The new “Harry Potter”, but not “Harry Potter” movie, “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” lacks cinematic magic, banking too much on the wizarding world and neglecting a solid plot.

When I heard they would be releasing a new “Harry Potter” movie, I grabbed my wand (Laurel wood with unicorn hair core 10” and solid flexibility, mind you) and put on my cloak (Hufflepuff, obviously) and practically ran to the movies.

Harry Potter has been engrained into my being since I was a child. I’ve seen all the movies an obnoxious amount of times. I’ve read all of the books.

Anything with even the mention of Harry Potter excites me, but walking out of the movie theater last Saturday, I only felt disappointment.

The story revolves around Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne), a wizard from England, coming to America to document and discover fantastic beasts.

He carries a briefcase filled with such beasts and expects absolutely nothing to go wrong.

The first scene entails one of Scamander’s friendly creatures escaping the bag in a bank, since they don’t create monster-proof luggage in the wizarding world, I guess.

The shimmer-obsessed-four-legged friend runs around the bank, silently stealing coins and jewelry, creating a giant mess.

Scamander gets mixed up with a “No-Maj” (the American version of a muggle, or “Non-Magic”), Jacob Kowalksi (Dan Fogler), and among many other mishaps they end up switching suitcases. Obviously this is an issue as a No-Maj now has a briefcase filled with magical beasts from which he has no safety, but it’s also a tired plot point. Immediately I knew, Harry Potter could do better.

As if this wasn’t an already big enough issue, the fact that Scamander is from England shakes everything up. In England, the relationships with No-Maj’s is much more lax. In America, wizards are still living underground and in secrecy.

There is prejudice among some of the No-Maj’s. Mary Lou Barebone (Samantha Morton) leads an effort attempting to expose wizards and their danger. She also has an orphanage and is essentially a evil-wizarding-hating stepmother to all of them.

Magical Security, Percival Graves (Colin Farrell), has a special interest in one of the adopted sons, Credence (Ezra Miller), for a magical quest of his own to aid the Magical Congress of the United States of America (MACUSA).

Besides Scamander and Kowalski’s beast dilemma, there is a much larger issue. New York is being terrorized by an extremely violent wind-spirit, an Obscurus, that is collapsing buildings and turning-up sidewalks. Seriously though, what do muggles think this is? A slight breeze?

So, the MACUSA is trying to keep the wizarding world under wraps while Scamander is on the search for his little-beast-friends. He’s also being followed by a woman, Tina Goldstein (Katherine Watson), exiled from the ministry but determined to regain her position. Foreseeing the problematic nature of Scamander, she accompanies him in the search for the briefcase.

Luckily, they find the suitcase, but only after the beasts have half-demolished Kowalski’s apartment building and are now running rampant in New York City.

The band of misfits take to the mysterious and eerie streets to find their newly lost beasts and discover what’s ailing New York City while avoiding the MACUSA which is on a similar quest.

As I said, I love “Harry Potter.” That’s why I found this movie somewhat offensive. Yes, the world is the same. Yes, they keep the title sequence. And yes, it’s seventy years earlier. But the movie simply lacked any of Harry’s (and all of his fans’) version of the wizarding world.

They name-dropped Albus Dumbledore once, but then they brushed it off as if it were nothing. I wanted a flashback! I wanted an appearance! Anything to make me reminisce about the days of drawing lightning bolts on my forehead in sharpie to my mother’s dismay.

That’s what this movie needed: nostalgia in the details. Selfishly, I was looking forward to eyeing all the first-time fans with superiority as the movie mentioned a name only an authority like myself could know. But that time never came.

Just as any Potterhead, I’d like to believe that J.K. Rowling is a magical human being that can do no wrong. Unfortunately, I found that screenwriting isn’t her strong suit. The plot of the entire film simply lacked coherence.

With too many storylines in the revival and predecessor of the series, it just became confusing. There were an abundance of storylines, but absolutely no character progression.

The ending goes against nearly everything family-friendly Harry Potter ever attempted. Most importantly, there were too many cheap movie tricks.

I don’t want to see another briefcase get mixed up and cause a stir. I just don’t.

So yes, the movie has a visual magnificence if CGI is up your alley. I found myself in pure awe just by being back in the world of Harry Potter.

Merely hearing the opening song fills my heart with glee. But even with the magic, the plot wasn’t there and the characters lacked dimension.

Overall, if you want to satisfy your Potter needs, just wait until ABC Family is hosting another Harry Potter Weekend.