ˈJurassic World: Camp Cretaceousˈ (2020) is an animated series based on the Jurassic Park/World franchise, which recently premiered on Netflix. “A group of teenagers visit Isla Nublar to participate in a special camp in the Jurassic World, however, the animals escape and they need the help of strangers, friends and family to survive.”
In all honesty, I really didn’t know what to expect from this series before going in. Animated series based on popular film franchises have a mixed reputation. Some such as ˈStar Wars: The Clone Warsˈ (2008) and ˈThe Real Ghostbustersˈ (1986) are beloved by their respective fan-bases, with many fans considering them to be some of the best content in the whole franchise. On the other hand, series like ˈJames Bond Jr.ˈ (1991) are loathed by fans, with most refusing to accept them as canon. However, it brings me pleasure to say that this series is a welcome addition to the Jurassic canon, despite some set-backs.
Before talking about the story, I’d first like to delve into a more technical aspect of the series - more specifically, the animation. Curiously enough, the animation is simultaneously one of my favourite and least favourite aspects of this series. Unfortunately, I did not particularly like the ways in which the main human characters were animated. I found that the way they moved just had an unnatural quality, and that the dialogue didn’t match their lip-movements at times. It pains me to say this, but it often felt like the characters were animated by Vídeo Brinquedo rather than Netflix. In contrast however, the dinosaurs were very well-animated and detailed, and were juxtaposed well with the show’s some-what simplistic design. With that said, I will now share my thoughts on the story.
Storylines in this series are simple yet engaging. They also incorporate dinosaurs as well as notable locations from 2015’s ˈJurassic Worldˈ into the story effectively, and in some cases hint at events from 2018’s ˈJurassic World: Fallen Kingdomˈ. This of course (along with some less-than-subtle fan-service) helps tie the series to the greater franchise. Furthermore, I like how later episodes explore the impact which the Indominus Rex’s escape on the park guests, something which I thought the 2015 film should have touched upon more.
However, I can see some older viewers finding the first three episodes a tad tedious, as they are by far the most basic and uneventful of the bunch. They are also the episodes which contain the most logical errors in their plots. This isn’t really a minor complaint either, as there are instances where the entire main conflict of the episode could have been avoided, had the responsible adult characters just thought things through. Thankfully though, episodes four through eight are much more exhilarating and engaging than the previous ones, with the seventh episode (ˈLast Day of Campˈ) being my personal favourite of the series. This is due mostly to a great emotional scene set on a monorail, in which the protagonists reflect on their experiences.
However, I found the protagonists themselves to be quite clichéd, despite remaining likeable. They are in many ways the set of stereotypical teenagers which we’ve seen in kid’s TV over and over again. You’ve got the quiet kid, the coward, the spoilt/rich one, etc. Furthermore, this problem is only made worse by the over-the-top dialogue and voice-performances found in this series. Like I mentioned, I don’t hate these characters, but there were certainly times where the way which they were written made them quite irritating. While I have definitely encountered more lazily written characters in other shows, I feel that some slightly better characterisation would have turned this show from good to great. Moreover, the jokes/humour in this series was mostly unnecessary and lazy, and at times even broke the tension of particular scenes.
Despite all these flaws, I still very much enjoyed the series as a whole and would recommend it to older Jurassic-fans, as well as those looking to introduce younger viewers to the franchise. I will definitely re-watch this before ˈJurassic World: Dominionˈ (whenever that comes out), and I anticipate a potential second season with great enthusiasm.
Thankyou for reading.
