UK BLOG

It may come as a surprise but dinosaurs are British and were born in early Victorian London. In April 1842 Richard Owen published his 'Report on British Fossil Reptiles for the British Association for the Advancement of Science' and proposed a new sub-order of the class of Reptiles with a name composed of the Greek words for ‘terrible’ and ‘lizard’, ‘deinos’ and ‘sauros’. With the coining of the name, Owen became the most famous fossil expert in the country and began the popular fascination with dinosaurs which still shows no sign of abating.

So Dinosaurs Unleashed would seem like a natural childpleaser — it offers the experience of Jurassic Park with over two dozen fullsize dinosaurs passing the time of day only feet in front of you — and only a couple of hundred yards away from Marble Arch. The reality however is sadly less than a blockbuster. Though there is a decent open-air recreation of the primeval swamp with an admittedly colossal brontosaurus more than twenty feet high, he (or she) does nothing more than swing his head and tail and makes no sound at all. And that’s more or less it for all the other sauropods of varying sizes. Inside the main building there is indeed an impressive Tyrannasaurus Rex lowering his head menacingly — but that’s all.

My children had been filled with expectation, but in the end compared it unfavourably with the permanent (and free) exhibition in the Natural History Museum in South Kensington, whose dinosaurs possess more sophisticated and frightening animatronics and do let out terrifying bellows from time to time. There is quite an impressive virtual acquarium in which a variety of weird creatures swim into view, often in schools, but throughout there is a lack of labelling and informative material, which leaves the impression that the organisers are less concerned with enlightening entertainment and more about channelling visitors into the shop where they can buy Dinosaurs Unleashed — branded confectionery and plastic models, keyrings, colouring books etc.

Dinosaurs Unleashed 455-497 Oxford Street, London (dinosaursunleashed.co.uk). Open 10am-6pm daily (Sunday 11am-6pm). Adults £15.50, children £11.

• Tweet