Entertainment

Chris Pratt Pets A Baby Dinosaur In The First 'Jurassic World' Sequel Teaser & It's Just. Too. Cute.

by S. Atkinson
Universal Pictures

If you've already got a soft spot for the Guardians of the Galaxy funnyman, you might just explode. Because the first Jurassic World sequel teaser of Chris Pratt petting a baby raptor is too. Freaking. Much. Whether you're super into dinosaurs or super into the man who once played Andy Dwyer on Parks and Recreation, we can all agree: this clip rules. The only thing that doesn't rule is its brevity, but, hey, presumably that's why it's called a teaser, not a trailer. Still, it reinforces the important stuff: namely, that Pratt is reprising his role as prehistoric-creature-fan Owen Grady.

Of course, as Entertainment Weekly have already observed about the Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom raptor, it looks an awful lot like Blue, the velociraptor who Pratt's character imprints on in Jurassic World. It's worth considering how the first film ended. While Blue was initially super affectionate, after a hybrid dino took Owen's place as an alpha, she ended up turning against humans. So, perhaps this moment is meant as foreshadowing of another human-dino relationship that starts off sweet before abruptly souring in the next film. You've got to ask yourself when the humans in this film will ever twig that dinosaurs, no matter how adorable and seemingly affectionate, are also, y'know, dinosaurs. Creatures with big teeth and violent tendencies.

Still, maybe the moment has nothing to do with the plot at all and is actually all about director J.A. Bayona's love for animatronics as dinosaurs as opposed to CGI. After all, as Vanity Fair has already commented, the dinosaur looks "seemingly robotic." And, as they referenced, the director told The Hollywood Reporter back in 2016:

"Obviously, you don’t have real dinosaurs — sometimes you have people playing dinosaurs — but we love animatronics, and we’re trying to do as much with them as possible. It’s complicated because the audience now is so used to seeing C.G.I. that they’re sometimes reluctant toward animatronics. But, at the same time, I think animatronics bring soul and reality to it. We’re trying to find the balance between animatronics and C.G.I. in order to cheat the audience, so they don’t know what they’re seeing."

So far, exact details about the film are thin on the ground. The Hollywood Reporter established in April 2017 that Jeff Goldblum, who last starred in 1997's The Lost World: Jurassic Park, will be back to play Dr. Ian Malcolm, who appeared in both the first movie and the sequel as a mathematician and Chaos Theory specialist.

But while Goldblum's reappearance will undoubtedly be spectacular, the Jurassic World sequel has a lot to live up to. As Cinema Blend has previously reported, Jurassic World broke records for how much money it grossed in its opening weekend, and they report it is "the fourth highest-grossing film of all time." While that's fabulous, it also means a lot of pressure for Bayona, who is taking over from director Colin Trevorrow, who took the reins on the first Chris Pratt dinosaur film.

But don't worry, according to Collider, Trevorrow has given his successor his blessing, stating on a Jurassic Park fan podcast that the sequel would be "more suspenseful and scary. It’s just the way it’s designed; it’s the way the story plays out." He explained that the choice of director wasn't random at all since he "knew I wanted Bayona to direct it long before anyone ever heard that was a possibility, so the whole thing was just built around his skillset."

The only issue with all of this, of course, is the fact that according to IMDB, viewers will have to wait until June 22, 2018 for Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom to be released, which makes this tantalisingly cute teaser live up to its name in an all too painful way.