Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom may have been a box office success but it was a disappointment to say the least and is probably much weaker that the previous film. There were some pretty cool moments yeah, and J.A. Bayona’s direction did offer some visually engaging moments but the film was a mess due to its script, characters and plot. One aspect would pertain to the character of Maisie which was revealed to not be Benjamin Lockwood’s granddaughter but a clone.
The sequel to Jurassic World, the film follows Chris Pratt’s Owen and Bryce Dallas Howard’s Claire (both from the predecessor) as they return to Isla Nubar to save the dinosaurs from extinction. As they do so, they come across some conspiracy plot that threatens humanity. Maisie played by Isabella Sermon lived in the Lockwood mansion, presented as a young girl who loves dinosaurs. The film pulled a Shyamalan by revealing that she’s in fact a clone of Lockwood’s daughter. Now some may have been a little “what the hell?” with this reveal but it seems that the grandfather of the Jurassic series, Steven Spielberg actually approved of this.
Speaking with Empire, Colin Trevorrow, director of the first film and writer of Fallen Kingdom says that Steven Spielberg expressed support for the Maisie plot twist. Trevorrow said:
“[Spielberg] really dug the Maisie element of it. He dug the way that we were evolving it, and he was really excited about the questions that it leaves at the end as far as where the future could go,”
Steven Spielberg directed the first Jurassic Park way back in 1993 and started everyone’s childhood obsession with dinosaurs. He also directed its sequel that well…. Nevermind. Trevorrow further elaborated that the twist was fitting the the overall theme of the film as it resonated with the themes from Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park novel surrounding the dangers of human innovation. He says:
“I see it as an evolution of the themes that Crichton laid out. It’s so much closer in our world than making dinosaurs is. To me, it’s a family creation myth.”
That’s all great Trevorrow but maybe try to translate those themes into the film instead of having the need to explain it when it’s too late. The twist was ballsy no doubt but the film could have done a lot more to provide the punch it needed to really resonate with audiences. Hopefully they’ll be able to in Jurassic World 3 as it looks to be something fairly integral to the story. Trrevorrow is returning to direct the third film and perhaps we’ll be able to explore these themes better.
Source: Empire
