Jurassic World
A brand new Jurassic park movie means that we, as the student palaeontology society, must do something for this event. And do something we did.
The first event of the President MacDonald, and representing a collaboration between the incoming and outgoing committee - DINOSOC 14/15 ended on a high. This event saw a mixture of PhD, MSc, and undergraduate students mingling and socialising in the name of palaeontology.
"We spared no expense" - we got our members discounted tickets and reserved seating for the showing, and as a testament to our commitment to encourage interaction between the department and the students, we even got Professor Mike Benton to join us!
The view of our members on the latest installment of the JP franchise was generally positive - some grumbling here and there about the scientific accuracy, but what do you expect of palaeontology students? Also, we thought some of the plotlines regarding the human characters were abit forced and unnecessary - quite a few people were rooting for the dinosaurs to eat those two kids...
However, we all liked the fun of it, especially all the nods to the first movie - great to see Mr. DNA again! It was an entertaining, action movie with dinosaurs - it didn't take itself too seriously or try to recapture the feeling of the first film, which would probably have doomed it. Instead, it went down a more informal route and reminded many of us of a Marvel film - funny, action-packed, and made to be purely entertaining. As a film it reinvigorates the franchise from the lows of JP3, and with its mammoth box office takings, we are very likely to see more of those genetically engineered theme park monsters in future. As DINOSOC, we are of course looking forward to those trips to Isla Nublar and/or Isla Sorna.
