'Makes the JK Rowling films look tame' – Fantastic Beasts: The Wonder of Nature review

Natural History Museum, London
This is way more than a celebration of the film series, showcasing the oddest things in the museum collection, from a horrific mermaid ‘fossil’ to the skull of a Dracorex Hogwartsia

Although his nickname was Sea Serpent Killer, Richard Owen is best known today as the founder of the Natural History Museum, and as an all-round rival-crushing anti-Darwinian scoundrel. This Victorian scientist didn’t actually sail the oceans massacring monsters, but he did set out to prove such creatures were tall tales told by sailors, collecting reports in an album so he could expose them. It’s in the museum’s new show about natural mysteries, open at a story from The Illustrated Police News – usually full of true crimes – about the latest sea monster sighting. The picture of a colossal serpent with staring eyes menacing a modern ship is a surreal slice of steampunk.

Fantastic Beasts is much more than a celebration of JK Rowling’s film series about magic animal expert Newt Scamander and his cute pets, although Newt does feature heavily, along with recreations of Nifflers and the like. As well as being family fun, the show delightfully reveals some of the oddest things in this museum’s vast collections.

Continue reading...