Netflix’s Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous Still Outshines the Movies

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The Jurassic Park series has been trying to recreate the success of its groundbreaking first film for nearly 35 years. However, the six movies that followed, including the recent trilogy starting in 2015, haven’t quite lived up to the original. While the Jurassic World films have been mostly just okay, Netflix’s animated shows and Jurassic World: Chaos Theory have quietly done a lot to enrich the franchise’s story.

With high ratings on Rotten Tomatoes (92% overall, and a perfect 100% for Season 2), Camp Cretaceous features a talented voice cast including Jenna Ortega, Glen Powell, Stephanie Beatriz, Haley Joel Osment, and Jameela Jamil. The show, which ran for five seasons, takes place alongside the events of the 2015 film Jurassic World. A group of teenage campers find themselves stranded on Isla Nublar after the Indominus Rex escapes and the park is evacuated. Unlike many of the Jurassic Park/Jurassic World movies, Camp Cretaceous successfully captured a sense of adventure and excitement, along with the intriguing science fiction elements, without feeling like a typical action movie.

Animation Took the Jurassic World Franchise to New Heights

Like shows such as X-Men ’97 and Marvel’s…What If?, Camp Cretaceous aimed for a fresh visual style. It wanted to go beyond what traditional effects could achieve, but avoid the often-costly and unrealistic computer graphics that sometimes replace them. By using a CGI-inspired animation approach, the show could still feature the realistic dinosaurs from the films while adding more action, attacks, and detailed close-ups.

As a huge cinema fan, I was really impressed with how much detail they put into the visual effects, especially the backgrounds and the dinosaurs – it genuinely made everything feel more real. They also really worked on the lighting, and honestly, it paid off. It brought back that terrifying, horror-filled atmosphere from the first movie, reminding me of scenes like the raptor attack in the visitor center – it was genuinely scary again!

The character designs were distinctive and made the “Nublar Six” instantly popular throughout the series. Their appearances evolved and became more refined over time, and the art style seamlessly adapted to show the characters aging.

The sillier storylines in Camp Cretaceous actually fit the animated format well. Cartoons, especially those for younger viewers, are expected to be a bit over-the-top. The series successfully used plot ideas that wouldn’t have worked in the movies, like robotic raptors, mind-controlled T-Rexes, and unusual hybrid dinosaurs. These concepts, including the storyline about a human clone, were much better suited for animation than a live-action film.

Camp Cretaceous Brought Forth a New Group of Iconic Jurassic World Characters

Even with famous actors like Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, and Scarlett Johansson, and the welcome return of original cast members Sam Neill, Laura Dern, and Jeff Goldblum, the Jurassic World films struggled to create characters audiences could truly connect with. This was largely because the characters lacked depth, believable relationships, and compelling personalities. In contrast, Camp Cretaceous featured a wide range of new characters who were much better developed and more diverse.

Unlike many adventure shows, Camp Cretaceous didn’t focus solely on typical action heroes. Instead, it created a diverse group of characters including Black, Asian, Latinx, Muslim, and LGBTQ+ individuals. These aspects of their identities weren’t central to the plot, but they added depth and made the characters more relatable, especially for young viewers with diverse backgrounds, beliefs, and experiences.

Beyond just knowing the characters’ names, Camp Cretaceous and Chaos Theory create a strong emotional connection with the audience, particularly after five seasons of the former and four of the latter. We see how the characters develop and change after experiencing significant trauma and building strong bonds with each other. Unlike many animated shows, these characters’ experiences carry over, impacting their journeys across episodes and seasons. Seeing characters like Darius and Brooklynn evolve from their Season 1 selves into the adults they become in Chaos Theory feels like watching a real-life coming-of-age story.

While Camp Cretaceous introduces new characters, it cleverly connects to the larger Jurassic Park/World story by referencing familiar faces, even if those characters don’t appear on screen. This keeps the spirit of the original films alive and maintains a sense of continuity. The show also brings back some supporting characters from Jurassic World, like the villainous Dr. Henry Wu, Lewis Dodson, and Soyona Santos, though these appearances are infrequent. By acknowledging these established characters, the series seamlessly integrates its new additions into the overall narrative.

Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous is available to stream on Netflix.

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2026-04-09 17:42