Jurassic World franchise

[Dionysos]

Since we now have a thread for the new Star Wars movie (here), I figured we definitely deserve one for the new Jurassic Park movie.

Twenty-two years after the events of the first movie, the park is now finally open!


The original Jurassic Park really did capture my imagination. I used to daydream about the row of trees behind my garden fence and the possibility of opening it up and creating my own dinosaur park. These dreams led to nothing.

I'm therefore very happy that the movie-universe has opened the park to the public. It might seem like more of the same to some people (and in the sense that dinosaurs will break free and eat people, that part may be so), but never before in the movies have we seen the park in operation. The original movie had a select group visit Isla Nublar to reassure its investors that it is safe (ho ho ho). The other movies were set on Isla Sorna, where the dinosaurs had been engineered prior to being sent to the island park itself, and after the park had failed to launch this essentially became overrun with dinosaurs.

But now this new movie takes us back to Isla Nublar; to the park itself. For some reason some one must have green-lighted the park, and it has now been opened to the public.

I really like the SeaWorld styled Mosasaur scene in the trailer. Seeing the park and its attractions in use is really quite amazing.

I fear that we might not see as much of the park in operation as we'd hope to see, but let us wish that we see some interesting things.

As for this genetic hybrid, I was a little bit concerned at first. On reflection, it is no different to people experimenting with genetics to produce the dinosaurs for the park anyway, and so I guess the next natural step would be for people to mess about with DNA and mix species for a new attraction.

Anyway, I'm quite interested in this movie. I hope the cgi is improved before release (as that could get in the way of enjoying the movie), but hopefully this movie will be decent enough.

The science (where knowledge of dinosaur features and anatomy is concerned) might be a bit outdated at times in the JP universe, but I think they gradually are updating some things, and since these dinosaurs are the product of human meddling of DNA and creating the creatures that they want to create, it's not as bad as dinosaurs seen in the actual past being inaccurate. Leeway can also be given since this is essentially a monster movie created to entertain.

Anyway. Does anybody else have any thoughts on this movie? Do you want to see it?

 

[charliepanayi]

I like Chris Pratt, but I'm not sure any fourth film in any franchise ever works out well. Interesting to see the reactions among my colleagues, some think it looks terrible and some can't wait for it, they just want to see dinosaurs!

 

[Jack's Smirking Revenge]

Chris Pratt is a massive attraction right now so this has me quite excited. I was treated to the trailer on the big screen at work a couple of days ago, and it looks even more impressive there.
I'm also really intrigued by seeing the park in full swing. It's what we've all dreamed of in some way since the first film, so it makes sense to finally use it. The genetically engineered dinosaur idea was always the plan for Jurassic Park 4 ever since the third film. There's some pretty horrific concept art floating around on the internet of a human/dinosaur hybrid from about a decade or so ago, so I'm glad it seems that was binned. I think the trailer gives off a little more of a horror vibe than the predecessors, but I don't think it's entirely intentional. It needs to appeal to a family audience if anything really.

 

[The Witch]

I can't wait.

I think Jurassic Park + Chris Pratt could only equal something amazing. Maybe I'm bias because I was a huge Jurassic Park fan growing up (watched the films all the time... and still do) but all I know is I've been waiting for this film forever and I have a feeling it will be pretty damn good.

I am going to save up just so I can make sure I can see this bad boy on the biggie.

 

[Dionysos]

The second trailer has been released.


I fear that they've revealed a bit too much of the movie before release, but then again who isn't doing that these days? We've probably already seen Avengers 2 with the trailers for that, and that'll still hopefully be enjoyable.

I still really like seeing the park open. What I've seen of the park in operation excites me.

The tame velociraptors are also a rather nice touch. People mocked them in the first trailer, but on reflection I think more people are on board with the idea since it draws from animal taming and training in zoos, etc. It does seem logical that a park holding dinosaurs and displaying them for entertainment would do something similar.

That's why I also really like the Mosasaur-Shamu show. Little touches like this make the Jurassic World park much more plausible to me as a functioning visitor attraction.

Also on a side note... How awesome is this website? http://uk.jurassicworldintl.com/
It's set up to look as if the park is really open and can be visited. They've gone into some serious detail for this website, and if anyone is fanatical about it then there are some things that can be learned from it before seeing the film.

 

[shivas]

Watched it yesterday, I enjoyed it a lot to be honest, [I'm not going to spoil anything but- I still felt that the ending wasn't enough (?) I still had loads of questions unanswered]

 

[Jack's Smirking Revenge]

Suitably impressed. The best of the Jurassic sequels without a doubt. Chris Pratt is just as charming and likeable as ever, and in a small way it felt almost like a Spielberg film. It was nice seeing the little references to the original - the return of Henry Woo, seeing the original visitor's centre and Jeeps, and I've been told that Jeff Goldblum can be seen on the cover of a book a couple of times.

However I did have a problem with the way the raptors were characterised. By making them "the good guys", it sort of cheapens what we've already seen of them previously, and the moment when the raptor and T-Rex acknowledge each other at the end made me cringe a little. I also felt like they were a little heavy on the use of the classic Jurassic Park theme. Since it was a whole new crew working on their own beast, I would have liked it to be used no more than once, as a sort of homage to the original. None of this was enough to spoil it for me, though, because it's an excellent film worthy of it's massive box office figures.

 

[Busta]

Saw this and thought it was pretty good. I've only seen it the one time in theaters, but I think it's probably my 2nd favorite Jurassic Park movie in the series. I like how they did a mix of old and new characters. The only part that kinda was a little cheesey for me was at the end when the super duper water beast cane out and just so happened to be there to swallow up the mega T-Rex at the end. Don't get me wrong, I was glad, but it was kinda predictable.

