Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous launches later this month on Netflix (September 18th) and will be the first spinoff TV show from the wildly successful Jurassic Park franchise. We got our first peek at it in late July with a trailer that showcased the CGI animation style and gave us a taste of the tone of the series. And now, a new promo has given us another look at what we can expect, introducing us to the soon-to-be-in-peril teenage cast and showing us more of the dino-infested island.
Set at the same time as 2015’s Jurassic World, the titular Camp Cretaceous is an adventure camp situated on the opposite side of Isla Nublar from the main park complex. Our heroes are to be one of the first to experience this new feature in the park, but when the events of the movie take place elsewhere, they’re left stranded and alone. Our teenage cast must then journey from one side of the island to the other in order to survive their ordeal and escape to the mainland.
My standards for dinosaur-based entertainment are rock bottom. Basically, if it’s got a dinosaur in it, I’ll probably enjoy it. For example, I know that Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom was complete bobbins but at least I could watch a hungry dinosaur prowl around a spooky mansion. But this? Well, Camp Cretaceous just seems cheap and rushed. The characters and dinosaurs look basically okay, but the environments around them appear to be genuinely half-finished and feature assets that could be lifted from an old video game.
I get that this is aimed at children, but Pixar and Dreamworks have proven many times over that just because you’re catering to a younger audience that doesn’t mean you need to skimp on the visuals. Judging by this disappointing trailer, as much as I’d like to be looking forward to Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous, it’s got a very long way to go to convince me that this isn’t a rushed cash-in created on an extremely low budget.