Danielle Solzman
Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous follows in the spirit of the 2015 Jurassic World film as the new series premieres on Netflix.
Imagine being chosen for the opportunity of a life time. If you love dinosaurs, it’ll be sure to be an experience that you’ll remember for the rest of your life. After all, this is Jurassic World that we’re talking about! Darius Bowman is a dinosaur-obsessed teen and an avid reader of Dr. Grant’s work.
When Darius arrives to Isla Nublar, he finds himself joined by influencer Brooklynn (Jennifer Ortega), Yaz Fadoula (Kausar Mohammed), Sammy Gutierrez (Raini Rodriguez), Ben Pincus (Sean Giambrone), and Kenji Kon (Ryan Potter). All six teens have their own quirks that they bring to the series and later on during a fight for survival.
While there are some mentions of some of the main Jurassic World characters like Claire Dearing, Simon Masrani, and the Mitchell brothers, they don’t really have a presence here. The camp also wouldn’t feature a complete island experience without a journey to Dr. Henry Wu’s research lab. In keeping with the film’s spirit, the musical score takes its influence from the themes from both John Williams and Michael Giacchino.
The main focus here are on the campers and their two counselors, Roxie (Jameela Jamil) and Dave (Glen Powell), to an extent. When the Indominus Rex goes loose starts wrecking havoc on the island, everything changes. This is when these six campers must learn to work together and survive for themselves. They arrived as strangers but by the end of the eighth episode, their fight for survival bonds them. Early on in the season, our favorite Velociraptors Blue, Echo, Delta, and Charlie make an appearance.
This series is as much for adults as it is for mature kids. Though if I’m being honest, there are some scenes that could prove to be too much for little kids. If they’ve seen the films, they’ll be fine. Parents, if you’re not sure at first, you should watch for yourself. The series may not get as violent as some of the films but these kids have real moments of danger. However, you don’t have Owen Grady coming to the rescue. How will the campers get out of it?
It takes a few episodes for the series to catch up with the start of the film but when it does, the action really gets going. If you notice in Jurassic World, there’s a break between scenes where it goes from daytime to pitch black. What this series manages to do is help to fill in the gaps during the hunt for the Indominus Rex. What was happening in between those events? This series may not have all the answers but it has some and even takes us to areas of the island that weren’t really explored on screen.
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Scott Kreamer, Lane Lueras, Steven Spielberg, Frank Marshall, Colin Trevorrow
CONSULTING PRODUCER: Zack Stentz
CAST: Paul-Mikél Williams, Jenna Ortega, Ryan Potter, Raini Rodriguez, Sean Giambrone, Kausar Mohammed, Jameela Jamil, Glen Powell
