Fantastic Beasts: A Natural History

Being a 45+ year old male who has seen a million documentaries, PBS specials, and other informative, yet, intriguing films.. I can always appreciate how the content is delivered and engaging.

I have seen a bunch of people fail at keeping me entertained and awake. Documentaries about animals before bed usually help me fall asleep. This did not do this to me. This kept me engaged the whole time..

They way they did that was content delivery and the creative use of graphics, cg, and my favorite- the drone footage. I love to see film makers creatively use drones in capturing their footage...

This had very cool content, awesome and captivating footage, and definitely had a top notch graphics and production team. I definitely recommend and will watch again.

I had high expectations when I saw Fry was narrating this documentary.

However, I feel he is more talking than giving facts and explanations about the creatures he is presenting. It's lacking dynamism to make it exciting and interesting. The facts are interesting but I see myself struggling through the first 20 min when I'm a vile and insatiable devourer of documentaries.

I would have expected more considering the investments put into the realization, the locations they are visiting and so on.

I guess no one has managed to match the quality of Sir David Attenborough's narrating and documentaries. At least not yet.

About 80 percent of this is a fascinating, if drawn out and dumbed down, examination of the origins of mythical creatures, such as the dragon and the unicorn. But then we get Harry Potter shilling throughout, and the last 10 minutes or so are a straight-up commercial for the Potter franchise. Does everything have to be an ad for something else?

This is an absolutely wonderful show. Thank you Stephen Fry. You did a wonderful job hosting it. It is amazing to hear how these mythical beasts came to be.