#71 - Jurassic World - Fallen Kingdom (Jurassic Parkathon)

Jurassic World was one of the better Jurassic Park films. It created a visual spectacle using up to date visual effects technology, and created a new tale of man vs Dinosaur in a way we hadn’t seen before. Is it highly flawed? Absolutely but it was a step in the right direction for the franchise, unfortunately it’s the wrong lessons that were learned from it, as we nosedive into the inferior sequel: Fallen Kingdom

Fallen Kingdom had only 2 of the original 4 writers of Jurassic World: Derek Connolly and Colin Trevorrow. Amanda Silver and Rick Jaffa are currently doing the writing for the live action Mulan movie, and Avatar 3. Good luck to them, I guess

Colin Trevorrow stood down from directing this time with duties instead coming to J A Boyena… He’s not massively experienced but he did A Monster Calls which I really, really like, so it’s a good choice in principle.

The movie made a mint at the box office, $1.3bn on a budget of less than $200m, but received a mixed response from both critics and audiences with 48 and 49% Rotten Tomatoes ratings respectively and average scores of 5.46/10 and 3.2/5. You can guess I’m firmly in the not liking it category, but here’s a rundown of the plot to explain my reasons why.

Jurassic Parkathon - Jurassic World

Welcome to the Jurassic Parkathon

2015 saw the return of the Jurassic Park series for a whole new trilogy with a new cast and… mostly the same dinosaurs. Once again, we have no book to base it on and we have a new face in the director’s chair, Colin Trevorrow. Before this film, the only film he’d directed is Safety Not Guaranteed, which was an insanely low budget picture

It came back big, making over $1.6bn on a $150m budget. That’s the highest box office of any Jurassic Park movie (it’ll beat the sequel too, but we’ll get to that)

The reception with audience and critics seemed to positive again, with a 72% Rotten Tomatoes Rating, with an average 6.66/10 and an audience score of 78% with an average 3.9/5.

Jurassic Parkathon - Jurassic Park III

Welcome to the Jurassic Parkathon

So… Jurassic Park III came out in 2001, and was the first Jurassic Park film not to have the direction of Steven Spielberg, and didn’t have a book to base it on (even one that’s ignored) You can see the warning flags already

Joe Johnston is directing this film and he’s not untalented, having directed Honey I Shrunk the Kids and Jumanji and later heading into Marvel to direct Captain America: The First Avenger. He also did Pagemaster, but you can’t get everything right.

But there were some issues in production. The original script was rejected for being ‘too complicated’ 5 weeks before filming was due to begin. You might not surprised then that the eventual script was unfinished when shooting began and the ending had to be done during reshoots as it wasn’t finished during the original filming.

The movie was successful, making over $350m on its $93m budget but with a budget inflated and diminishing returns, it was clear the franchise had reached the end of its road, for the time being. Here are some thoughts

Jurassic Parkathon - The Lost World: Jurassic Park

We’re past the first one, it’s only downhill from here… Welcome to the Jurassic Parkathon

With the first Jurassic Park film being a major success, a sequel was inevitable, right? Apparently not. See, the original book never had a sequel and any development on a film sequel ended up being dependant on a book sequel being written. And it eventually was, and the film largely went its own route anyway.

Spielberg is back in the directing chair for this one, which would be his last Jurassic Park film, and the movie was at least financially successful, making over $600m on its $73m budget.

Jurassic Parkathon - Jurassic Park

Welcome to the Jurassic Parkathon

Jurassic Park is an icon in popular culture. Based on a book by Michael Chrichton and brought to life by the directing talents of Steven Spielberg, the movie created the zeitgeist for dinosaur related media that still exists to this day.

Jurassic Park was released in 1993, being one of the few films from that era to break a $1bn haul at the box office. It had a great run at the awards, winning 3 Oscars and in 2018 was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress. But does it still hold up?