Jurassic World: Battle at Big Rock

[Gwangi]

As a parent, perhaps the only parent in this conversation, I feel inclined to point out that an attempt to physically stop a baby from crying will only result in more severe crying. You sooth crying babies, you don't (and can't) muffle them.

That is 100% correct.

Sounds like you guys aren't trying hard enough. Like, babies' teeth aren't even sharp.

Can you back that statement up? Have you been bitten by a baby with teeth? Just ask Charlie's older brother.

[HD-man]

I liked the new Universal opening credit, and I enjoyed the end credit scenes (apart from the mosasaur bit). I would've preferred a whole 8 minutes of the latter sort of thing!

The short movie itself didn't float my boat, but then I dislike the Jurassic World series in general and this just felt like more of the same.

Me too!

I'm somewhere in the middle. It does feel a bit different from JW & JW:FK, but not different enough for me to get fully invested in it. Maybe if the Allo had eaten the baby It wouldn't even have to be graphic b/c the Allo could've swallowed the baby whole like when the T.rex swallowed the goat (minus the bloody leg).

The Jw dinosaurs definitely have a different style. I want to say they're more modern but I don't know if that's the right word. But I feel like, for example, if McCreery made that moasaur it wouldn't be so spiky and crocodilian.

Hmmm, "modern" probably wouldn't be the right word for a spiky, crocodilian mosasaur. Maybe they're just more "monstrous"?

Which of course also goes against the point of the original JP, which was to show the dinosaurs as animals rather than monsters...

MONSTROUS! That's what I was looking for.

I'm glad you guys brought that up. I too hate how monstrous the animals have gotten in both appearance & behavior since JP & JP2. For a good example of behavior, compare the hunting scenes in said movies vs. JP3-JW:BABR. In JP, the T.rex & raptors ambush the Gallimimus & Muldoon w/out roaring or screaming in their faces 1st.

And for the love of god why didn't they just cover that baby's mouth?

Also, why did the baby only start crying then? It's not like it only just saw what was happening. It had the same view throughout the whole fight, so it saw either all of it or none of it. Besides bad writing, my only guess is that the baby liked the fight & was upset that it ended.

The Ballad of Big Al Allosaurus remains the most accurate Allosaurus on screen so far:

What about Dinosaur Revolution?

[Gwangi]

People that want the baby to have been eaten are forgetting the backlash JW had for killing off Zara. Also forgetting that the Jurassic franchise has always been, for the most part, family friendly.

Why did the baby start crying then? I dunno, I find myself asking the same question about my own child. 

[Funk]

What about Dinosaur Revolution?

Ouch, I never actually got around to seeing that because it sounded like the producers had butchered it, but that looks pretty good! Nice nasal ridges. Looks almost even more "shrink-wrapped" than Big Al, though?

[stargatedalek]

I assumed people meant the baby Nasutoceratops, which I can imagine would have been an even bigger outcry. And I wouldn't blame people, as killing the baby animal for dramatic effect is horribly overused and is just making the audience stressed without giving any real narrative impact. Killing off either baby without first coming up with a way for that death to add something to the story would have been a bad thing to do.

[Halichoeres]

As a parent, perhaps the only parent in this conversation, I feel inclined to point out that an attempt to physically stop a baby from crying will only result in more severe crying. You sooth crying babies, you don't (and can't) muffle them.

That is 100% correct.

Sounds like you guys aren't trying hard enough. Like, babies' teeth aren't even sharp.

My wife would seriously knock you out cold if you said that in front of her.

Odd; in my experience men are more likely to respond so disproportionately to a joke like that than women are.

As a parent, perhaps the only parent in this conversation, I feel inclined to point out that an attempt to physically stop a baby from crying will only result in more severe crying. You sooth crying babies, you don't (and can't) muffle them.

That is 100% correct.

Sounds like you guys aren't trying hard enough. Like, babies' teeth aren't even sharp.

Can you back that statement up? Have you been bitten by a baby with teeth? Just ask Charlie's older brother.

Ha ha, I grew up in a trailer park, so I've been bitten by children of all ages. Charlie's older brother needs to toughen up. (Jokes aside, I definitely have been bitten by a baby and it's not pleasant but I'd choose it over most bites.)

