The Park Is…Like A Video Game
You may or may not have heard that the Jurassic Park franchise is being rebooted by some bloke called Colin Trevorrow – who has only one other feature film under his belt – and it will star Chris Pratt, fresh from being our favourite Star Lord in Guardians of the Galaxy.
The movie, for the second time of the three franchise sequels, will have minimal involvement from Steven Speilberg – the brains behind the original concept.
Despite the franchise only having, by all accounts, that one good initial movie, the buzz for this ‘reboot’ of sorts is actually quite audible. The first trailer was released this week to a flurry of internet excitement, film-lovers supping at any promotional titbits they can scavenge until the big Star Wars: The Force Awakens trailer is released this Black Friday. The main event, if you will.
Even so, it has kept useless opinions bubbling along just fine so far. You can watch the trailer for Jurassic World below… Skip it to see the analysis.
Here are 6 points to get your brains whirring…
NEGATIVE – Potential lack of realism?
At one point, Star Lord Chris Pratt is seen riding a motorbike next to a herd of dinosaurs…and surviving.
Now I’m no expert on prehistoric organisms, but those dinosaurs don’t look like friendly dinosaurs.
So either Star Lord is all friendly with the dinos, or they can’t see him for some weird reason, or they are genetically modified to not want to eat people (just like the unseen big bad dinosaur was ‘cooked up’ in a lab.)
POSITIVE – Bigger death-toll
Unless I’m very much mistaken, the franchise has always had dino-demolition on a relatively small scale in terms of human loss. Now, I’m not saying what every kids action franchise needs is a good old slaughter of humans, but it is a nice twist on a series that has focused on the picking off of small groups, rather than the catastrophe of a big group.
Not only that, but real punters. The park is actually open this time! Bigger stakes = more emotion = potentially a better film as a result.
NEGATIVE – Plastic CGI?
It would be unfair to assume that this CGI we see in this trailer are the finished effects. (He says going on to criticise it anyway…) But as we’ve seen with the likes of Harry Potter and The Hobbit, Trailer CGI normally does translate to the CGI in the resulting movie.
If this is the case for Jurassic World, some effects do look a bit plasticy, no? A bit…video gamey? Why is it that those dinosaurs in the original Jurassic Park still seem just as good as these?
POSITIVE – Some cool signs of creativity
Reminiscent of Godzilla’s rippling growl in the recent Godzilla, here we get a taste of a guttural, lion-like rumble from what sounds like a big dinosaur…and it sounds cool. Good work, sound people.
Furthermore, that shot (above) where the spines of a dinosaur run across the boy’s face in silhouette is s’awesome.
More of the same, please.
NEGATIVE – Dialogue
Maybe it’s just me, but Chris Pratt saying
‘What kinda dinosaur they cooked up in that lab…’
seems SO corny for some reason. Maybe it’s his delivery, or maybe it’s just the words…and how they are put together…in that order…
Not to mention the ‘If something chases you…run’ joke that the Mum pulls at the start of the trailer to her kids…
…the kids she is gleefully sending off to a theme park that is a direct descendant of one of the biggest scientific disasters in the history of mankind (i.e. Jurassic Park where everyone died from the experiment).
Not the time, Mum.
POSITIVE – The elements of the original
A sequel should build upon the original, yes, but that doesn’t mean it should lose its spirit. If a movie is getting a sequel it (normally) means the original or predecessor did something right, so why run away from it like a squealing Chris Pratt from a big genetically modified dinosaur?
This movie seems to be returning to the franchise’s roots with a sentimental rendition of that wonderful score (John Williams yet again constructing greatness).
Other elements also make it seems as though the movie will have at least some semblance of the original’s soul; all that greenery, the happiness and safety before all the destruction, the vehicles shipping punters round the place…
Movie Masticator 