Fantastic Beasts: The Wonder of Nature at Natural History Museum review - a menagerie of real magic

The Zouwubu, one of the featured “fantastic beasts”
Trustees of the Natural History Museum
Sophie Rainbow9 December 2020

It’s an ingenious idea. How to remind people of their love for wildlife? Tap into their love for Harry Potter.

But this makes Fantastic Beasts: the Wonder of Nature, the new exhibition at the Natural History Museum sound like a brash marketing ploy, which it isn’t. On the contrary, the whole thing fizzes with warmth, empathy, and a generous splash of magic.

J. K. Rowling’s “fantastic beasts” are the most conspicuous source of this. Each section of the exhibition begins with a quote from her 2001 Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, delivered via Newt Scamander, the infamous “Magizoologist” and star of this show.  

Each quote revolves around one magical creature: be that a unicorn, a Niffler, a Bowtruckle, an Occamy, or a good old-fashioned dragon. Displaying these animals in an exhibition was a little trickier, so the team collaborated with Framestore - the VFX company who worked on all the Harry Potter films - to create interactive substitutes. The result is completely enchanting and sometimes disarmingly realistic - so don’t be surprised to catch yourself gazing mawkishly at a rather sweet Erumpent mating ritual, or backing away from an angry Bowtruckle.

The interactive Erumpent (spray the bottle of perfume to watch him react)
Trustees of the Natural History Museum

From these supernatural starting points, you are then smoothly delivered back to earth. Some animals are grouped by history, so as you walk through the ‘dragons’ section, for instance, expect to be greeted by all sorts of creatures that were once thought to be just that - from rhinoceros to alligators.  

Others are grouped by behaviour, so from the Niffler, a “burrowing creature with a predilection for anything glittery,” you end up with a greedy magpie and a penguin with a penchant for collecting pebbles.

It’s clear that a great deal of thought has gone into each of these connections - this exhibition has been years in the making - so it avoids feeling too forced or gimmicky. Instead, there’s a satisfying symbiosis to each pairing. The magical creatures bathe the worldly in that intoxicating, Potter-esque glow, while the worldly ground the magical in a more rooted sense of tangibility.  

The Niffler’s den
Natural History Museum

In short, you end up feeling very enamoured by all of these creatures. So when by the final stages of the exhibition you are reminded that many are currently on the verge of extinction, it packs an extra punch. After all, whether real or imaginary, these are all exceptionally fantastic beasts.

Natural History Museum from 9 December 2020 - August 2021. Buy tickets here.

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