[ITdactyl]

@Gwangi  , I've no spawn of my own but I've helped raise 7 and I'm inclined to ask the crowd (who might know better) because I've found no easy way to stop a wailing baby save the long process of making them calm down.  I've also since learned that placing a hand or anything else over their mouths to "encourage" them to stop has the opposite effect and in the long run has a bad effect on the baby.  Then again, I've never been in a situation where I had to hide from a hungry predator while soothing a baby (just angry judgmental crowds during long commutes). 

@stargatedalek  , we're actually in agreement - did my comment come off differently?  I did mean that the theropods since JP1 have freely moved their wrists and sometimes held their hands in the correct position, but always tend to default to the bunny-hand position at rest - with the exception of this BaBR Allosaurus.  Whether the JP team finally listened to scientific advice or this was just a happy accident, I'm happy for the change.

Since H @HD-man  mentioned it, I've been trying to figure out why I wasn't as bothered by the roaring allosaurus as I should probably be.  I processed the first instance as an intimidation display towards the "mom" nasutoceratops so it can get at the baby.  But the final roar before it lunges at the couple during the climax.... yeah, it does read like a human villain screaming expletives before unloading his guns on the protagonists.

[stargatedalek]

I didn't mean to imply otherwise, just expand on the idea a bit. Also commented on it because it got me thinking that I'm also genuinely curious if modern reptiles can freely move their wrists the way humans and the JP dinosaurs can. Sometimes it looks like it, especially while swimming, but it can be hard to tell.

[Appalachiosaurus]

Not to break immersion, but they probably literally couldn't cover the baby's mouth. I doubt any producers would want to even risk potential harm to a child actor, especially that young. Also I've seen people complain about why nobody died, remember that this short was supposed to be in front of an action comedy movie, it would have been in poor taste to kill a baby, human or dinosaur, before that.

[HD-man]

@Gwangi

People that want the baby to have been eaten are forgetting the backlash JW had for killing off Zara. Also forgetting that the Jurassic franchise has always been, for the most part, family friendly.

To be fair, Zara didn't do anything wrong (unless you count being a subpar sitter, but that's probably more Claire's fault). The baby, on the other hand, was not only being loud & obnoxious, but was doing so at the worst possible time. That reminds me: Assuming that JW3 is gonna be mostly about dinos running amok on the mainland (I haven't read much about JW3, so correct me if I'm wrong), it would be the perfect time to adapt the baby-eating compy scene from the original novel ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjHhP22wEiI ). It wouldn't even have to show the body: The mom/sitter hears the baby crying & the compys chirping on the baby monitor; She goes to the baby's room & sees the bloody-faced compys standing on the edge of the crib swallowing chunks of flesh; She shoos the compys out the open window they came in through, looks into the crib, & screams.

Why did the baby start crying then? I dunno, I find myself asking the same question about my own child. 

I'm just saying that, as presented in JW:BABR, it comes off as "Youth Is Wasted on the Dumb" ("But, yeah, whatever! Kids are dumb! They can be used as literally whatever plot device you want, and it's totally fair no matter what they do!": https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/YouthIsWastedOnTheDumb ). 1 of the most annoying tropes IMO. Not only do the ppl trying to help those kids often pay for it, but the kids face no direct consequences. That's why I enjoy it when those kids (especially babies) do get direct consequences (E.g. The 1st death in A Quiet Place, which was easily avoidable for multiple reasons, but I digress).

@Funk

What about Dinosaur Revolution?

Ouch, I never actually got around to seeing that because it sounded like the producers had butchered it, but that looks pretty good! Nice nasal ridges. Looks almost even more "shrink-wrapped" than Big Al, though?

It is a bit shrink-wrapped, but otherwise the then-most anatomically-accurate dino doc Allo AFAIK. Same goes for most of DR's other dinos.

@stargatedalek

I assumed people meant the baby Nasutoceratops,

Nope, definitely the human baby. The Nasuto baby didn't do anything wrong other than being cute (not as cute as more accurate ceratopsian babies, but I digress: https://www.ualberta.ca/-/media/science/news/2016/chasmosaur-baby-jpeg-master.jpg ).

@ITdactyl

Since H @HD-man  mentioned it, I've been trying to figure out why I wasn't as bothered by the roaring allosaurus as I should probably be.

Many thanks for the mention.

[suspsy]

As a parent, perhaps the only parent in this conversation, I feel inclined to point out that an attempt to physically stop a baby from crying will only result in more severe crying. You sooth crying babies, you don't (and can't) muffle them.

