Netflix’s new animated series Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous might be aimed at younger audiences, but executive-producer Steven Spielberg stressed that the show is still violent and deals with adult themes. Taking place during the events of the 2015 film Jurassic World, Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous follows six teenagers who win a contest to be the first campers in Camp Cretaceous. Suddenly, when the Indominus Rex breaks loose and the campers are stranded in the park after crashing Jurassic World‘s Gyrospheres, the kids must band together to survive.
Although Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous intersects with the events of Jurassic World, the series tells an entirely new story – and Jurassic Work: Camp Cretaceous could be a better addition to the Jurassic Park series than Jurassic World. The Netflix show might be animated, but it still has just as many scary dinosaur encounters as Jurassic World and is designed to look as unnerving as the movie. Although Jurassic Park: Camp Cretaceous never shows any blood or gore onscreen, the show is still pretty intense for an animated series. So, is it really suitable for kids?
While Jurassic World was given a PG-13 rating for intense sequences of science-fiction violence and peril, Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous is only rated TV-PG. Showrunner Scott Kreamer said in an interview that Steven Spielberg didn’t want Jurassic Park: Camp Cretaceous to be the “kiddie version” of Jurassic World, and that “it needs to feel like it’s Jurassic Park.” Jurassic Park: Camp Cretaceous certainly earns a PG rating, letting the young characters be in frequent danger instead of feeling safe, and trusting the young audience to handle the intense subject material. Again, there aren’t any bloody scenes, but the situations the teenagers find themselves in can be considered frightening to the youngest viewers. The series is suitable for kids, but with caution.
Unlike previous Spielberg projects, which often depict children facing danger but shows them as secondary characters rescued by adults, Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous focuses only on the six teenage protagonists. The series separates the teenagers from their adult supervisors so that they can only depend on each other to survive. Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous frequently puts the teenage protagonists in legitimately scary and dangerous situations where they have to fend for themselves. Although the series never actually depicts blood or gore onscreen, things still get intense. Several times, the teenagers watch someone get eaten by dinosaurs and it can be a lot to handle.
Jurassic Park: Camp Cretaceous trusts that the younger audience can handle the intense material, and the series is still suitable for kids. The intensity of the series can be a lot for younger kids who haven’t previously watched Jurassic Park, although the show is still targeted at a younger audience than the movies. If parents are concerned that Jurassic Park: Camp Cretaceous is not appropriate, they should rest assured that the series is no scarier than Jurassic Park or Jurassic World. For kids who are prepared to handle animated violence and tense situations, Jurassic Park: Camp Cretaceous is a great, age-appropriate choice.
