Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them was visually spectacular but seemed to be not an ideal stand-alone movie. It really does seem to need quite a bit of Harry Potter universe (HPU) background to be known before delving into it. It does try at the beginning but seems too rushed.
Some of the acting was perhaps a bit too subtle ( or perhaps too contrasting between very subtle and over the top) and the clear social commentary between the UK HPU and the American HPU culture seemed a bit forced at times. The concept of the magical suitcase did remind me a lot of The Doctor Who concept of the TARDIS.
Watched this at ANUfg