It’s been five years since the last Harry Potter movie came out. That means that for five years, fans all over the world have been waiting for something new. Well, look no further because Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is now in theaters.

After the final installment of author J.K Rowling’s beloved Harry Potter series hit theaters in 2011, everyone has become obsessed with what happened before the young wizard was born and what happened after he defeated his archenemy, Lord Voldemort.

Warner Brothers’ Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them chronicles the life of Newt Scamander, a magizoologist and author of a textbook by the same name as the movie. In the original Harry Potter books, Scamander’s book is mentioned as a required read that students must use. In the movie, however, we learn all about the author’s obsession with magical creatures and his journey to the United States in search of rare animals.

The film does an excellent job of bringing back the magic of Harry Potter that has been missed for so long, while also maintaining its own story line that wasn’t focused around the Boy Who Lived. I admit that going into the movie I was afraid that it was going to be a poorly redone version of the films I grew up watching. But director David Yates manages to pull off an incredible new plot that merely existed in the Harry Potter universe, but didn’t rely heavily on Rowling’s original novels.

I also really enjoyed that it took place in New York City. For the first time, American audiences got to see how magic worked in the United States and how the American wizarding world is governed. Since Rowling’s novels take place solely in the United Kingdom, it was a nice opportunity to see the presence of witches and wizards in other countries.

The movie takes place in the mid 1920s, about sixty years before Harry Potter is born. In the film, a dark force is threatening the safety of non-magical citizens (in the US they’re called No-Majs, but you might remember them being called Muggles in the original films) and the exposure of magic to the real world. After accidentally releasing a bunch of magical creatures in New York, Scamander, played by Academy Award winning actor Eddie Redmayne, must return them to his magically enhanced suitcase where they belong. Additionally, he works with a handful of new characters to help stop the destructive force that’s striking fear into New Yorkers.

I don’t want to spoil anything for those who haven’t seen the film yet, but at the very end, we meet a character who made a few cameos in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 and will have a major role in the additional Potter prequels to come.

The film does a perfect job of recreating the magic that has been missing from our lives for so long. As someone who spent their entire childhood living and breathing Harry Potter, getting to see its prequel was an awesome experience.