Jurassic Park vs. Jurassic World & Why the Sequels Get It Wrong...

Rating: 5/10 (20 June 2015)

The 5th film in the franchise comes 12 years after JP3, and that's because its been in a sort of development hell. I've kept tabs on the production of this film since 2005. It was a breath of fresh air to say the least, when I first laid eyes on the official trailer 10 years after first hearing about its production purgatory.
Both Lost World and JP3 happened on a different island, Isla Sorna, and revolve around different problems; While the original movie and Jurassic World take place on Isla Nublar. JW picks up the pieces left behind 22 years ago, making it a direct sequel to the original movie.
The same CGI and animatronics are available today, the same budget, the same quality actors, the same writers (minus Crichton, who wrote the novels the Jurassic Park franchise is based on), and if anything Jurassic World has a 22 year leap in technology to take advantage of.
So how does it stack up to the original movie? Here's the thing about Steven Spielberg, and this best explains the differences between these two films... he was experienced and established in Hollywood long before Jurassic Park.
Spielberg directed Jaws at the age of 29. Since then he had blockbuster after blockbuster: E.T. the Extraterrestrial, The Indiana Jones trilogy, Close Encounters, 1941, and Hook which were all massive multi-million dollar successes. Along his journey, he forged several important relationships with people that would influence his work; John Williams, Phil Tippett, Stan Winston, David Koepp, and George Lucas to name a few...
In his 1980's run, he quickly became one of the most successful directors in Hollywood history... that's difficult to really appreciate, but know that if Amblin or Universal Studios has any sort of interest in a film, that project probably found itself in the hands of Spielberg at one point or another whether he's credited or not.
So here you have a director that's experienced with animatronics, small scale and large scale models, practical effects, massive productions budgets, and who has a good, clear vision. Spielberg was the best director for Jurassic Park; almost as if he was conceived to direct it. Spielberg had a composer, he had a special effects guy, an animatronics guy, he had a CGI studio on tap... Jurassic Park's success was really a culmination of Spielberg's experience and relationships with the best names in the business all coming together under his direction. The timing could not have been better.
Jurassic Park was a perfect blend of CGI, animatronics, and practical effects mastery. In the early 90's, animatronics were at the height of their relevancy; and since the death of Stan Winston, there really hasn't been anyone to fill his shoes. The industry has gone from clay models and stop motion animation, to animatronics, and now CGI completely dominates the industry. Obviously none of these technologies would out scale CGI. So in a way, animatronics and puppetry are kind of a lost art and irrelevant.
As for CGI, I'm sure there's been many different techniques that were pioneered but ultimately the only difference between CGI today and 22 years ago is the time it takes to render a scene. Back in 1993, it would take hours just for one frame to be rendered, so Spielberg HAD to rely on practical effects, but considering his experience with them and the people he knew were masters of this craft, it was flawless executed either way.
Finally, to top everything off on why Spielberg was essential for his role in Jurassic Park... he also knew how theme parks operated. He served as a creative adviser for Universal Studios Florida/Orlando and for Universal Studios Islands of Adventure. He's privy on what a theme park looks like. So in Jurassic Park, 1/3 of the film we're simply given a tour of the compound and we didn't see anything extravagant. Jurassic Park was really high-tech, but also very realistic which made it relatable to the audience. So again, Spielberg also knows the ins and outs of the theme park industry, making him valuable in the presentation of Jurassic Park - a movie about a theme park!
Jurassic World comes to us from a completely different era in film which is at best trying to imitate the original but the director and the producers this time around fall short with their experience and ability. I'm sure Colin Trevorrow is a great director, but it just doesn't come across when he's plopped down in a director's chair that doesn't belong to him. He's barely qualified compared to the accolades Spielberg brought to the same director's chair for Jurassic Park.
Its imitation, not real art. It's at this point a service, rather than an experience. There's no immersion, no creativity, there's no substance; JW looked uninspired.
If you've seen Jurassic Park, the original movie, and Lost World, you've seen everything the franchise has to offer. Everything else is an imitation of these two movies - JP3 an imitation of LW, and Jurassic World an imitation of JP. Really, Universal Studios would be better off trying to relaunch the franchise rather than copy and paste CGI.