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 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
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
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
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.
