Fantasy enthusiasts and animal documentary aficionados alike are sure to get a kick from this imaginative blend of adventure and nature special that purports to investigate the discovery of a dragon’s corpse in modern-day Romania. Director Justin Hardy skillfully balances the framing story of a British scientific team that attempts to understand the creature’s unique capabilities (flight, fire breathing) that explain how dragons evolved since prehistoric times.
A Fantasy Made Real is a speculative question which asks the question “if dragons were real creatures, how would they have worked?” Stunning CGI effects (members of the visual effects team worked previously on the Walking with Dinosaurs series and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets) help make these flashbacks as realistic as possible, but what really sells the premise is the script by Hardy and Charlie Foley (with assistance from acclaimed fantasy author Neil Gaiman), which uses real animal biology and history to present a compelling and plausible case for the existence of these mythological animals.