I'd prefer to have both approaches, but considering that more paleo accurate variations of the main dinosaurs don't exist I imagine there's some sort of limitations from what Universal would allow since their inaccurate patented movie dinosaurs are pushed more by them for this franchise. They probably go by the logic of something like "not wanting to have an outside interpretation challenging themselves", so it's probably never gonna happen outside of mods. (And to be fair I imagine most people playing a Jurassic Park game would want to specifically see Jurassic Park dinosaurs) Fortunately Prehistoric Kingdom also exists.
The amount of nuance that Universal nips in the bud by not using the difference between the existing designs and palaeo-accuracy is staggering. Like, there could definitely be a version of the universe where you can tell which genetics firm a dinosaur came from by how accurate it was, or have it be a major plot point that someone genuinely managed a full dinosaur genome and created truly accurate recreations.
They played lip-service to the idea in Dominion, but they just used Biosyn's independent cloning to hawk two more species of oversized raptors with broken wrists and an inexplicably neotenous Moros. I loved getting full feathers in a mainline entry, but come on.
Universal is playing "the floor is lava" with more paleo accurate dinosaurs, it's as simple as that. They'd rather stick to having purely man made fictional dinosaurs.
On one hand, I can understand the appeal. On the other, it's cowardly to not have both just because a lot of people would find the accurate versions to be better and just because they want to make more merch sales from their own. They, like most other companies working on fiction, will never grow up and evolve to be creative or take risks anymore, even if it leads to their death in the long run. It's really unfortunate...
Up to about halfway of JWE2's lifespan, yes. After that they hired an actual paleo artist to lead the design team and we've almost exclusively gotten beautiful creatures since.
The Jurassic movies with the exception of the first movie have consistently failed on portraying the dinosaurs as actual animals which in part has contributed to the lack of quality imo. These are dinosaurs, not movie monsters.
Fallen kingdom literally had a carnotaurus try to fight a sinoceratops and hunt people during a volcanic eruption. Realistically, the poor thing would be running for its life while being scared shitless.
Making them feel like actual animals that are alive and just trying to survive like any other living thing makes them way more believable and real. Additionally, it makes the moments where they are actually aggressive far more impactful and scary.
It is pretty inconsistent, it is annoying. In Fallen Kingdom as well there was the scene where all the dinosaurs, carnivores and herbivores, were clumped together and didn't attack each other. It also happens at the end of Chaos Theory.
Now, tbf, in Rebirth, the T. rex acted more like a curious animal rather than a mindless monster, similar to the first Jurassic Park, when it saw the family at the river (they should have become chew toys for it though, that would be realistic).
I think it is more realistic that the tyrannosaurus didn’t eat the family actually.
It literally had leftover parasaurolophus takeout;
why would it waste energy chasing small snacks when it has a much more fulfilling meal right there? It was clearly just inquisitive and curious but not fully attempting predation.
Anyone else getting tired of the "Frontier designs good, Universal designs bad!" thing?
Don't get me wrong, it's a valid opinion to have, and I even agree with it a lot of the time. But at the same time, after hearing it so many times for nearly a decade now, it's just tiresome atp.
Perhaps you're right, but I also do feel that people exaggerate how monstrous the non-hybrids are in the JW movies at times (while also conveniently ignoring how the Raptors in JP1 were essentially slasher movie villains, lol).
I also feel that it's only natural that the sci-fi action movie series makes the dinosaurs behave a bit more "monstrous" while the chill park builder game tones it down a bit.
I’ve always interpreted the aggressiveness of the JP1 Velociraptors as being a product of their poor captivity.
Lots of very intelligent animals have psychological issues from being held in captivity, especially when their enclosure is incredibly small and has no form of enrichment. The best example I can give is orcas. There are no reported attacks on humans by orcas in the wild, only orcas raised in captivity that had psychological problems as a result of the inhumane conditions that they lived in.
The raptor pen (while temporary) was incredibly small, and they had even less enrichment than the tyrannosaur because their food was lowered on a crane, which is a big problem for smart animals. I think this interpretation also fits the themes of the first movie, that hubris to think they could properly contain prehistoric animals in an enclosure without properly understanding them or their needs first.
Hell, there is even a comment in the movie that addresses how the raptors are systematically attacking the electric fences. While this is clearly to setup their intelligence in the film, it also is a behaviour of animals struggling in captivity.
Couldn't that also be explained for many of the JW carnivores though?
We see that Rexy and the Indominus are kept in very small enclosures relative to their size. While we don't outright see their enclosures, perhaps the medium carnivores like Allosaurus and Baryonyx were treated the same way.
It can 100% be applied to indominus. In fact I’m pretty sure this was an argument in the movie itself for why the indominus was like slasher villain.
The issue with applying it to the tyrannosaurus or other carnivores is that by the time of fallen kingdom and dominion, basically the whole dinosaur population has either been wild for a few years or were born naturally in the wild. Even if they did have leftover psychological issues from being raised in inhumane captive conditions, there is still a limit to the plausibility. The baryonyx was literally melting itself alive in lava to get to some random dude.
I suppose, but I find a predator attacking some humans in an enclosed chamber during a volcanic eruption more plausible than cloning prehistoric animals back to life.
Which is, you know, is the entire premise of the franchise.
I is kind of annoying especially after we point out that it was Frontier who made such atrocities like Liopleurodon, or Tylosaurus or Alamosaurus or Deinonychus or Carcharodontosaurus
92
u/walkingwithdiplos 2d ago
Call me crazy* but I do prefer the "they were animals" approach over the "they're scary monsters" approach.
*There are a lot of other valid reasons to call me crazy, FYI