10:35, 13:40, 16:10, 18:40, 21:10 Keeping Up With The Joneses (12A) 16:15, 18:40, 21:00 Allied (15) 10:25, 13:15, 15:55, 18:30, 21:10 Free State of Jones (15) 10:25,14:20, 18:00, 20:55 A Street Cat Named Bob (12A) 10:00, 12:15, 14:30, 16:45, 19:00, 21:15 Eden Cinemas St Julian's Tel. 23 710400 The Light Between Oceans (12A) 13:10, 15:50, 18:30, 21:15, 22:35 Doctor Strange (12A) 13:20, 15:50, 18:20, 20:50, 23:30 Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar (12A) 13:20, 15:55, 18:35, 21:10 Allied (15) 13:20, 15:55, 18:30, 21:10, 23:45 The Accountant (15) 13:25, 16:00, 18:35, 21:15 Inferno (12A) 13:30, 16:00, 18:30, 21:05 Nocturnal Animals (15) 13:40, 16:05, 18:30, 20:55, 23:25 The Girl on the Train (15) 13:45, 16:05, 18:25, 20:50 Arrival (12A) 13:50, 16:20, 18:45, 21:15, 23:45 Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (PG) 14:00, 15:00, 17:10, 18:05, 20:00, 21:00, 23:00 The Clan (15) 14:10, 18:30 Trolls (U) 14:10, 16:20, 18:25, 20:30 The Comedian's Guide to Sur- vival (15) 16:30, 20:50 Empire Cinemas Bugibba Tel. 21 581787, 21 581909 The Accountant (15) 10:30, 13:15, 15:55, 18:35, 21:15 Allied (15) 11:00, 13:30, 16:00, 18:35, 21:05 Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (PG) 10:30, 13:15, 15:55, 18:35, 21:15 Free State of Jones (15) 10:35, 13:15, 15:55, 18:35, 21:15 Trolls (U) 11:15, 14:00, 18:30 Doctor Strange (12A) 16:00, 21:00 The Light Between Oceans (12A) 10:30, 13:10, 15:50, 18:35, 21:15 THE latest addition in the Harry Potter franchise – a gift that keeps on giving, to be sure – sounds like the most cynical project imagina- ble, when presented on paper. A story reverse-engineered from a glorified artefact in JK Rowling's original boy wizard saga, it has now been announced that a trilogy will be crafted out of the same – rather scant – source material, with Rowl- ing herself on screenwriting duties. The last time something similar happened was with Peter Jackson's The Hobbit trilogy: an ill-advised traipse back to Middle Earth result- ed in a rushed, over-stretched and poorly executed attempt at replicat- ing the magic of Jackson's own Lord of the Rings trilogy by over-stretch- ing and over-stuffing JRR Tolkien's slim children's book. Thankfully, however, Rowling her- self makes a more than competent screenwriting debut, while Potter stalwart David Yeats directs the film as a mini-epic in its own right; with a colourful, vivacious and magical touch that invites enough darkness in to ensure that audiences of all ages will sit up and take notice. We are introduced to the mum- bling and reserved wizard Newt Sca- mander (Eddie Redmayne) – author of the titular book, later on to be em- ployed as a Hogwarts textbook by Harry Potter and his classmates – as he heads to Arizona via New York. But his stay at the Big Apple is pro- longed when he crosses paths with anti-witchcraft campaigner Mary Lou Barebone (Samantha Morton) of the New Salem Philantrophic Society, whom he soon learns are on an ideological warpath for hearts and minds following a supernatural incident that has ravaged the city and left its wizarding community fearful of exposure. As the beast- collector Scamander scrambles for the monsters that escape from his bottomless suitcase and into the big city – picking up the hapless aspir- ing baker Jacob (Dan Fogler) in his wake. All the while, the disgraced wiz- ard Porpentina (Samantha Mor- ton) tries to take Scamander in for smuggling 'problematic' creatures into New York and endangering the wizard community's anonym- ity… but the real trouble lies just out of their vision, as the forces of light and darkness position themselves for the ultimate confrontation. Because Rowling is Rowling – i.e., the author of one of the most con- sistently successful books-to-film phenomena this side of James Bond – she gets away with a lot on her first run as a screenwriter. So that an otherwise scant story – an extended series of case sequences while an en- croaching evil bubbles in the back- ground – both manages to move at a breakneck pace while also feeling overstuffed with characters and a wealth of backstory elements from the extended Potterverse. Not that this derails the film too much. An old hand at bring- ing Rowling's universe to the big screen, Yeats marshals the entire movable feast in a way that's both easy to understand – shame about Redmayne's mumbling though – and dazzling to observe. By turns cute, awe-inspiring and terrifying, the creatures alone are 'worth the price of admission'… especially given that the 3D effect is utilised to the fullest to bring out their pe- culiarities and help the spectacle along (instead of simply being a money-sucking gimmick). Though the main plot and sub- plot are in a constant battle for supremacy in a way that only adds to the confusion – Scamander is occupying a minor role in what turns out to be a pretty cataclys- mic event, but we're following him around anyway – and while the climax hinges on a somewhat hackneyed iteration of the return of the repressed via magic, 'Fan- tastic Beasts' is also a rare case of a franchise reboot being done right. Yeats and Rowling short-circuit the essential cynicism of the en- tire enterprise – i.e., the film is being made primarily because the Harry Potter films made a boatload of money – and create something that not only stands on its own two feet but that also has a zany, child-like enthusiasm to it. And that's how you banish cyni- cism. Crossed lines from the front line ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ BEASTMASTER ★ ★ ★ ★ MONSTER MASH ★ ★ ★ MONSTERS INC. ★ ★ BEAST OF BURDEN ★ BESTIAL FILM By Teodor Reljic FANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM (PG) ★ ★ ★ Beastmaster: Eddie Redmayne mumbles his way through this fast-paced and dazzling Harry Potter spinoff Beast of a blockbuster done right Gold-digger: The thieving Niffler