Jurassic World (2015) | Colin Trevorrow

Siblings Gray (Ty Simpkins) and Zach (Nick Robinson) are sent on vacation to visit their Aunt Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard), who is the manager of operations at the Costa Rica island resort known as Jurassic World, a tourist attraction funded by mega-billionaire named Simon Masrani (Irrfan Khan) that takes its basic idea from the original Jurassic Park but seeks to do the formula right (i.e., more profitably). In addition to the assortment of dinosaurs, the corporation is looking into creating their own hybrid dinos through experiments in genetic engineering that are sure to draw in even more interested visitors year after year.  Their biggest creation is the Indominus Rex, a creation that splices the T. Rex DNA with a hodge-podge of other predators of various strengths, that just might be the most deadly creature that has ever roamed the Earth.  (I suppose it’s not a good sign that ‘indominus’ is Latin for ‘untamable’.)

Navy vet Owen Grady (Chris Pratt) is a behavioral research consultant and talent trainer at the facility, looking into the ability of these dinosaurs to learn from human instruction, and he’s especially made progress at whispering to velociraptors, which may prove to be a much-needed thing now that Indominus Rex has gotten out of its cage and is prepared to hunt and kill whatever it can on the island, which ultimately could mean the slaughter of 20,000 visitors trapped in the theme park. Colin Trevorrow directs.

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018) – A Podcast Film Review

Acclaimed director J.A. Bayona takes over the reins of this lucrative franchise with JURASSIC WORLD: FALLEN KINGDOM, the follow-up to 2015’s biggest box-office smash.  Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard reprise their roles, this time having to figure out if the dinosaurs on Isla Nublar should be saved, or if the active volcano that’s in full flow should course correct their existence back to extinction.  A wealthy benefactor wants to put them into sanctuary, but someone in his organization sees a bigger opportunity to keep these dinos alive by selling them to the highest bidders around the world.