Thursday 11 June 2015

List of dinosaurs featured in Jurassic World



There are total of 18 dinosaurs featured in Jurassic World (8 herbivores, 1 omnivore, 9 carnivores), some have major roles and others have brief cameo appearances or just briefly mentioned in the film.

SPOILER ALERT: The dinosaur information provided below are obtained from the Jurassic World main site and dinopedia, a wiki online resource and serve as an easy reference for those who are interested in knowing the dinosaurs featured in Jurassic World.

There's one thing worthy of mentioning - the name of the franchise (Jurassic Park) itself is misleading. Dinosaurs lived during the Mesozoic era (approximately 252 to 66 million years ago), which was divided into the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. The park might be called Jurassic World but, as with the earlier films, several of its dinosaurs, including T-Rex and Triceratops, are in fact from the Cretaceous period.

Baryonyx
Name Meaning: "Heavy Claw"
Habitat: River Deltas of Europe
Length: 9m
Weight: 2000kg
Stance: Biped
Diet: Carnivore, primarily fish
Age: Early Cretaceous
Aggression: Medium
Appearance: None, cameo in fossil, mentioned as one of the park's attractions

Baryonyx is a spinosaur, a member of the same group as the northern African dinosaurs, Spinosaurus and Suchomimus, one of the largest fish-eating dinosaurs. Baryonyx hunts by sweeping the river for fish with its powerful claws. Its crocodile-like head and dangerous claws make it a master hunter of rivers and lakes for Cretaceous era.


Metriacanthosaurus
Name Meaning: "Moderately spined lizard"
Habitat: England and other parts of Europe
Length: 8m
Weight: 2000kg
Stance: Biped
Diet: Carnivore
Age: Mid Jurassic
Aggression: High
Appearance: None, mentioned as one of the park's attractions

Metriacanthosaurus is named for its distinctively spined backbone. So little is known about this dinosaur and any speculation on its habits are based on comparisons with other meat eating dinosaurs.


Suchomimus
Name Meaning: "crocodile mimic"
Habitat: Africa
Length: 11m
Weight: 3000kg
Stance: Biped
Diet: Carnivore, primarily fish
Age: Cretaceous
Aggression: Medium
Appearance: None, mentioned as one of the park's attraction

Suchomimus is known for its distinctive sail on the lower back and the huge foot-long claws on each thumb that it uses to catch fish, much like Spinosaurus or Baryonyx.


Pachycephalosaurus
Name Meaning: "thick headed lizard"
Habitat: North America
Length: 5m
Weight: 450kg
Stance: Biped
Diet: Herbivore, fruits and seeds
Age: Cretaceous
Aggression: Medium
Appearance: Brief cameo appearance 

Pachycephalosaurus is recognizable for its incredibly thick skull, which can be up to 25cm thick, to strike its enemies. They are herd animals.


Edmontosaurus
Name Meaning: "Edmonton lizard"
Habitat: North America
Length: 11m
Weight: 4000kg
Stance: Quadruped/Biped
Diet: Herbivore, fruits and vegetables
Age: Cretaceous
Aggression: Low
Appearance: Brief cameo appearance in the valley

A flat-headed duck billed dinosaur. They travel in herds and spend most of their time munching on conifers and other vegetation together. It is one of the few dinosaurs that chew before swallowing its food.


Gallimimus
Name Meaning: "Chicken mimic"
Habitat: Mongolia
Length: 8m
Weight: 226kg
Stance: Biped
Diet: Omnivore, primarily leaves and fruits 
Age: Late Cretaceous
Aggression: Low
Appearance: Brief cameo appearance in the valley

Gallimimus looks like a big ostrich with claws and a tail, it doesn't have a single tooth in its entire mouth. It can run at up to speeds of 30mph but mostly they travel in flocks and eat mostly vegetables it can find.


Parasaurolophus
Name Meaning: "near-crested lizard"
Habitat: North America
Length: 12m
Weight: 2000kg
Stance: Biped/Quadruped
Diet: Herbivore, fruits and seeds
Age: Cretaceous
Aggression: Low
Appearance: Brief cameo appearance in the valley

A large crested, duck-billed dinosaur that travels in herds. It's notable for its elongated tube-like crest which it uses to emit its haunting, beautiful cries.


Stegosaurus
Name Meaning: "roofed lizard"
Habitat: North America
Length: 8.5m
Weight: 5000kg
Stance: Quadruped
Diet: Herbivore, primarily ferns and cycads
Age: Late Jurassic
Aggression: Low
Appearance: Brief cameo appearance in the valley 

One of the famous dinosaurs that is decked with 17 broad bony plates from its neck down its back, with the tip of its tail bearing four long spikes. When threatened, Stegosaurus will swing its dangerous tail to injure its enemies.


