Fourteen years after the last Dino-mayhem outing, the Jurassic Park franchise welcomes in its fourth instalment in June: Jurassic World! This hotly anticipated sequel is said to be the beginning of a possible new trilogy; starring Chris Pratt (Her, Guardians of the Galaxy) and Bryce Dallas Howard (Twilight, Spider-Man 3). I always wanted to do a blog post on Jurassic Park; GOD IT’S JUST SO AWESOME! and am a HUGE fan of the original film, so when the latest trailer was released today, I couldn’t resist. Now, the still successful sequel The Lost World, was a little blergh for me and Jurassic Park III was entertaining but strayed from what made the franchise in the first place.
A quick bit of info for the uneducated in Michael Crichton’s novel turned film quadrilogy. A wealthy entrepreneur named John Hammond (Richard Attenborough; RIP) sets up a new tourist attraction in the shape of a theme park, housing newly developed dinosaurs, genetically modified and grown from ancient fossilised DNA. Before his park can be given the green light, he enlists the help of Palaeontologists Alan Grant (Sam Neil) and Ellie Sattler (Larua Dern) to endorse the project and ensure investor confidence. Once upon the island, an employee of the park attempts to steal the DNA to sell to a rival company, unable to figure out the science of the dinosaur’s creation. Unfortunately, the security systems shut down, all the dinosaurs are set loose, a lot of people die and it is up to all three characters above to ensure the safety of the survivors. It stormed cinema’s in 1993 and has been a global success ever since, spawning two sequels; however in these sequels, there was an ongoing theme: the island’s to which the dinosaur’s inhabit are desolate, and no human resides there, the animals having free reign and the Costa Rican Government ensuring no human goes near them (doing a bad job). Jurassic World is different. 
Nearly a decade and a half later, Jurassic Park is finally up and running successfully and has been for the past 10 years, pulling in customers and tourists all over the world, just as John Hammond had envisioned. But people are becoming less than complaisant; the T-Rex is samey, the Triceratops is boring and the Pteranadon… meh? So to spark attendance for the park, now titled “Jurassic World”, the scientists decide to genetically design and create an entirely new breed of dinosaur. Yeah… er, bad idea? The Indominus Rex is supposedly designed to best even the fan favourite: the Tyrannosaurus Rex and I am guessing that if we see a showdown between these two in the film and the I-Rex wins… people may not be too happy. Particularly after Jurassic Park III where the Spinosaurus quite easily kicked the T-Rex’s butt, much to many a cinema-goer’s dismay. So naturally, the Indominus Rex escapes with it’s superior intellect, but this time there are 20,000 tourists stranded on the island. Oh…
So! The kids are still in danger, the dinosaurs still escape and there is going to be a lot of screaming; so what is new? I am not too sure what to think about the new dynamic to which the Velociraptor’s have with Chris Pratt’s character Owen Grady, who claims not to have “tamed” them but to have built a mutual respect thing, like they have a relationship. The Velociraptor’s are by far, my favourite and they are damn terrifying, especially in the original. Here, they seem to be “good” guys? Or at least seen to help Grady track down the Indominus Rex… Hmm… These are animals right? Albeit incredibly intelligent animals, but like Grady says, “they need to eat and hunt”. Just because I need to get a football out of the tree, I don’t all of a sudden WhatsApp a squirrel to go and get it for me, you know? Awful analogy I know, but you get my point. I just hope that they kick a bit of ass in this film and bring back some of that terror.
Once again, the Pterosaurs are back; they had a decent bit of plot in Jurassic Park III and I am still on the fence as to whether I like them or not? But one thing that is definitely new, is the Mosasaur! A sea dwelling gargantuan of a creature that feeds primarily on sharks apparently. Under the sea dinosaurs have not been attempted before on screen in the movies (although alluded to, at the beginning of Jurassic Park III) and it is about time that they made an appearance, as it certainly adds a freshness to what audiences can expect with it not all being T-Rex this and Stegosaurus that.
By the trailer alone, it appears that a lot of innocent people are going to be in danger in comparison to where it has been just a handful; that prospect is truly terrifying, after all they are on an island? This gives the grander scale of threat much more prominence than felt before and I think this will make the film considerably more entertaining to watch.
Oh! So it seems that Dr Henry Wu is back (B.D Wong) and one quick comment: “Man, you were there in Jurassic Park and that screwed up? Why the hell are you back for more”? Enough said.
Filmed on location in Hawaii, just like Park, this film is definitely set to be awesome and the visuals are much larger, scarier and more impressive than we’ve ever seen before. Despite my nit-picks, I am so excited to see this film and I have faith that it won’t be a flop… Hopefully! After all; life finds a way.
Read on and Prosper!
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