How Jurassic Park and Jurassic World differ and coincide

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Jurassic World is here and old school Jurassic Park fans are raving about their excitement to see the film. While Jurassic World is the fourth film in the series, it is the first to truly establish roots for a viable comparison to the original Jurassic Park film. For the many fans out there who are looking for a nostalgic moment of movie-going, here is what you can expect to gain and lose from Jurassic World as a Jurassic Park fan.

 

The type of theme park – “World” versus “Park.”

The world is vast in Jurassic World
The world is vast in Jurassic World

The name says it all with Jurassic World. This is a film looking at the theme park from the outside in. The world is vast and the crowds are plentiful as they flock to this “Disney World for Dinosaurs.” Because of this you get to see a lot of action and a lot of prehistoric creatures which makes for a very fast-paced Summer blockbuster. What you won’t see is the intimacy of the park like you did in Jurassic Park. Jurassic Park was set in a world waiting to be established where the intricacies of development and design were crucial leaving much room for plot and character development. Jurassic World forgoes these cinematic elements to focus on an already established world and the result of a chaotic occurrence on a large scale.

 

The characters and their roles – Plentiful versus Condensed.

Chris Pratt essentially embodies the majority of Jurassic Park characters
Chris Pratt essentially embodies the majority of Jurassic Park characters

Jurassic Park had a handful of characters to explore. From Alan Grant, Ellie Sattler, Ian Malcolm, John Hammond, etc, many of these characters had an integral role in the story. Jurassic Park was just as much about them as it was about the prehistoric park. Following the same “world vs. park” point above, Jurassic World has a high-level view of its characters but also combines many of the Jurassic Park characters into a few. Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard) is obviously the embodiment of John Hammond and Owen (Chris Pratt) is a multitude of Jurassic Park characters combined into one. The friction between Owen and Claire is the same as John Hammond versus the team of scientists in Jurassic Park (with some added sexual tension). The difference is that Owen takes a piece of each of these Jurassic Park characters. His moral conscience of respect for the creatures comes from Alan Grant, his snarky alpha persona comes from Ian Malcolm, and his “badassness” comes from Robert Muldoon (aka “Clever Girl Guy”). Overall for Jurassic World you will get a condensed version of character development that will be embodied by Chris Pratt mostly.

 

Tangible and intangible differences – CGI versus Animatronics.

The animatronics of Jurassic Park felt much more authentic
The animatronics of Jurassic Park felt much more authentic

Technology has come a long way since Jurassic Park was released in 1993. Back then Steven Spielberg had to get creative without the quality of computer generated sequences as they are today. Spielberg used animatronics to create the lifelike dinosaurs that we saw in Jurassic Park and it actually turned out to be amazing. Just as George Lucas did with the original Star Wars films, Spielberg was able to surpass the limitations of his time to create a visual masterpiece. Jurassic World on the other hand is heavily based in CGI. Don’t get me wrong, the CGI looks great but to me it still lacks that authenticity and innovation of the first film. Jurassic World looks as crisp as many other CGI-based films but I’m still a sucker for the innovation of the past.

 

Where Jurassic World and Jurassic Park coincide.

There are many similarities and tributes to the original film
There are many similarities and tributes to the original film

As I said in the beginning, Jurassic World is the first sequel to truly reference Jurassic Park and piggyback off of it. Throughout the film there are multiple references that tie the films together. Whether it be a snarky joke referencing a Jurassic Park t-shirt from Jake Johnson or the presence of an aged Dr. Henry Wu, Jurassic World definitely feels like the first continuation of the series. If I were to watch these films back-to-back I would feel as if I got a well rounded perspective of the world. Jurassic Park establishes the creation of the park from the inside out and Jurassic World establishes the potential and scope from the outside in. From a matter of personal preferences, I think many Jurassic Park fans will accept Jurassic World as a worthy sequel.

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About Ryan

First and foremost, Ryan Brown is a fan. He has been an avid fan of both the theater and cinema since an early age and his passion for both has been continually growing ever since. When dissecting a film, he focuses on all elements of film-making including some fan/cult factors. He believes that character development is the foundation of a good film and usually starts his analysis of a film from there moving forward. His writing style may be influenced by his background of narrative and argumentative studies in the subject, but he tends to enjoy a more conversational style to better interact with the readers, unlike some other pretentious and pompous writers.

2 thoughts on “How Jurassic Park and Jurassic World differ and coincide

  1. Saw the movie last weekend. What a disappointment, for many of the reasons identified in Ryan’s post and in Mary’s comment below. The plot felt terribly weak, and whoever thought making BDH a ball-busting #*%^ really miscalculated on what makes audiences actually like a character. And the ending. Horrible.

  2. Am I the only one who is pissed about Jurassic World’s lame and super lazy plot execution? In the first movie, the dinosaurs escape because idiot Dennis turned off all the security fences. Fair enough. But in Jurassic World, they can’t find the Indominus Rex in her paddock. So they decide to go INSIDE THE PADDOCK to investigate? Because they just had to get a closer look at some scratches on the wall? Of course, all of the sudden, her tracking device stops working…..So why in gods name would you go inside the paddock if you can’t find her? What’s wrong with taking a look around OUTSIDE for her huge ass footprints? She is a 6-ton lizard for god’s sake. Also, you have a gigantic vicious dinosaur who can expertly camouflage herself, and nobody in this multi-billion dollar facility has a pair of thermal goggles? Don’t even get me started on how the tracking device just magically pops back on, just in time to Owen. There are just so many stupid, far-fetched and inexplicable things that occur within this brief sequence of events, that it nearly made me want to give up on the movie altogether…..I am already being asked to assume that it’s possible to reanimate prehistoric reptiles; so at least TRY to make the rest of the film believable. So weak!

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