Published on June 23, 2015
My cousins, sister, and I saw Jurassic World the other day. I feel like I need to write about this just because it’s in my mind and I can’t help but compare it to the original Jurassic Park movie.
First off, nothing can compare to the original movie. Released in 1993, the technology of bring the dinosaurs back to life was groundbreaking. Mixing CGI and Animatronics, Spielberg and his team were able to make us believe these dinosaurs were real. But of course, new technology=expensive. I read somewhere (probably IMDb), that the robot T-Rex kept breaking down and would “become alive” at an unexpected time. Spielberg had to put dinosaurs on screen for a limited time (I’m guessing) just so he can work around the technical difficulties. This also happened on the set of Jaws. The shark from Jaws (is that the shark’s name?) kept breaking down so Spielberg had to shoot from the perspective of the shark to get around it. With these limitations came the creativity (this is all how I’m taking the production, I never actually interviewed anyone). Like Jaws, Jurassic Park only showed the dinosaurs during a few key moments. We also didn’t get to see the dinosaurs until like 20 minutes into the movie. We got our delayed gratification, and it paid off.
There’s a video review of Ninja Turtles 3 (by the Angry Video Game Nerd) that compares the Original Turtles movie and its sequel to the second and last sequel. I always think about this review and keep it in the back of my mind every time I watch a movie.
But the point of that was to showcase the delayed gratification of seeing the dinosaurs, Ninja Turtles, or even the shark from Jaws.
This is where I think Jurassic World becomes meta.
I’m not even going to go into the Lost World or Jurassic Park 3 (which now I think about is a little like the Ninja Turtles trilogy in its decline). But what’s the first thing we see in Jurassic World? (Spoiler alert?) Raptors hatching. But not like the robot puppet in Park, but like CGI, which made me a bit disappointed. We see 4 eggs hatching in World, instead of the 1 in Park.
We are bombarded with dinosaurs, dinosaurs, dinosaurs everywhere in World. Now, thinking about AVGN’s review, I was majorly bummed. Where’s the buildup? Where’s the anticipation?
BUT THEN AHA! I get it!
That’s what Jurassic World is all about. Bigger, better, scarier dinosaurs. There’s no padding. There’s no buildup. Because that’s what we want, right? Instant gratification. And Jurassic World delivers. The way that the park-goers in the movie cheer in the movie with the dinosaur eating the shark, is a bit like us. We want bigger, better, and scarier. NOW. It’s so aware of itself, with the park turning into a Disney/Universal Studios Theme Park with all the commercialism/consumerism that I shuddered. Yes, it seems like it was a huge ad for major companies, but how is that different from reality?
We accept the ads and commercialism. The park-goers accept the ads and commercialism. With little regard to how nature can bite us back (for the park-goers, literally), and as I type this while there’s a tornado watch in my area.
This movie is amazing.
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