 

[Dionysos]

I wasn't sure where to put this as it probably doesn't need a completely new thread. I thought I'd created a Fallen Kingdom thread more recently, but apparently I've only posted about it in other threads.

I'll put this here instead.

Colin Trevorrow directed a new canon short film set after the events of Fallen Kingdom (so spoiler alert if you haven't yet seen the second movie in the Jurassic World trilogy).

Personally I think it is better than the film Jurassic World itself. It's very tense and shows the struggles of 'regular people' trying to live their lives but are forced to adapt to a rapidly changing world. Hopefully it is a sign of good things to come in the third and final installment of the trilogy.

 

[Dionysos]

I've changed the title of this thread from 'Jurassic World' to 'Jurassic World franchise' to better suit it going forward, since the sequels are now being discussed and probably do not warrant individual threads.

Anyway, a prologue has been released to whet our appetite for Jurassic World: Dominion (the third in the 'World' trilogy). Like the above Battle at Big Rock , this is standalone and will not actually be in the film, but it expands the universe.

What we see here is very interesting. For the first time in the entire Jurassic Park franchise we see footage of the dinosaurs in their actual prehistoric habitats 65 million years ago in the Cretaceous. Any you know what? While not perfect, they are far more accurate dinosaurs than the theme-park monsters reconstructed by InGen. We have dinosaurs with feathers and fluffy feather-like fuzz, and they also behave more like animals than monsters.

This confirms what characters in the films have already hinted at: that the dinosaurs of the parks are actually reconstructions engineered to suit what the public expected from a dinosaur at the time (monsters), and not the reality (animals). The dinosaurs of both parks are all, to some degree, hybrids, with frog DNA, etc, to fill in the sequence instead of bird DNA (AKA actual modern dinosaur DNA). It's a fairly big step for the franchise to depict this era for a brief while and hammer this home.

Contrasting the T-rex of the prehistoric scene with scaly 'Rexy' afterward is quite wild.

 

[Dionysos]

We have a new trailer.

They are treating this as both the end of the Jurassic World sub-franchise trilogy, and the end of the core Jurassic Park story too.

Nice to see so many familiar faces. I really, really hope it is good.

 

[Miko]

Yes, I just saw the trailer the other day and am pretty excite. I'm kinda sad it's only a trilogy, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing either. I just wanted to be able to take my son to one of these movies, but this is a above his target age and he gets kinda scared of loud noises

I love these movies because CGI has come a long way since I was a kid. I think I'm easily impressed if a movie is beautiful looking, but I'm enjoying the plot too of course. Definitely will make an attempt in June to watch this anyway! If only we all weren't spread across the world and could go to the cinima together for an epic FFF movie night

 

[Dionysos]

Yes, I just saw the trailer the other day and am pretty excite. I'm kinda sad it's only a trilogy, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing either. I just wanted to be able to take my son to one of these movies, but this is a above his target age and he gets kinda scared of loud noises

I love these movies because CGI has come a long way since I was a kid. I think I'm easily impressed if a movie is beautiful looking, but I'm enjoying the plot too of course. Definitely will make an attempt in June to watch this anyway! If only we all weren't spread across the world and could go to the cinima together for an epic FFF movie night

There are about 4-5 seasons of a kid-friendly spin-off called Camp Cretaceous on Netflix. I'm not sure how good it is as I've not seen it myself but I know my niece (seven years old) apparently loves it.

So that one might not be too scary! That said, still dinosaurs with nasty teeth and stompy feet, so maybe check it out first to be sure!

 

[Dionysos]

Just catching up but here is a new trailer for Jurassic World: Dominion.

Looks quite mad, really. I love the original film so it'll be great to see the original cast all together again. And I also like the Jurassic World sub-franchise too (although not quite as much). I just hope they don't go too overboard with it that it just becomes silly. The scene with dinosaurs eating silly people on electric scooters (in Malta, I think?), for example, has me a bit worried.

But then again the original Jurassic Park had Rexy eat the lawyer Donald Gennaro on the toilet, and that film is a flawless masterpiece.

My favourite parts of Fallen Kingdom were either the scarier parts that were more about suspense (like the intro and finale), or the ethical/legal questions that JP is known for. My least favourite part was the quite ridiculous (though fun) volcanic eruption scene.

So hopefully this new film leans more towards its story, the suspense, etc, and less on the visuals of having thousands of dinosaurs share the screen.

 

[Dionysos]

I saw Jurassic World: Dominion the other day. I wasn't expecting much as I became aware that film critics are panning it.
Considering that I was expecting a turkey, I actually quite liked it. For me as a fan of the whole franchise, it seemed to serve well enough as a conclusion for both trilogies.

The silliest parts which I liked the least were the dinosaur team-up vs other dinosaur moments (but that only took up a approximately a minute of the film), and the dinosaurs prowling the streets of Malta (which was also relatively short in the scheme of things). The majority was about the characters, the story, and a mixture of poignant, wondrous and tense dinosaur scenes (and also synapsids if we count the older, non-dinosaur dimetrodons).

I like that they made the villain Dodgson. This is the guy that hired Nedry to steal the dinosaur embryos in the very first Jurassic Park, so it really does come full circle. He is also the villain in The Lost World book, but they had changed it to a relative of Hammond in the film version. Now the film universe of Jurassic Park has closed that whole saga.

It was also filled with easter eggs. Some of them might be a bit too on-the-nose for some, and I see that, but I took enjoyment from them.

Not a perfect film and it could have been better than it was, but would I say it was rubbish? Not at all. It might be my third favourite Jurassic Park film.

But maybe I was high or something, because the low scores and even some of the fan reaction seems to suggest that the film sucked instead.