The series is developed by Zack Stentz who wrote the screenplay for the sci fi movie Rim of the World (2019). The showrunners are Scott Kraemer and Aaron Hammersley. Kraemer was a writer for the Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness series. Hammersley also worked on that show and his last series as a writer was Star vs. the Forces of Evil. The computer generated animation is by DreamWorks Television Animation. All eight episodes has begun streaming on September 18th and currently streaming on Netflix. We start from a world view down to a pan throught the jungle to the Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous gate. Then, we get a T-Rex bursting through the gate and bellowing! We get a radar scan of Isla Nubar and a report of two “friendlies” that need extraction on the north east corner of the island.
Then, we get a man in a hat and vest, Dr. Meriweather, guiding someone through the jungle. He reaches a rock wall and then has his friend look out into the jungle. The man says they are safe and that they should reach the helicopter. A velociraptor appears in the tree branch above, they are more careful hunters and would encircle the “friendles”, but they start to run. The velociraptors calls in others to join the hunt. The kid, Darius (Paul-Mikél Williams), whom we get the pov perspective stumbles and finds velociraptor bones. Paul-Mikél Williams. Williams voiced Jack Ledger in the DreamWorks Animation series Spirit Riding Free: Riding Academy. He stumbles into a river and the man is attacked by the velociraptors! The boy hears growling and looks up to see a T-Rex closing its jaws on him! Game Over! We see with a VR visor startled by his brother, Brandon (Benjamin Florez Jr.). He hopes to complete the game and win a trip to Jurassic World, very Ready Player One. I do like that we see a contest as way of getting to the island.
His brother calls Darius a “dino-nerd” and mentions their father who passed away. Darius stares hopeless at the computer screen. He takes a dinosaur tooth necklace to bed. We see the prehistoric figures around Darius’ room. The clock ticks as suddenly Darius wakens with inspiration and rushes to his bookshelf to research dinosaur behavior. I like that we can see Darius’ research component not a gamer book. Darius has his VR visor and continues the game. He is of course startled by the T-Rex and runs back to the velociraptor bones. The T-Rex approaches as Darius finally finds a velociraptor skull and activates it! This causes a velociraptor screech that has the velociraptors pounce on the T-Rex as the helicopter arrives. Darius enters the helicopter and gets a Congradulations Player screen! Mr. DNA invites Darius as the first player to complete the game to the adventure camp, Camp Cretaceous. Darius rises his visor shouting to Brand and his mother.
This shifts to the approach of Isla Nubar, we of course get the swelling of the John Williams piece, the passenger cruise ship reaches the docks. The campers are given a welcome speech by Dave (Glen Powell), the goofy camp counselor in a red shirt. He voiced Trent in the DreamWorks series All Hail King Julien: Exiled. Ben is at the dock overcome with sea sickness. A jeep screeches to a stop at the dock and out comes Roxie (Jameela Jamil), head counselor. Jamil voices Sloane in the Crossing Swords animated series. Dave explains that the campers have won contests and others have had VIP invites. What is confusing is that there is not a map so we and the campers can orient ourselves on locations. The pink haired girl is taking video with her phone. Darius is excited about the dinosaurs. Roxie explains that they will have behind the scenes tours and other activities. It is strange that the counselors don’t explain what is the objective of the camp, to learn about dinosaurs and explore the island with kayaking? The vlogger, Brooklynn (Jenna Ortega), wants a better introduction. Ortega voiced Princess Isabel in Elena of Avalor.
They are interrupted by the landing of a helicopter, Roxie sighs, this is the arrival of the preppy Kenji (Ryan Potter). He also voices Hiro in Big Hero 6: The Series. The campers climb into a truck with the counselors up front. Darius looks admiringly at Brooklyn taking selfies when Kenji slides in right next to him. The campers quickly put on their seat belts as the truck takes off. Then, we get Brooklyn’s vlog perspective talking to her Brooklanders. She has the other campers introduce themselves starting with Darius. They are interrupted by Brooklander, Sammy Gutierrez (Raini Rodriguez). Starehe in The Lion Guard animated series was voiced by Rodriguez. She mentions that her family supplies all of the beef in Jurassic World. Sammy likes to be part of the 27 million followers of Brooklyn. The truck comes to stop with the appearance of a dinosaur. I’m amazed that security is not interested in the arrival of the campers and that they don’t escort them on the long road to the camp. Ben (Sean Giambrone) is of course worried. The actor has provied many voice roles including Joshua in the Harley Quinn series. The counselors leave the truck with their shock poles. The campers look as their counselors move into the jungle. Still, Darius hears some rustling behind them!
The dinosaur roars and leaps at Darius knocking him down. He sees that it is a small dino and it is caught by Roxie who puts it in a cage. Darius identifies it as a Compsognathus, this is the same species that attacks the girl in The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997) and was also in the Michael Crichton Jurassic Park (1990) novel. It is a clever way to introduce the Jurassic Word dinosaurs. The campers are excited to enter the Camp Cretaceous gate! The truck finally reaches the camp and the campers are in awe of the Dino-sized treehouse. Brooklyn records the introduction of the camp, Kenji says his dad’s penthouse on the island is more impressive, so Brooklyn talks to Yasmina (Kausour Mohammed). She provided voices in the Cannon Busters animated series. A great voice cast! Yasmina is an athlete, but shy around cameras. The diversity of kids is great, but I think all of them should be interested in dinos especially going to the park. I think they should have different fields of interest, young dinos, herbivores, sauropods, etc. Roxie notes that the camp is getting ready for 500 kids. Darius wanted to get a good look at the Compy, but the Jurassic World worker drives it away in a jeep. The campers watch from the top of the treehouse at the dinosaurs being herded back to their enclosures. The counselors have them zip line over them! Seems a bit dangerous, but an impressive view of the dinosaurs. Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous explores the park in full where we only got glimpses in the films, fun, but also some story faults!
Four Compys out of Five!
#JurassicWorld, #CampCretaceous, #PaulMikelWilliams, #JennaOrtega, #RyanPotter
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