Jacob Is The Hero Of FANTASTIC BEASTS, And Warner Bros. Needs To See That

We all must reconcile with the fact that the Wizarding World has returned to the big screen. With the success of rebooted franchises such as Star Wars and the popularity of the Marvel films, it was a no-brainer that Warner Bros. would try their hands once more at one of the most popular titles they own: Harry Potter.

Now, I should say up front that I’m a huge Potter fan (or Potterhead, but I’ve never quite taken to that nickname). When I heard J.K. Rowling would be penning all 5 scripts of the Fantastic Beasts films, I felt confident, assured, and altogether excited.

The first installment of the series had glimmers of that old Rowling magic, with social commentary sometimes too-thickly (yet still admirably) laid on the audience. But above all, it was a decent film, and left me wanting more. With this year’s release of Crimes of Grindelwald, I was excited to see where the franchise would go.

Where we went was down. Though I maintain it was visually one of the most compelling in the Wizarding World franchise, Crimes of Grindelwald was a choppy, incomprehensible story. With plotlines that wove and intersected more like a car crash than a structured system of roads, it was simply a ball-dropping moment for the team behind the film.

But that’s another piece. In fact, that’s a whole review that I’m not here to write. What I’m here to talk about is the thing that works in the Fantastic Beasts franchise. The thing that they have going for them that will keep me going to premieres. I’m here to talk about Jacob Kowalski.

Jacob Kowalski is, I’m convinced, one of the greatest characters that J.K. Rowling has ever brought to life. I’m including the densely populated land of her written novels, that are brimming fascinating and charming characters. Jacob deserves to be talked about the way that Harry Potter or Severus Snape does. He’s just as brilliant, subversive and unique to Rowling’s style.

A Nod To The Fans

Let’s just start with what makes Jacob different. Jacob is a muggle (for those of you reading with no wizarding experience, that means he can’t do magic). This fact alone is enough to raise the eyebrows and turn the heads of even the most casual Potter fans. This is the first time, excluding Harry’s abusive relatives, that Rowling has allowed a muggle to come forward and speak prominently in her world.

And this is one of Jacob’s most fundamentally important traits. He’s like us. Or to push this further, he is us. Jacob encapsulates the feelings of twenty plus years of fans wishing that they could be swept away into Rowling’s world. We’ve tried casting the spells and we know we don’t have magic, but maybe they’ll let us come along anyway, like they do with Jacob.

Rowling knows this too! In the first Fantastic Beasts film, she has Jacob dreamily say, “I wanna be a wizard.” Jacob represents a beautiful nod to the fans, showing that the films understand just how much what Rowling created means to people. With a character like that, viewers can’t help but feel appreciated by the thing they love so much.

Jacob As A Narrative Device

Jacob’s muggleness (mugglehood?) is not just important so that he can represent the fandom. It serves an important narrative purpose as well. In a fantasy film, there will be things the audience doesn’t understand, because the nature of fantasy is to talk about things that aren’t real. We need the film to explain things like what an Obscurus is, and what exactly are all these creatures running around.

Jacob is our gateway to these explanations. Because Jacob is an outsider, he’s able to stop and ask, “wait, what’s that?” so that the audience can be granted some exposition. Without Jacob, we might have choppy, rigid dialogue in which wizards explain these things to other wizards, which might cause us to say, “Wait, shouldn’t they know that?” Jacob brings an ignorance that is vital if we in the audience are to understand this world.

Something To Care About

Prequels are weird. In that, we know what’s going to happen. So when we watch a prequel such as Fantastic Beasts, where are our consequences? How can we care about Newt being in danger, when we know from established canon that he lives to an old age, married to Tina? We know Dumbledore will defeat Grindelwald, so why…should we care?

If you wrote down “Jacob” as your answer, you’re right! Because this film is the first time we’re hearing of this Jacob character, and because the original Potter series focuses solely on wizards, we have no idea what’s going to happen to him. Jacob delineates consequence, an emotional investment that we are able to make in this series. If we are to come back to these movies, it’s to assure that he is safe (and he better be safe, Miss Rowling.)

And Jacob is just as beautifully invested in the wizarding world as we are in him. I spoke of his, “I wanna be a wizard line” already, but that line has so much authenticity because we know Jacob’s had it hard. He’s spent his time depressed, working in a factory after returning from WWI and aspires to start a bakery, but is denied a bank loan at the start of Fantastic Beasts.

When Newt asks Jacob why he wants to start a bakery, Jacob replies, “Well, because I’m dying in that canning factory. Everyone there’s dying. It just crushes the life outta you.” It’s a harshly realist moment for Jacob’s character. The wizarding world saves Jacob from a depression he knows he must escape. With his bakery opened in a heartwarming and hopeful ending of Fantastic Beasts, Jacob can thank wizards for his passions being fulfilled.

Testing The Romance

And speaking of passions, Jacob has one of the most believable and touching romances in this series. His relationship with Queenie was one of the more tender portions of Fantastic Beasts, and the off screen budding of their romance between movie’s 1 and 2 was a smart way to speed them along.

But as we saw Queenie defect to the side of Grindelwald at the end of Crimes of Grindelwald, we are left feeling sympathy for Jacob. It’s perhaps the decision I like most about that film. It pits two people in love against each other. It’s juicy melodrama that will be the number one reason I’m back in the theatre in 2020, when the third film comes out.

Fogler Brings It All Together

I’d be remiss if I didn’t talk about the man behind Jacob. Dan Fogler just absolutely wins my heart with his performance. He plays Jacob as a vulnerable, intensely human character who allows his emotions to live comfortably on his sleeve. He brings comic relief in the most bizarre scenes, often with how he reacts to the world of wizards around him.

Fogler plays an interesting part, just living on the border of comedy and drama. He can release a high-pitched scream as he runs, arms flailing, from a beast, but he can also well up at the thought of leaving his friends or losing a loved one. Both performances feel equally genuine.

Jacob Kowalski is the best thing that the Fantastic Beasts films have going for them. He’s a character that everyone can get behind, and his unsealed fate leaves us rooting for him, and wanting to know what happens next. Even within the muddled plot lines of Crimes of Grindelwald, I found myself leaving the theater thinking about Jacob, and wanting more.

If these films are going to recapture the magic of Harry Potter, if they are going to touch our hearts in the astronomical way the original story did, they need to focus on where their true magic lies. Not in the CGI spells of bright colors, nor in Johnny Depp’s quirky mismatched eyes, but in the magic of one beautiful muggle named Jacob.

What do you think? Is Jacob enough to save this franchise? Will Warner Bros. focus on him? Do you think he’ll make it out alive? Sound off in the comments below! 

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald is in theaters now.