Welcome to The Daily Stream, a regular feature where the /Film team discusses what they’ve been watching, why it’s worth seeing, and where you can stream it.
Battle at Big Rock, the movie
Where to Watch It: YouTube
What would happen if common people living in the actual world and dinosaurs were suddenly compelled to coexist? The official “Jurassic World” short “Battle at Big Rock” attempts to provide an answer to that query. We’re not talking about employees at a malfunctioning theme park who are at least somewhat prepared for the possibility of meeting a dinosaur. No, we’re talking about people going about their daily lives when all of a sudden, something from 65 million years ago decides to ruin their small family outing. This is what’s happening, and it’s new ground for the series.
For this year’s “Jurassic World Dominion,” director Colin Trevorrow, who oversaw 2015’s “Jurassic World” and successfully revived the franchise after a 14-year hiatus, sat behind the camera once more.
Why it’s essential viewing
In the wake of 2018’s “Fallen Kingdom,” the story picks up with dinosaurs making life difficult for average people. Trevorrow chose to create “Battle at Big Rock,” a 10-minute short film, to give spectators a sneak preview of what’s to come before he delivered the trilogy’s conclusion.
The film shows a family spending a pleasant night in the seclusion of their RV while out camping in the woods with their little group. The party is then interrupted by a Nasutoceratops and its young, who, aside from getting into a cooler, are more majestic than dangerous. But when an Allosaurus also shows up, everything is different. Before the Allosaurus turns its attention to the RV with the family stranded inside, the two dinosaurs engage in combat. In a word, it is a mess. the type of chaos Ian Malcolm sought to foresee and warn everyone about back in the day.
With some of the best visual effects we’ve seen in the new trilogy, it looks really spectacular for a short film that didn’t really make any money. Period. The audience may want to spend more time with these new people, as the action is gripping and Trevorrow somehow creates a believable dynamic with them in a short amount of time. This short seems to fulfil “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom’s” promise. That movie was a complete mess, but if it inspired an entire film with this kind of action, is that okay? Perhaps everything was worthwhile.
