Jurassic Park’s Incredible Filming Statistic Proves Where The World Trilogy Went Wrong

While Jurassic World tried hard to replicate the magic of Steven Spielberg’s original Jurassic Park, one surprising behind-the-scenes VFX fact shows where the modern trilogy went wrong. In 2015’s Jurassic World, a big-budget reboot of the Jurassic Park franchise, Bryce Dallas Howard’s character Claire lamented that patrons of the eponymous theme park constantly demanded bigger, better, and more dangerous dinosaurs. Ironically, this complaint could be levied at the creators of the Jurassic World trilogy. By Jurassic World Dominion’s ending, the action-packed but empty trilogy failed to recreate the original appeal of 1993’s Jurassic Park.

For viewers wondering where the series went wrong, Jurassic Park’s ending provides some surprising insight. The movie’s climax saw the final survivors hole up in the visitor’s center, only to be besieged by raptors. As the raptors closed in, the T-rex returned to save the day. This triumphant moment only succeeded because the T-rex hadn’t been shown for a long time, as the patient Michael Crichton adaptation wisely kept its biggest monster offscreen for much of the movie. In contrast, the later Jurassic World movies put their dinosaurs front and center, diluting their novelty factor as a result.

Jurassic Park Uses Less Than 60 VFX Shots

Spielberg’s Seminal Blockbuster Features Far Fewer Dinosaurs Than Viewers Thought

Although it might be hard to believe, the original Jurassic Park features less than 60 VFX shots in the entire movie, according to ILM. Many of the most impressive moments in the original movie were achieved with practical effects, while Spielberg’s decision to minimize the screen time of the dinosaurs also contributed to this surprisingly low number. The director clearly learned from his early experience directing Jaws, a movie that maximized its scare factor by keeping its monster offscreen for as long as possible. The Jurassic World franchise’s next movies could learn a lot from this approach.

Since CGI became so much cheaper and more ubiquitous in the years after Jurassic Park was released, 2015’s Jurassic World massively increased the amount of VFX shots. Its sequels followed suit, foregrounding dinosaur action and largely disregarding their human characters. As a result, the Jurassic World movies ended up so oversaturated with dinosaurs that the movie’s creatures were less convincing and awe-inspiring than their Jurassic Park counterparts. Minimizing the screen time of the dinosaurs made their appearances special, whereas cramming countless dinosaurs into the Jurassic World sequel devalued their presence and resulted in bloated, overstuffed follow-ups with little charm.

Jurassic World’s Over-Reliance On VFX Makes Its World Less Realistic

Why The Jurassic World Trilogy’s “More Is More” Approach Failed

As Jurassic World 4 reboots the series, it is important to reflect on where the trilogy went awry. The biggest issue with the Jurassic World movies was their “more is more” approach, with each franchise entry introducing more new dinosaurs, more characters, and more cameos from existing cast members. This proved to be too much of a good thing, eventually resulting in movies that were chaotically overstuffed but lacked any moments of genuine awe, terror, or wonder. The Jurassic World movies failed to repeat the success of Jurassic Park because the trilogy didn’t realize just how VFX-light the original movie was.

Source: Industrial Light & Magic