Blog Archives

Salute the Short-Form Entrance into ‘Jurassic World’

Dinosaurs — or “dino-sawwwrrrsss” for ‘Jurassic Park’ fans — are amazing, whether discovered in fossil form or starring in cinematic blockbuster fiction.

Speaking of the beloved and entertainingly thoughtful and terrifying movie franchise, the creative folks at DreamWorks and streaming powerhouse Netflix have joined forces to bring the dinosaur-loving world an animated series it didn’t know it needed until right now.

Visually, animation studio DreamWorks has spared no expense in this teaser trailer for ‘Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous.” The executive producers for the animated series coming to Netflix in 2020 are ‘Jurassic Park’ and ‘Jurassic World’ veterans Steven Spielberg, Frank Marshall, and Colin Trevorrow.

“Set in the aftermath of 2015’s Jurassic World movie starring Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard, DreamWorks Animation’s Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous follows six teenagers stranded behind at an adventure camp on the other side of the island.”

–Piya Sinha-Roy, Entertainment Weekly, ‘Jurassic World reopens its gates for animated Camp Cretaceous Netflix series in 2020′

This camp with teenagers doesn’t appear to be too reminiscent of Nickelodeon’s ‘Salute Your Shorts’ from the ’90s, but instead something with a little more bite.

The success of a story focused on a group of teenagers stuck in a park with violent dinosaurs will rely heavily on the writing for this animated series. Similar to ‘Star Wars,’ the ‘Jurassic Park/World’ universe is multi-generational, which translates to a fan audience with a wide age range. And given the PG-13 nature of the five ‘Jurassic’ movies — which includes people being killed by dinosaurs — will ‘Camp Cretaceous’ incorporate the same tone just in a shorter animated form?

One of Spielberg’s storytelling rules (and it’s a good one) is that kids don’t get killed in his fictional movies. However, in order for suspense concerning a group of teenagers to be believable and engaging for multiple episodes and potential seasons for an audience expecting some degree of terrifying scares, the jaws of life and death in Jurassic World will need to be sharp and get razor-close to our new animated characters for proper thrills and proper respect to the ‘Jurassic Park/World’ universe built well before they arrived (or were left behind) on the scene.

Recall the pitch-perfect kitchen scene and that moment of pure, pulse-pounding suspense that had Lex (and us) hanging on for dear life from the 1993 masterpiece.

‘Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous’ needs to pay homage yet add onto the suspenseful cinematic ‘Jurassic’ brilliance that all began with the groundbreaking 1990 Michael Crichton novel. The new animated series should be rooted in intelligence that’s unceremoniously ripped out of the ground by a dinosaur hiding in the bushes or turning a door handle.

We’ll see if animated dinosaurs find a way to earn a blockbuster-sized audience inside ‘Jurassic World’ on Netflix in 2020.

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Happy Monday!

Something very strange happened last night:

An NFL game was actually entertaining from start to finish.

Super Bowl 52 between the Philadelphia Eagles and the New England Patriots was a virtual offensive free for all as both teams combined for more than 1,000 years of total offense. Damn! And despite the final two and a half minutes playing out all-too-perfectly for a Tom Brady-led comeback win, the unthinkable happened:

A Tom Brady fumble was called a fumble.

Even with an unbeatable 41-33 lead, Eagles fans held their breath on the final Hail Mary pass by Mr. Brady. Fortunately for fans in the city of brotherly love, that pass fell to the ground as an incompletion. However, what’s not incomplete is the Super Bowl trophy case in Philadelphia as the Eagles claimed their first Lombardi Trophy in Minneapolis last night.

Congratulations to the Philadelphia Eagles.

Now for the actual half of the Super Bowl:

Justin Timberlake.

Playing a medley of past hits (with new song “Filthy” to kick it off), it was more of a high-energy dancing blitz than anything else. Which, given the short nature of the Super Bowl halftime show, should have been expected. Having said that, the tribute to Minnesota’s favorite son Prince was special, as was the stroll into the crowd with the Super Bowl selfie kid who looked too busy googling who Justin Timberlake was instead of living in the moment.

Now for the other half of the Super Bowl:

The commercials.

The night kicked-off (not that kick-off) with the highly-anticipated second trailer for Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom and it was incredible. It appears a more intimate and scarier sequel has been engineered for summer audiences to enjoy on the edge of their seats starting June 22.

(Clever nod to Spielberg’s BFG)

Movie trailers have evolved as verifiable commercials during the Super Bowl, somewhat replacing the previous showcase for Budweiser’s creative talents. There’s an art to producing a creative, engaging movie trailer.

Speaking of which…

The first Mission: Impossible – Fallout trailer premiered with Tom Cruise and Co. looking engaged in practical effect stunts that may have dropped the jaws of viewers.

(Was that Spectre in the beginning?)

Get ready for July 27.

Turning to TV, Westworld debuted a second season teaser with a premiere date of April 22 that will excite its fans for a definitive return to the mind-bending park of our dreams (and nightmares…).

There were a lot of clever ads last night (Pringles, Wendy’s, Mountain Dew, Budweiser and Stella Artois’ water ads, Tourism Australia), but there was one clear winner in my book.

And to think the Super Bowl life is just one giant Tide commercial.

Tide finds a way…

Have a Better Week Than Last Week. 

Will Chaos Theory’s Kingdom Find a Way to Survive?

Ladies and gentlemen, the first full trailer for the highly-anticipated Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom is here.

In a word: Chaos. In more words, which Jurassic Park character famously specialized in chaos theory? The writers built a subtle, yet clever narrative bridge that necessarily welcomes Dr. Ian Malcolm back after 20 years. Well, he actually made a couple “appearances” in 2015’s Jurassic World

Looks like visceral director J.A. Bayona (The Impossible) has attempted to add a big, suspenseful chapter to the Jurassic Park cinematic series with Fallen Kingdom, the second film in the Jurassic World trilogy. June 22, 2018, cannot come soon enough, just as long as there are engaging Michael Crichton-esque dialogue and next-level, imaginative plot twists in equal measure. Plus, there must be several genuine edge-of-your-seat animatronic thrills in gritty, acutely enclosing situations like in the 1993 masterpiece.

Time will tell concerning director J.A. Bayona’s signature filmmaking style amidst prehistoric chaos.

Happy Monday!

The first teaser for next summer’s highly-anticipated sequel Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom has (as the kids say) dropped.

Those din-o-saurs are dyn-o-mite!

Get excited because the first full trailer for Jurassic World’s follow-up will dis(e)rupt what you’re doing in the best way imaginable with ground shaking action, adventure, and breathtaking suspense this Thursday. Stay tuned to Jimmy’s Daily Planet to watch the forthcoming trailer later this week.

Have a Better Week Than Last Week.