It's No Walk in the Park

**Read with caution. This is just my opinion on the movies. This may contain some spoilers**

I have always been extremely fond of the movie series Jurassic Park. I remember having nightmares as a child about velociraptors breaking into our house and eating us. What can I say? I was young and impressionable back then when I first watched them as a small child. I have grown fond of binge-watching the series. I can even recite lines from the movie The Lost World.

Michael Crichton first published the novel titled Jurassic Park back in 1990. The first novel, originally written as a screenplay by the author, was then picked up and adapted by Steven Spielberg. By 1993, the movie by the same name, Jurassic Park was then released. Personally, I think every fan of the movie franchise deserves to read Michael Criton's first novel and that's precisely why I'm writing about it. Even though I read the book after watching all the movies, I feel as if the novel gets so much more in-depth with the scientific aspects surrounding the creation of dinosaurs. The movies demonstrate the science part in a more basic way. The novel is interesting and very well-written in my opinion.

“Life breaks free. Life expands to new territories. Painfully, perhaps even dangerously. But life finds a way.”

The second movie in the original franchise, titled Jurassic Park: A Lost World was also written as a novel before being published into a movie, the second in the franchise. I feel like all fans of the movie must read the books that inspired a worldwide phenomenal franchise of movies. The second novel, is not the same as the second movie. It is well written, but if you are a fan of the movies, it might not be your cup of tea as they are not similar. Science fiction isn't a genre I read often, but when I do, I compare it to Michael Criton's work. It is brilliant and so different than the movies I had grown up with and loved.

The third Jurassic Park movie was released in 2001. This movie was the first one not to be directed by Steven Spielberg and it showed. It was still good, but not nearly as good as the first one. Sam Neil, the actor that played Alan Grant returned to star in this movie. Jurassic Park 3 was not based on a novel and was written by a team of writers and it turned out pretty good compared to the other movies in my opinion.

Jurassic World was released in 2015, nearly fifteen years after the release of Jurassic Park 3. Centering around the idea of a park that was successful rather than one that failed. With a whole new crop of characters to love and fan favourite dinosaurs making it into the mix, it turned out pretty good. It was nothing like I had imagined it to be with the creation of the Imdominous Rex, it played to the science fiction of these movies.

I am disappointed in the way that the release of the franchise Jurassic World went about though. The movies are terribly written in comparison to the original plot concept by Michael Crichton. More teeth seemed to be a big thing for the screenplay writers. If I was Michael, I would be so disappointed in the Jurassic World franchise as it strays so far away from his original concept of a park. The second movie, Fallen Kingdom is just not my favourite of movies compared to the original Jurassic Park series, although it did bring us Maisey, the world's first genetic clone. How else were the writers going to dial up the science fiction part of the franchise?

I'm very excited about the upcoming release of the third installment in the Jurassic World series titled Dominion because of the star actors that are featured like Sam Neill and Laura Dern, the actors that play Alan Grant and Ellie Sattler, two of the original starring characters in Jurassic Park. I am looking forward to seeing the next disaster that releases to theatres in June 2022. I was hoping that it tied up loose ends that Fallen Kingdom had left.

Upon watching the third installment of Jurassic World: Dominion in theaters with my family, I still feel the same way. Whereas the movie is no match for Michael Criton's original novels that inspired the dinosaur movies that we know and love. Dominion was clever and tied up some loose ends with the two separate movie franchises including the famous shaving cream can from movie number one. I tried writing this while the movie was still fresh in my mind, but maybe I need to binge-watch all six movies when Dominion is released on disc.

What did you think of the latest movie Dominion in the Jurassic World series? Have you read Michael Crichton's novels? Let me know.

Chloe Rose Violet