Triceratops
Name Meaning: "three-horned face"
Habitat: Western North America
Length: 9m
Weight: 10000kg
Stance: Quadruped
Diet: Herbivore, primarily ferns and cycads
Age: Late Cretaceous
Aggression: Low
Appearance: Brief cameo appearance in the valley

One of the famous dinosaurs, Triceratops is the largest of the horned dinosaurs. The short horn on its nose, combined with its long horns over its eyes and solid frill are formidable defense against its enemies.


Microceratus
Name Meaning: "small-horned"
Habitat: North America, Asia
Length: 1m
Weight: 6kg
Stance: Biped
Diet: Herbivore
Age: Cretaceous
Aggression: Low
Appearance: Brief cameo appearance, Kids are shown to be able to ride with these dinosaurs in the park

The smallest dinosaurs in the park and kids are allowed to feed or play with them. They have short frills and beak-shaped mouths perfect for snapping off leaves and twigs.


Ankylosaurus
Name Meaning: "Fused lizard"
Habitat: Western North America
Length: 10m
Weight: 6000kg
Stance: Quadruped
Diet: Herbivore, ferns and other vegetation
Age: Late Cretaceous
Aggression: Medium
Appearance: Major, some of them killed by Indominus Rex

A dinosaur well protected with spiky armour from the fused bones of skull down to the rounded heavy club at the end of its tail, which it swings around to strike its enemies. It was the last and largest of the family of armoured dinosaurs.


Apatosaurus
Name Meaning: "deceptive lizard"
Habitat: Western North America
Length: 23-28m
Weight: 20000-36000kg
Stance: Quadruped
Diet: Herbivore, ferns and leaf branches
Age: Late Jurassic
Aggression: Low
Appearance: Major, entire herd killed by Indominus Rex

One of the most famous, largest land animals to ever walk the Earth. It is said to be longer than two school buses parked together and weighed as much as four (or more) adult male African elephants. Apatosaurus can't chew its food and has to shallow all of its plant food whole. These creatures need to eat every waking moment in order to provide enough food to keep such a huge body alive.


Dimorphodon
Name Meaning: "Two-form tooth"
Habitat: England and Mexico
Length: 3m
Weight: 2kg
Stance: Quadruped/Winged
Diet: Carnivore, fish and insects
Age: Mid Jurassic
Aggression: Medium
Appearance: Major, broke out from the Aviary and attack park visitors

One of the park's pterosaurs, the other being Pteronodon. It soared through the Jurassic skies with its large eyes, quick jaws and sharp talons to catch fishes or other preys.


Pteranodon
Name Meaning: "toothless wing"
Habitat: North America, Europe
Length: 6m
Weight: 30kg
Stance: Quadruped/Winged
Diet: Carnivore, primarily fish
Age: Late Cretaceous
Aggression: High 
Appearance: Major, broke out from the Aviary and attack park visitors

The park's biggest flying reptile, with a wider wingspan than any known bird. Although it's a fish eater, but Pteranodon can be very aggressive when it's hungry. It has razor sharp, three clawed fingers on each hand and four clawed toes on each foot.


Mosasaurus
Name Meaning: "meuse-river lizard"
Habitat: Seas of Europe and North America
Length: 18m
Weight: 5000kg
Stance: Aquatic
Diet: Carnivore
Age: Late Cretaceous
Aggression: High
Appearance: Major

A huge sea lizard that once ruled the Cretaceous seas. Mosasaurus can use its fearsome teeth to catch fish, birds, other marine reptiles or any land dinosaurs that are close to its vicinity. It has a second set of teeth in its upper palate to ensure that any prey sliding down its throat will not be able to escape. Its closest living relatives are komodo dragon and monitor lizards, which are used to filled the gaps in its DNA.


Velociraptor 
Name Meaning: "Swift thief"
Habitat: Mongolia
Length: 5m
Weight: 150kg
Stance: Biped
Diet: Carnivore
Age: Cretaceous
Aggression: Very high
Appearance: Major, there are four raptors in the Jurassic World and they're named as Blue,  Charlie, Delta and Echo.

Raptors are one of the most famous, fan-favorite carnivore dinosaurs in the series. In all of the Jurassic Park films, the raptors are portrayed to be the most intelligent and one of the most vicious of all the dinosaurs. Each velociraptor has curved razor sharp 15cm claws on each hand. They hunt in packs and could run 60-70mph at full sprint. They have a primitive form of communication with each other which allows them to call for help or even smart enough to set traps before an attack. The films also depict Velociraptor as significantly larger than its actual size due to gene splicing to fill up its gaps.


