Jurassic World: Dominionis now just over six months away, but Universal have put out the opening sequence of the movie as was previously seen in IMAX cinemas earlier this year. While we are still to see a trailer for the movie, this more than whets the appetite for another long awaited, and delayed, dinosaur outing, which this time promises some deep involvement from major characters of both theJurassic WorldandJurassic Parkfranchises including the return of Sam Neill, Laura Dern and Jeff Goldblum. Although theJurassic Parkseries has often been called out for its scientifically lacking when it comes to the appearance of its prehistoric beasts on screen, the latest footage has actually drawn praise from a real life paleontologist.
The opening sequence of the third movie in theJurassic Worldfranchise, and sixth film in theJurassic Parksaga, transports audiences back 65 million years to when dinosaurs did actually rule the Earth, and we see numerous dinosaurs wading in mud, fighting and generally doing what we believed dinosaurs did. It is this prologue toJurassic World: Dominionthat has led to praise by Joe Bonsor, dinosaur expert for the Natural History Museum London and University of Bath, who has seen much more realism in the footage compared to previous entries in the series.
“This prologue feels a little bit different from the previous films,” Bonsor said toIGN. “I’m really looking forward to seeing how they translate this footage, which has a bit more realism and some more recent discoveries, into those more modern dinosaurs from the film. It’ll be interesting to see how they strike a balance between actual science and their creations. For me, the biggest thing is the feathers on the theropods, the two-legged meat-eating dinosaurs. The raptors are generally just naked, just skin. Perhaps it’s because they don’t look as scary covered in feathers, but I think it would be quite scary – a six-foot-tall chicken with razor claws chasing you! You’d still run away.”
Ever sinceJurassic Parkarrived in cinemas back in 1993, the design of the creatures has always come under scrutiny, with many calling out certain visual aspects of the most iconic beasts like the tyrannosaurus rex, with heavy criticism focusing on the lack of feathers that it has been discovered many dinosaurs possessed. While this had been explained away multiple times in the franchise by the way the dinosaurs of the island have been brought back with partial amphibian DNA and have all been modified to the “expected appearance” that “park visitors” would have, the opening ofJurassic World: Dominionseems to have been the perfect time to resolve those issues once and for all.
Putting out the prologue scene, Universal wrote, “a new,five-minute special prologue toJurassic World: Dominion, directed by Dominion director and co-writer Colin Trevorrow, is not featured in the film itself but is separate, original content. The Prologue serves as the beginning of a story that will be continued in theaters next summer. The Prologue rockets audiences back 65 million years into the past to experience the world before humans existed and offers a glimpse of a world in which dinosaurs are living among us. The Prologue features seven new species of dinosaurs that have never been seen in a Jurassic film before, created by legendary Industrial Light & Magic, which has created visual effects for every Jurassic film, includingJurassic World: Dominion. The Prologue is scored by Oscar winner Michael Giacchino, composer ofJurassic World, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom,andJurassic World: Dominion."
