When the “Jurassic Park” toy line released “Chaos Effect” figures back in the day, I thought “Why not make more actual dinosaurs?” What Mother Nature created was pretty cool on its own. Now the 10-episode “Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous” Season 3 (Netflix) has me appreciating made-up dinosaurs. (SPOILERS FOLLOW.)
Scary Scorpius
The latest genetically engineered creation of Dr. Wu (voiced by Henry Chung), the Scorpius rex is a damn creepy villain that lives up its long tease throughout the series. Even though it’s a “failed” creation – rejected by Masrani for being too ugly for visitors to look at — that bridges the gap between “Jurassic World’s” Indominus rex and “Fallen Kingdom’s” indoraptor, it’s a more creative design than both.
Its arms are too long, its movements are too unnatural. This nightmare hybrid of an I-rex and a scorpionfish is “Jurassic Park’s” answer to the newborn alien from “Alien: Resurrection.”
“Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous” Season 3 (2021)
Netflix, 10 episodes
Creator: Zack Stentz
Stars: Paul-Mikél Williams, Kausar Mohammed, Jenna Ortega
The Scorpius rex is more or less clinically labeled “psychotic” by the science team, and the animation team creates a wonderful dark, rainy and fire-lit backdrop for the overbite-burdened beast to attack these tweens we’ve grown fond of.
More horror
This is easily the most horror-themed season, as it also features a thrilling monolophosaurus attack on Kenji’s (Ryan Potter) penthouse building, complete with legit jump scares and an elevator-shaft pursuit that would impress Ethan Hunt. Later, in an applause-worthy riff on “Jurassic Park’s” kitchen scene, the mentally challenged Scorpius rex can’t turn a door handle, but it can burst right through the friggin’ door.
Via the group’s dino expert Darius (Paul-Mikel Williams), we learn that something is “off” about the island. That something is the Scorpius rex’s unpredictable behavior. He says they’ve been able to survive this long by knowing how dinosaurs will behave.
I’d suggest they’ve also survived this long in part by dumb luck. But hey, it’s not like I went in expecting this group would comprise any fewer than six by the end. (And Season 3 does, unfortunately, seem to be the end.)
Dinosaur morality
If he were alive, it’d be fascinating to know what Michael Crichton thinks of, in particular, Blue’s behavior. The hero raptor – who my friend Mike joked should have a spinoff buddy-cop movie with Chris Pratt – develops more of her moral sense here. She’s trapped under an overturned Jeep, the kids rescue her from death-via-compies, and Blue never attacks them after that. I don’t know if I believe it. But I guess I’m on board, as I’m following the kids’ lead of calling the more likable dinosaurs “she” and the more monstrous ones “it.”
Meanwhile, Ben-and-Bumpy remains a cute relationship akin to a boy and his dog. But, of course, an ankylosaurus can’t live in a backyard, for many reasons. Season 3 does nice – if completely predictable for adults – work with Ben’s (Sean Giambroneto) pain of perhaps having to leave Bumpy behind.
Cool tie-ins
Season 3 is loaded with tasty tie-ins to other franchise works. A smile-worthy nod to Crichton’s original novel comes from Yaz (Kausar Mohammed) as they’re about to enter Jurassic Park’s “cursed” original visitors’ center. Wasn’t John Hammond eaten alive by compies after breaking his ankle? She read it in a book somewhere. No, Darius assures her, he died of old age.
A pteranodon attack on a helicopter makes delicious use of storyboards for an unshot “Lost World” sequence (granted, “Jurassic World” also riffed on this). And it’s awesome to see a scene from early in “Fallen Kingdom” get repurposed from the kids’ perspective.
I’m gonna throw out a suggestion for another linkage: Maybe Bumpy is the ankylosaurus from the “Fallen Kingdom” auction. There’s little chance of “Dominion” bringing in a live-action Ben reunite with Bumpy – because a saga’s primary texts don’t tend to accommodate the secondary texts (it’s the other way around) – but, hey, it’s a thought.
Better each season
As is always the case with animated series, “Camp Cretaceous” looks better each season as the library of assets increases. Elements ranging from Sammy’s (Raini Rodriguez) hair to river rapids look so natural they might as well be pasted from real-world video.
The kids’ bonding through the 26 episodes grew on me, even with whole episodes devoted to specific friendship challenges in this final season (which is two episodes longer than the others). In the end, I appreciated that this is the story of six tweens who – for differing reasons – aren’t good at making friends. This adventure forges a friends-for-life bond they wouldn’t have made any other way.
The character drama doesn’t play like down time between dinosaur attacks. We’re not talking about conflicts or plots we haven’t seen before, but it held my attention. And young viewers will be enraptured by Sammy’s midseason health scare.
When I first heard about a kiddie cartoon set in Jurassic World, I thought it was a cute idea, but I wouldn’t have guessed it would turn out this good. Cue the John Williams closing theme; it’s well deserved.