Tyrannosaurus rex 
Name Meaning: "Tyrant lizard king"
Habitat: Western North America
Length: 12m
Weight: 9000kg
Stance: Biped
Diet: Carnivore
Age: Late Cretaceous
Aggression: Very high
Appearance: Major

Needless to say, it is one of the most famous, fan-favorite carnivore dinosaurs in the series. It is among the largest land carnivores to have ever walked on Earth (aside from Giganotosaurus, Spinosaurus or Carcharodontosaurus). Despite its huge powerful jaws, the T.Rex had very short arms with only two fingers which are nearly useless when hunting. Tyrannosaurus is said to be one of the rare carnivores that guard their nests and take care of their babies. They will defend their offspring and teach them how to hunt until the time comes to leave them.


Indominus Rex
Name Meaning: "Untamable King"
Habitat: Jurassic World
Length: currently 12m (still young, could grow up to 15m)
Weight: unknown
Stance: Biped
Diet: Carnivore
Age: -
Aggression: Extremely high
Appearance: Major antagonist in Jurassic World film
Notable biological abilities: Exceptionally high intellect, chameleon-like colour camouflage, adaptive thermal camouflage in tropical weather, able to communicate with velociraptors, able to sense thermal radiation or heat signatures.

The most terrifying genetically modified hybrid mutant dinosaur ever existed in the Jurassic Park series. It serves as a new future attraction in order to attract more visitors to the park. Indominus Rex is a hybrid dinosaur created by splicing the genes of multiple dinosaur species. The dinosaur species that were used in the creation of the hybrid are Tyrannosaurus Rex, Carnotaurus (to gain its near perfect chameleon-like camouflage ability), Giganotosaurus (the largest carnivore dinosaur on land, so it could grow larger than a T-Rex), Majungasaurus (known for its aggresiveness and cannibalizing its own species), Velociraptors (to get its intellect and well-developed forelimbs) and Rugops as well as several unspecified modern animals such as tree frog and cuttlefish to complete its DNA gap. It's said that the cost of creatiing the creature costs about $26 million. It closely resembles a T.Rex but with ultra-tough bony osteoderms, razor sharp claws on each hand and can run at up to speeds of 30mph. It was shown to be ruthless as it has been hunting other dinosaurs for sport.



Size comparisons between the dinosaurs:
(right click & open new tab to enlarge)




Image source:
http://speculative-evolution.tumblr.com/post/108602507580/jurassiraptor-the-dinosaur-size-chart-on
http://www.jurassicworldnews.com/media/indominus-t-rex-size-compare-chart.jpg
http://img09.deviantart.net/b440/i/2015/114/f/4/jurassic_world_animals__characters_in_environment_by_urbnvampslayer-d8qvms9.jpg




Movie Review: Jurassic World


Previous Review: San Andreas
Next Review: Minions


It's been 22 years since the first Jurassic Park (1993). I can still remember being completely blown away in sheer awe by the realistic appearance of T-Rex on screen for the first time. While The Lost World ended up to be a worthy sequel, the underwhelming Jurassic Park III failed to inspire the same kind of awe and excitement compared to its predecessors. The story continues 22 years after the events of Jurassic Park and it takes place in Isla Nublar, the same island in the first Jurassic Park film.


Jurassic World has now become a fully functional dinosaur theme park accessible to the public with crowds wowed by its attractions, as originally envisioned by John Hammond. However, Jurassic World’s attendance rates begin to wane after so many years as people are no longer impressed with conventional dinosaurs anymore (aside from the young kids of course). Revenue streams have been stagnant for quite some time but the development and maintenance costs for the park has increased throughout the years. This forced the owners of the park to create a bigger, louder, smarter and nastier genetically-modified species to re-spark visitor interest. Unfortunately, when the new genetically-created dinosaur successfully escapes from captivity, all hell breaks loose.


The story focused on Zach and Gray, brothers who serve their roles as the usual kids in peril. They are sent on a trip to the theme park by their parents to visit their aunt, Claire while they sort out their divorce. Gray, a dinosaur nerd, has his dream come true while his annoying older brother, Zach seems to be more interested in young attractive girls than the dinosaurs. Our main lead, ex-Navy man Owen (played by Chris Pratt) need to stop the escaped dinosaur before it kills any of the park visitors while rescuing these two naughty kids who purposely veered off course with Claire at the same time.


