Part of the fun of this past summer’s Jurassic World wasn’t simply the return to the world of the original Jurassic Park but the homage that was paid to its predecessor. Some of the references to the original movie series were overt, while others were obvious to fans, but as it turns out there were a lot of references to the early movies that were much more subtle. You may have recognized a few at the time, but it’s unlikely you saw them all. Check out the side by side comparison that shows all the places where Jurassic World remembered where it came from.
Wow, is there a lot to unpack in this video. The movie itself drew attention to the original park’s visitor’s center, the jeeps that were used to get around the park, and the t-shirt being worn by the guy in the control center. The return of B.D. Wong wasn’t simply a reference to the original film but a plot thread connecting them Those were things you would have known were callbacks even if you were living under a rock 20 years ago and had never seen the original film. Some were direct references but were not focused on. Did you catch the animated DNA dude when you saw the movie? There are also those moments that probably reminded you of the original film while you were watching the new one, the close up of the dinosaur eyeball, or the opening of the large double doors as the characters first entered the park. Those were moments that made the diehard fans go a little bit crazy in their theater seats, from there however the references become less obvious until you see them side by side.
It would be easy to chalk many of the other comparisons in the clip up to coincidence. There are, after all, only so many ways to film a movie where people run from dinosaurs, some of the shots are destined to end up similar. While this may be the case for some of the scenes, the sheer volume of them is such that you can’t chalk them all up to coincidence. You probably recognized many of these scenes at the time as well, simply not consciously. It’s entirely possible that some of the references themselves were not conscious. We do know that many of them were intentional, though, even some others that wouldn’t fit into this video’s presentation.
With plans for yet another Jurassic movie in the pipeline, they may have to come up with an entirely new film as they probably used every possible reference they could to the previous trilogy of films. Was there anything here that that you saw that the video misses? Let us know in the comments. I need to go watch a couple movies now.
