This summer, dinosaurs will battle superheroes for box office supremacy when Jurassic World – the fourth film in the Jurassic Park franchise – releases in June. And already the return to Isla Nublar is being met with mixed reactions.
For some, there’s a heady nostalgia around seeing the park originally envisioned by John Hammond (Richard Attenborough) made fully operational and open to the public. While others are turned off by the premise of a hybrid dinosaur or that Chris Pratt’s character is seemingly a raptor trainer.
Still, Jurassic Park‘s themes of human arrogance and nature’s supremacy remain, and speaking with EW, director Colin Trevorrow says:
“We have seen that we will repeat our mistakes if there’s money on the table. It’s not about the danger of playing God. These animals are real, and they’re on our planet.”
Representing the money this time around is Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard), park operations manager and representative of Masrani Global Corporation, the company behind Jurassic World. At the corporation’s urging, Claire has Jurassic World’s geneticists create the new dino in order to boost attendance.
Of course, it’s when Claire’s nephews – played by Ty Simpkins and Nick Robinson – are visiting the park that the uncontrollable, hybrid dino escapes and all hell breaks loose. This forces Claire and raptor wrangler Owen (Pratt) to put aside their differences, eventually developing a love/hate relationship à la Romancing the Stone.
“They don’t like each other at all, and by the end that’s changed,” says Trevorrow, adding “We think that [classic conceit] absolutely can apply to a dinosaur movie.” Whether Claire and Owen’s rapport comes off as “classic” or “‘70s-era sexist,” as Joss Whedon recently called it, remains to be seen. But the first clip of the two interacting did feel rather formulaic in its setup of just how opposite their characters are.
But for those hoping for more from Claire than a frosty workaholic who doesn’t know how to unwind, Howard shares that her character undergoes something of an Ellen Ripley-esque transformation when it comes to saving her nephews: “Becoming a mother myself, I’ve realized being maternal is being wildly badass.“
EW also reveals Jurassic World will have its own frightening moment in where young children are trapped under glass while being terrorized by dinosaurs. The scene has already been teased in the film’s trailer, but Trevorrow further explains:
“There’s a ride at the park that allows you to get into a gyroscopic sphere and be out in the wild with dinosaurs and travel beneath them—and that goes horribly wrong. Imagine being inside a sphere and then suddenly it breaks and you’re rolling like a cat with a ball of yarn.”
Yup. That’s the Jurassic Park franchise – endangering children since 1993.
Lastly, for those hankering for yet another look at Owen’s skills with velociraptors, EW has this new Jurassic World still. Check it out below:
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How are you feeling about Colin Trevorrow’s Jurassic World? Are you pumped to revisit Isla Nublar or does the film come off like too much of a money-grab itself? Sound off in the comments below!
Jurassic World opens in U.S. theaters on June 12th, 2015.
