Hagrid's Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure Reveals Universal's Most Life-Like Animatronic Character
The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida will be getting an all-new attraction next month in the form of Hagrid's Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure. As you might have surmised from the name of the ride, it will feature the half-giant Hogwarts gamekeeper and Care of Magical Creatures professor taking visitors on a journey through the Forbidden Forest and introducing us to some other magical creatures.
To give guests that feeling of truly being transported to the wizarding world, Universal Studios has unveiled their most life-life animatronic character yet, and it perfectly captures the likeness of Robbie Coltrane as Hagrid himself. Get a first look at the Universal Studios animatronic Hagrid below.
Universal Studios Hagrid Animatronic Chracter
In an official press release, here's what Universal had to say about their recreation of Hagrid:
"Hagrid's Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure and Hagrid's animated figure are being brought to life by Universal Creative, the team responsible for creating Universal's iconic rides and attractions. The team spent thousands of hours creating Hagrid's animated figure with a level of detail that has never been done before, working alongside actor Robbie Coltrane – who portrays Hagrid in the Harry Potter film series – to develop the most advanced and realistic animated figure of its kind."
Unfortunately, we don't get to see the creation in motion, but here's a video showing off the impressive detail:
The Universal Studios animatronic Hagrid has 24 different body movements and facial expressions, all modeled after Robbie Coltrane's performance in the movie. A digital scan of the actor's mouth was even used to replicate Hagrid's teeth. Meanwhile, his face was sculpted by hand, and his wardrobe was created by the film franchise's costume department. And in case it wasn't already clear, Robbie Coltrane is reprising his role as Hagrid and performed a whole custom script for this new attraction.
The only thing that is throwing me off a bit is that the eyes look like they have a little too much darkness in them. At certain angles it almost looks like Hagrid is possessed by a demon or something like that. But maybe it'll look better when they character is actually in motion and moving its eyes around. It would be nice if he pulled out a birthday cake from his back pocket too.
Hagrid's Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure opens in The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Orlando Resort starting on June 13, 2019 this summer.