Summary
This is okay and if a season 2 was in the pipeline, I would not grumble as long as there are some improvements.
We review Netflix’s Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous Season 1, which contains zero spoilers. The animation series will be released on the streaming service on September 18, 2020.
The most heartwarming aspect of Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous is its deep understanding of what it was like to be a young person having a unique interest in dinosaurs and subsequently, watching the original films. Despite the theoretical danger of a dinosaur, there is a sense of magic about it in fictional form. It’s difficult to put a finger on it — maybe it’s the anticipation or the potential that one day we could recreate a dinosaur; although, it’s a bad idea, clearly.
Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous Season 1 Review and Plot Summary
This series taps into that excitement of a young kid about to embark on a world of dinosaurs. The animation series introduces the audience to Darius (Paul-Mikél Williams), a young boy who wins an “impossible” related game in order to gain access to Camp Cretaceous, presumably an area that sits close to Jurassic World.
The series takes a while to kick in, which some cheesy world-building and grouping teens together on a camp that have no interest in being genuine friends together. There’s this Charlie and the Chocolate Factory feel to the narrative with each kid having their own selfish priorities on the trip. Unfortunately, the series fails to build context on the characters — they all resemble themselves purely on the surface — it takes a while to even understand Darius as a character.
But once the series gets into the meaty parts of the story that involve evading dinosaurs and near-death experiences, audiences can sit back, relax, and enjoy the action. The Netflix series is built for children and family alike but fans can also take elements of the story and immerse themselves into the canon at least. There’s no denying that more could be made from a story like this but for what it’s purpose is meant to be, the story just hits the criteria to be satisfactory.
Thematically, the dinosaurs hardly matter — season 1 overrides the danger with this overbearing need for valuable friendships. As the series progresses, the character’s require to bond despite their selfishness at the start — it’s this need for a connection that takes hold of the story that sends out a message that it’s important to build relationships.
This is okay and if a Season 2 was in the pipeline, I would not grumble as long as there are some improvements.
