Potter at the Powerhouse disappoints

I was so disappointed in the Harry Potter Exhibition at the Powerhouse Museum. There, I’ve said it. It is clearly a big, nay enormous, budget production and I’m guessing that it raked in cash for the Museum, but it fell well short of my expectations.

Fundamentally the exhibition consists of a collection of props and costumes from the movie. The fact that they are the real things, one presumes, lends them a certain excitement. But at the end of the day they’re just props and costumes. There were some nice bits of presentation and a sole hands-on moment, but there really wasn’t a great deal to hold the attention of any but the most die-hard fan. Even the claims to authenticity pale slightly when confronted with the statement that Hagrid’s giant-sized clothing were worn by Robbie Coltrain in the movies – I’ve never seen the man in the flesh but he must have bulked up by a good four feet to fit in the clothing. He should have got an Oscar for that display of method acting.

The hands-on section of the show comes in the shop at the end. The kids got their hands on some toys. The Museum got its hands on my cash.

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