That is 100% correct.

Sounds like you guys aren't trying hard enough. Like, babies' teeth aren't even sharp.

My wife would seriously knock you out cold if you said that in front of her.

Odd; in my experience men are more likely to respond so disproportionately to a joke like that than women are.

Not so with women who have shed blood in the process of nursing!

On another note, there's no way we're ever going to see a baby die in the next film. I can maaaaaybe see an older child or a teenager getting dispatched off screen, but I doubt that'll happen either.

[PumperKrickel]

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[stargatedalek]

That does get me thinking though, if they ever do want to set a serious tone for a Jurassic movie, killing a kid, even completely off screen and have some main characters talk about it like they saw it on the news, would be a pretty good way to set that up. This franchise has had a lot of kids in a lot of dangerous situations over the years and they've always ended up alright.

Since she got brought up again, I don't think the issue of Zara's death was even that she didn't do anything wrong, more that no one even noticed she was dead so she had no reason to even be in the movie other than to just get eaten. Her death was more equivalent to what killing the baby Nasutoceratops would have been, purely there for dramatic effect regarding the audience with no impact on the other characters or the plot of the film. She should have been written out of the film entirely.

Eddie Carr did nothing wrong, and had perhaps the most important death scene in the franchise from the perspective of impacting the story.

On another note, there's no way we're ever going to see a baby die in the next film. I can maaaaaybe see an older child or a teenager getting dispatched off screen, but I doubt that'll happen either.

Why do people want to see children dying? I don´t get how that´s necessary to make the movie "better" or "more realistic".

It's more about being an obvious way to show your commitment to taking your own film seriously. Probably safe to assume it stems from Jaws.

Killing off a kid in the opening of the movie to show how serious the dinosaurs really are, and how seriously this film is going to treat them, would also go the extra mile of increasing tension since it shows the audience that if they can do that even the main cast is actually vulnerable and makes the stakes feel more genuine.

[PumperKrickel]

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[Gwangi]

To be fair, Zara didn't do anything wrong (unless you count being a subpar sitter, but that's probably more Claire's fault). The baby, on the other hand, was not only being loud & obnoxious, but was doing so at the worst possible time.

To be fair, the baby didn't do anything wrong. It's a baby, and no rational human should want to see a baby killed for simply being a baby.

I've seen plenty of baby deaths on screen (Feast 2 anyone?) and I have no issue with the death of children and babies in movies if it services the story. It works well in Jaws, but at this point it has no place in the Jurassic Franchise, off screen or otherwise. Maybe if there is a Jurassic Park remake in the distant future with the intention of making it more serious they can incorporate the compy scene from the book, that's the only way I would find it acceptable.

[stargatedalek]

I've seen plenty of baby deaths on screen (Feast 2 anyone?) and I have no issue with the death of children and babies in movies if it services the story. It works well in Jaws, but at this point it has no place in the Jurassic Franchise, off screen or otherwise. Maybe if there is a Jurassic Park remake in the distant future with the intention of making it more serious they can incorporate the compy scene from the book, that's the only way I would find it acceptable.

I was thinking a spin-off film (or, more likely, TV series), but a reboot is also a situation where it makes sense.

[Halichoeres]

Not so with women who have shed blood in the process of nursing!

I am happy to say I've never been bitten there by a baby. That does not sound fun.

Man, babies just ruin everything.

[Gwangi]

I've seen plenty of baby deaths on screen (Feast 2 anyone?) and I have no issue with the death of children and babies in movies if it services the story. It works well in Jaws, but at this point it has no place in the Jurassic Franchise, off screen or otherwise. Maybe if there is a Jurassic Park remake in the distant future with the intention of making it more serious they can incorporate the compy scene from the book, that's the only way I would find it acceptable.

I was thinking a spin-off film (or, more likely, TV series), but a reboot is also a situation where it makes sense.

A gritty TV series would also work I suppose, similar to the grittier Marvel shows that used to be on Netflix. But the main appeal of dinosaurs is still with kids so I don't see anything like that happening. What we really need is a Dinosaurs Attack! movie.

[CityRaptor]

Dinosaurs Attack! ? Plenty of dead kids in that one. 

[Gwangi]

Dinosaurs Attack! ? Plenty of dead kids in that one.

Tim Burton almost did it before Mars Attacks!, or so I read.

This image has been in my head this entire conversation.