First and foremost, I have to say that the film is more bloody and violent than its predecessors, filled with well-staged dinosaur action that ends with a crowd pleasing climax. The film is moving at a fast pace yet steadily builds up to the big climactic battle that will surely satisfy any dinosaur fans. It feels like each sequence is flowing nicely into the next. There are scenes dedicated as setups for another sequel as well. The new dinosaur, which is the film's main attraction, is genetically engineered in a lab, raised in an isolated small cage since it was born and it's responsible for contributing the largest number of deaths in the series. It's the first legitimate 'villainous monster' in the franchise, much different than a T.Rex, raptor or Spinosaurus that simply doing what other living, breathing animals would normally do. With this, the film successfully recaptures its original themes of human arrogance with genetic tampering with nature. Remember the line: "You were so preoccupied with whether or not you could but you didn't stop to think if you should"? It also criticizes our insatiable greed of hunger for more thrills and excitement as well.


Jurassic World is being highly criticized by many paleontologists for purposely ignoring new discoveries and knowledge, such as some dinosaurs being covered with feathers. The film followed its traditional scaly look just like its predecessors for all of its dinosaurs. However, the film clearly explains that the featured dinosaurs are not exact copies of the dinosaurs that actually existed, but 'brand new' animals with genes from lots of different animals. It's pure fiction. In real life, it's difficult to even get hold of actual dinosaur DNA. Jurassic World does has its problems. Back in the day, the first film skillfully mixed animatronics with CGI to breathe life to its dinosaurs. However, the filmmakers for this film opt for full CGI for some of its major action set pieces instead of featuring more animatronics with CGI, which prevents the dinosaurs looked better than they do like before (in certain scenes). The film also requires a certain degree of suspension of disbelief on the viewers. Raptors can be trained by humans? Kids manage to start a 22 year old car or even find enough fuel to drive it? I still find it hard to believe that a normal person could outrun a T.Rex, I.Rex or raptors in a chase.


The Jurassic films have never exactly been rich on the human stories, Jurassic World is no exception. They don't produce any memorable human characters. The main characters are fairly well-written but not enough to make a lasting impression on the viewers. There are lots of supporting characters in play, but none of them have proper character arcs for the audience to care about them. They just simply appear on screen and eaten alive later on by any of the dinosaurs. Chris Pratt's character has no arc, he is always the capable man of action to rely on and he has no weaknesses for him to improve on as the film progresses. Bryce Dallas Howard's character, Claire is the only one who has a character arc, her transformation from a reluctant, career-driven park operations manager to a brave action heroine who dares to confront the dangers of the park, stands out compared with the rest. She's the only main character who changed the most during this ordeal.


While not mind-blowing, awe-inspiring or perfect by any means, Jurassic World is still a satisfying, fun, spectacular fictional disaster summer blockbuster that will surely satisfies its audience. Although it brings nothing new to the table, but strangely enough, it feels fresh and comes with enough thrills and excitement to keep you entertained.




Rating comparisons:
Jurassic Park
1993
9.5/10
Jurassic Park: The Lost World
1997
8.5/10
Jurassic Park III
2001
5/10
Jurassic World
2015
8/10

List of dinosaurs featured in Jurassic World:



Previous Review: San Andreas
Next Review: Minions



Saturday 6 June 2015

Movie Review: San Andreas


Previous Review: Spy
Next Review: Jurassic World


Let's get straight to the point, San Andreas is a typical Hollywood disaster film very similar to the likes of Armageddon, The Day After Tomorrow, Deep Impact, Twister, Into the Storm, Gravity, Independence Day, The Impossible, 2012. It offers a good deal of thrill and excitement with its vast amounts of destruction and mayhem. There are buildings crumbling everywhere, huge tsunami and crackling grounds with lots of people dying along the way. Another disaster film with an American flag at the end. If you're coming just to watch cities gets destroyed, you'll likely be satisfied by the film.


Disaster films are always fairly predictable and San Andreas is no exception. They usually comes with an effective dramatic narrative to support them. The story is very simple and straightforward. San Andreas Fault is starting to shift after so many years, triggering a severe earthquake with a Richter magnitude of 9.1 that start destroying major cities along the fault line. An elite search and rescue helicopter pilot, Ray (Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson) tries to rescue his ex-wife, Emma (Carla Gugino) in Los Angeles and then make their way together to San Francisco to save their only daughter, Blake (Alexandra Daddario). It’s a clichéd script, but (thankfully) entertaining nonetheless.


