Trailer Analysis: ‘Jurassic World’

Gavin Gronenthal ‘16 / Emertainment Monthly Editor

After 8 years of extinction, the Jurassic Park franchise opens again on June 12th with Jurassic World. The first trailer dropped on Tuesday, and gave the world its first glimpse into this new theme park. Let’s take a closer look at the trailer for one of this summer’s most anticipated movies.

The Park Is Open

The number one most significant thing about this trailer is actually the most obvious, so obvious that it’s even the tagline of the film: The Park is open. In the classic Spielberg movie, they are simply constructing the basics for a theme park featuring, of course, dinosaurs. But now, with Jurassic Park renamed “Jurrassic World” and completely open to the public, it’s apparent those who run the park have figured out how to control the dinosaurs: at least for now.

Moving In Herds

The first half of the trailer takes us around the island as if we were getting a tour of the park ourselves, but this shot in particular bears pretty strong significance. We see a jeep passing a herd of Gallimimus, which if you recall almost trampled Sam Neil’s Dr. Alan Grant and the kids in the original Spielberg movie. Now, however, things seem to be far more in control; the dinos are running alongside the car, and danger seems to be nowhere in sight. Again, that’s probably (see: definitely) only for now.

A New Kind of SeaWorld

In one of the biggest “Whoa” moments of the trailer, we are given our first look at Jurassic World’s take on SeaWorld- on a much bigger scale, of course. The image of what appears to be a Plesiosaur leaping out of the water and eating an entire shark whole is simultaneously awe-inspiring and frightening. One thing is for sure though: if you want to go swimming in Jurassic World, you better watch the fishes that swim around you. Although, they would be pretty hard to miss…

Amber Insects

In our second small tribute to the original classic (and the original book as well), we finally get into the plot of the movie, which will once again involve the mosquitoes solidified in amber. For those who don’t recall, the original dinos of Jurassic Park were genetically engineered by finding blood from them in mosquitoes that had been frozen in tree sap for centuries. Unfortunately for them, life found a way, and breeding all the dinosaurs with frog DNA only led to their reproduction and overpopulation. Here, it seems they have been using a similar method for the past decade, but have it more under control, and are now ready to advance even further in genetics.

A New Dinosaur

Here, we get a look at our two adult main characters, played by Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard. Howard is apparently the head geneticist at the labs of Jurassic World, while Pratt fills in as what we can assume in the head of security/archeologist role.  One of the central plots of this film will be the creation of the new hybrid dinosaur from Bryce Dallas Howard and her team of scientists; something, which the far more instinctual Pratt seems to think, is a bad idea. From the looks of the rest of the trailer, he’s probably right.

Evacuate the Island

Well, he was right. A shot of one of the glass pods previously seen in the trailer completely torn to shreds is never a good sign, especially since we saw young park guests Nick Robinson and Ty Simpkins in one of these earlier. Pratt mentions that this dinosaur is a highly intelligent creature, which can only mean more bad news for the now highly populated theme park.

Scary Stuff

This shot, of a pair of legs being dragged across the jungle, is significant mostly for one reason: it looks terrifying. By the time we got to the third Jurassic Park movie, a lot of the intensity had gone out of the initial dino encounters. Once they landed in the first one, everyone knew what to suspect from the next two. But with the new dinosaur, as well as a new playing ground for them, director Colin Trevorrow doesn’t just want you in awe for these extinct creatures; he wants you to be afraid of them, too. Very afraid.

Five-Fingered and Ferocious

We never get to see a full shot of our new reptilian friend, but this shot of him chasing Chris Pratt is more than enough of a tease. And how do we know it’s him? Well, take a look at his hands: he’s got five fingers. There’s no such thing as a five-fingered dinosaur. Can you imagine a T-Rex with opposable thumbs? There’s a force to be reckoned with.

Guardians of A Theme Park

This sequence, appearing right after the chilling rescore of the classic theme plays and the title card shows for the first time, begins with a group of velociraptors running out of a series of gates and then following Chris Pratt, who rides a motorcycle wearing a shot gun. Yes, you read that right: Chris Pratt has trained raptors that follow him, rather than attack him, while he rides a motorcycle into the night to (presumably) hunt the hybrid dinosaur on the loose. If that doesn’t get you excited about the potential of this movie, then we just don’t know what will.

If the trailer means anything, Jurassic World looks to be a breath of life for a series that has been dormant for years. Jurassic World opens to visitors June 12th, directed by Colin Trevorrow, and stars Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Ty Simpkins, Nick Robinson, Jake Johnson, Omar Sy, Vincent D’Onofrio, Judy Greer, Katie McGrath and BD Wong.

Watch The Trailer: