As soon as the familiar music starts up and the blue Warner Brothers logo appears on the screen, you’re transported back to that oh-so-familiar magical world created by British writer J.K. Rowling.

当熟悉的音乐响起，蓝色的华纳兄弟标志出现在大银幕上时，人们又回到了英国作家J.K.罗琳笔下那个熟悉的魔法世界。

But it’s definitely not all-too-familiar– Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is Harry¹ Potter (2001-2011) for adults.

但也不是那么熟悉——《神奇动物在哪里》是为成年人打造的哈利.波特系列电影。

Unlike previous stories in the Harry Potter series, there is no Harry, Ron or Hermione this time around.

有别于先前的哈利.波特系列电影，这一次，电影中没有哈利、罗恩和赫敏的身影。

It’s 1926, and our hero is named Newt Scamander, a messy-haired, *freckle-faced young *wizard from the UK,

故事发生在1926年，头发蓬乱、满脸雀斑的主人公纽特.斯卡曼德是一名来自英国的年轻巫师。

and author of a textbook that Potter later studies at Hogwarts.

哈利后来在霍格沃茨魔法学校学习时，所用的一本课本便是由他所著。

And it’s from that textbook the film gets its name.

而这部电影的名字也源于这一课本。

Traveling from the UK, Scamander arrives in New York carrying a strange suitcase filled with magical creatures, that accidentally ends up being switched with someone else’s.

斯卡曼德带着一个装满神奇动物的古怪箱子，千里迢迢从英国来到纽约。

The creatures are soon *unleashed upon the streets of New York,

然而，这个箱子却被意外掉包开箱，里面的神奇动物逃进了纽约城的大街小巷。

While Scamander spends the rest of the story hunting them down while fighting US authorities.

在接下来的故事中，斯卡曼德不光要将神奇动物们一个个捉回来，还要和美国魔法部抗争。

Not only providing viewers the thrill of seeing the magical creatures being chased down, the storyline of Fantastic Beasts also contains a more serious angle that relates to the real world.

神奇动物在哪里》的故事不光令观众体验了一把追击魔法生物的惊险，也为人们观察现实世界提供了一个更为严肃的角度。

I dealt with some dark themes, Rowling told The Guardian² when she described writing the movie.

我设计了一些暗黑主题，罗琳在接受《卫报》采访时如此形容这部电影的创作。

There was a lot of stuff in the *sewers.

下水道里有很多东西可以挖掘。

Through the experience of Scamander, a British man in the US, the movie explores the issues of racial inequality and *discrimination toward immigrants.

这部电影借助英国人斯卡曼德在美国的历险，深入探究了种族不平等和歧视移民的问题。

The secretive and cruel American Ministry³ of Magic can be seen as a reference to today’s US political structure.

隐秘而又残忍的美国魔法部则可以被视为现今美国政治体制的一个缩影。

To Rowling, some politicians in the real world are, as she described, worse than Voldemort.

对罗琳而言，现实世界中的一些政客，用她的话来说，比伏地魔还坏。

Despite its make-believe premise⁴, the themes of Fantastic Beasts are very real indeed.

尽管电影《神奇动物在哪里》的设定是虚构的，但它的主题却十分真实。

It’s a film about immigrants with different values and ideas, but who just might save us from ourselves.

电影中的移民虽然有着不同的价值观和想法，但却能将人们从自身的桎梏中解救出来。

It’s about the power of whispering rather than shouting.

它推崇低声细语的力量而非大声怒吼。

It’s about accepting others and not holding them back.

它让人们去接纳他人而非拒人于千里之外。

Scamander’s tale of heroism⁵ could be just what we need right now, and Rowling is the only one who could tell it.

我们如今正好需要斯卡曼德这样的英雄故事，而罗琳则是唯一一个能讲述这个故事的人。