From the early rescue mission on the side of a cliff, a scene when Emma tries to run from a crumbling building and the scene where the huge tsunami destroys the Golden Gate Bridge, it is safe to say that the film has some rather exhilarating set pieces. The film takes time to show us the scale of the disaster. The destruction looks realistic and shocking enough as viewers can clearly see many people dying on the ground under piles of crumbled buildings or washed away by the huge tsunami.


The film does take time to focus on its characters by letting the audience follow three groups of characters who're in different locations: Ray and Emma who's rushing to reach San Francisco to save their daughter, Blake with her pair of new British acquaintances (one of them is a potential love interest) and seismologist Lawrence Hayes (Paul Giamatti) who tries to warn the people of the next bigger earthquake (Richter magnitude of 9.6) that will happen in San Francisco with reporter Serena.
Dwayne Johnson gets his chance to shine in this film, as a husband and father who simply wants his family to be safe. As the film progresses, the viewers also get to know the reason behind Ray's estrangement from his family. Alexandra Daddario (she's absolutely gorgoeus, managed to provide a lot of distractions with her huge pair of assets, proved to be the eye candy of the film) plays a competent young girl (not the typical damsel in distress) who tries to survive by using all the knowledge she gained from her father. On the other hand, Paul Giamatti delivers the usual heavy expositionary lines to let the viewers understand what is about to happen.


However, there are several problems in the film that needs to be mentioned out. While Ray is shown to be a caring and reliable husband and father, he turns out to be the most selfish rescuer at the same time as well. Rather than dedicating his life to save others in need, the film showed how he dumped his responsibility as a rescuer to save his own family. It just doesn't feel right. Furthermore, there's a lot of misleading measures a person should take when facing such natural catastrophe...you shouldn't get to the rooftop when the building is going to collapse, you shouldn't simply drop, cover and hold on to something, you shouldn't try to walk into a shop and find a landline to call your loved ones when cellphones don't work. You should run to higher grounds as quickly as possible. There's also another particular scene in the film that makes the viewers want to shout, "Oh, come on Ray! Stop talking and start using all the muscles you have!"


Despite its flaws, the film does have its entertainment value. The inclusion of human drama is fairly formulaic and the ending is predictable, but acceptable. The film doesn't offer anything new but it delivers what is promised.

Rating: 7/10


Sweet heaven...Strikingly bold blue eyes, 34DD cup size, 
173cm height, 56kg weight, dark brown hair colour. 
Simply gorgeous.



Note: The information provided below is obtained from online resources.

Do You Know:
San Andreas is the name of the tectonic fault line that runs through most of California. Seismologists have been predicting for years that California is due for a massive earthquake caused by this particular fault.

Richter magnitude scale:

Developed in 1935 by Charles F. Richter to compare the size of earthquakes by quantifying the energy released by them. The magnitude of an earthquake is determined from the logarithm (in base-10 scale) of the amplitude of waves recorded by seismographs.


Notable earthquakes that have occurred on the San Andreas Fault:
  • 1680 Coachella Valley earthquake: This obscure quake is of interest to scientists because of its location - the southern end of the San Andreas Fault. The epicenter was believed to be somewhere between Indio and Palm Springs in Riverside County. This is the last known major quake of the largest, most dangerous fault line in the state of California. The magnitude was estimated to be about a 7.7.
  • 1857 Fort Tejon earthquake: Largest recorded earthquake in California history,  it ruptured the southern part of the San Andreas Fault for a length of about 225 miles (350 kilometers). Though it is known as the Fort Tejon earthquake, the epicenter is thought to have been located far to the north, just south of Parkfield. Two deaths were reported. The magnitude was about 7.9. 
  • 1906 San Francisco earthquake: About 267 miles (430 km) were ruptured in Northern California. The epicenter was near San Francisco. At least 3000 people died in the earthquake and devastating fires broke out in the city that lasted for several days. Over 80% of San Francisco was destroyed. The magnitude was estimated to be 7.8.
  • 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake: This quake occurred on October 17, 1989, at approximately 5:04 P.M. PDT. About 25 miles (40 km) were ruptured (although the rupture did not reach the surface) near Santa Cruz, California, causing 63 deaths, 3,757 injured and moderate damage in certain vulnerable locations in the San Francisco Bay Area. The magnitude was about 6.9. The earthquake also postponed Game 3 of the 1989 World Series at Candlestick Park. 
  • 2004 Parkfield earthquake: On September 28, 2004, at 10:15 A.M. PDT, a magnitude 6.0 earthquake struck the Parkfield area. It was felt across the state, including the San Francisco Bay Area.

What to do when an earthquake happens:


Previous Review: Spy
Next Review: Jurassic World