Good night, sweet saurischian.
WARNING: Spoilers are unmarked.- The passing of Sir Richard Attenborough in August 2014 is memorialized in-film with a beautiful statue of John Hammond in the park.note He never got to see his dream come to pass, in-universe or in the real world.
- As if that couldn't be sad enough, check this video out
.Hammond: Welcome...to Jurassic World!
- As if that couldn't be sad enough, check this video out
- The nostalgia and wonder of the first trailer, particularly with the piano rendition of the main theme (which, given its context, doubles as Nightmare Fuel).
- The website, despite being super-awesome, can invoke sadness of the "I Wish It Were Real" variety. Seeing all those happy people, families, children, etc., having a total blast at a park with (semi) real dinosaurs can be both awesome and tear-jerking for dinosaur lovers all over the board.
- It could also be tear-jerking in a different sense for Jurassic Park fans; all these happy people are in for a nasty surprise...
- The website changed accordingly for the film's release. It's about as pretty as would be expected.
- The website later reset back to normal (with a few updates) in August of 2015. On September 29th, however, it added this to the map. The ruins of the old park weren't an Old Shame after all.
- The dying Apatosaurus scene. Owen and Claire are on their way to find Zach and Gray when he sees, in an enormous field, the severely-injured sauropod because of the Indominus rex's rampage. They can't do anything to save her, so they gently pet her to relieve her pain and not dying alone. Then she passes away.
- Claire sheds a tear and finally realizes what Owen told her about dinosaurs being alive and not just attractions, "assets," or numbers on a spreadsheet.
- A few moments later, both are treated with a view of the entire field littered with Apatosaurus corpses, complete with crows flying around. The worst part is Owen saying the I. rex didn't kill them for food, but killing them for sport.
- It is not entirely dissimilar to another sad scene involving a dead female Apatosaurus in another Universal film, which also features an unstoppable predator who kills for fun.
- As one YouTuber commented, the Apatosaurus in question had likely been raised in the petting zoo, surrounded by (and adored by) children and other harmless herbivores like Triceratops and Gallimimus, and likely had no idea what a predator was or never feared for its life before. Which makes the Gentle Giant's gruesome death at the hands of the I. rex even more tragic.
- On a similar note, the poor Ankylosaurus that the I. rex killed. She and her other herd members were simply peacefully eating in the jungles until the I. rex comes to attack them and the kids, only for a sole member of the pack to get separated, injured, and then killed by having her head crushed in the jaws of an unknown predator. Similarly to the Apatosaurs, this could've been the first time the Ankylosaurs ever encountered a predator of any type.
- The I. rex used to have a sibling. No points guessing how she got it out of the picture.
- The Indomnius's life in general. She's been alone for almost all of her life, sparing the brief period she encountered her sibling in, and she's clearly far too intelligent to be so isolated. Her encounter with the Velociraptors may very well be the first and only time she ever had the chance for a positive relationship with anyone. The Lego game really brings forward that the raptors are a family, have toys to play with, lots of social interaction, and Owen's constant attention to their physical and emotional well-being, while the I. rex has nothing except a daily food drop and whatever she can fabricate from scraps in her enclosure. That she became a violent sociopath and caused the carnage of Jurassic World was all too likely, and perhaps even avoidable. If you factor in that she was deliberately engineered to be hyper-aggressive, her actions arguably aren't her own fault or even choice.
- Owen is instantly upset at seeing how the I. rex has been treated by park staff. When Claire attempts to compare the I. rex's upbringing to his raptors', Owen is visibly disgusted and states that his raptors have siblings, social interaction, and their imprinted bond with him to fall back on. They have a trusted safety net who cares for them, and they know it. The I. rex doesn't have anything except a measly food crane and a paddock that's far too small for her. In Owen's eyes, this is one of the cruelest things an animal could ever have done to them.
- Owen once said that the I. rex's "only positive relationship is with the crane". However, when I. rex breaks out, he tries hiding under the vehicle and uses the engine fluid to mask his scent...except that Wu revealed that the I. rex has pit adder DNA so it is capable of thermal sensing, so she can still detect Owen, and she has object permanence too, waiting for Zach and Gray to resurface when they dive into the lagoon. So why didn't she attack? It's because he hid under the crane. It's both heartwarming and tear-jerking that the I. rex didn't want to hurt what she sees as her caretaker.
- To top it off, real life hybrid animals frequently have behavior issues arising from their conflicting instincts. Ligers are often conflicted between the pack instincts of a lion and the solitary instincts of a tiger; one can only imagine that an animal cobbled together from such different and unrelated creatures as raptors and tyrannosaurs would have this in spades. Her violent outbursts could as easily be the internal conflict of incompatible instincts.
- When taken into account that the I. rex isn't only extremely tragic, but also an Ax-Crazy psychopath, it doubles as Nightmare Fuel.
- According to the official track list for Michael Giacchino's score, there's a composition titled "Bury the Hatchling" and it's first on the soundtrack. This piece plays as the Indominus hatches at the start of the movie, next to the egg of her sibling. And she looks terrified.
- The ending of the first trailer, with a terrified Claire screaming "RUN!" at her nephews. The mere idea of your kids in danger from an intelligent and sociopathic dinosaur, it being partially your own fault, and being powerless to stop her is horrifying.
- Blue and Owen silently saying goodbye to each other. There are no touches, no commands. Owen just shakes his head somberly and Blue walks off into the remains of the park.
- Especially since Blue is the last raptor left, Owen is the only family/friend/pack she's got left, and he knows he can't take her with him and can't stay with her on the island. For a pack animal, being all alone is the worst fate, but Owen knows his only other choice would be to Mercy Kill her, and he can't bring himself to after watching his other three raptors die violently.
- Gray realizing his parents are divorcing, which he tells Zach about and then starts crying.
- Zach doesn't help the situation by tauntingly telling him to stop crying, as well as responding to his scared brother's pleas of not wanting the divorce that it's not up to him, life isn't fair, and that he needs to toughen up. The way Zach hesitates before he starts this tirade makes it seem like he's trying to convince himself as much as he's trying to convince Gray.
- The deaths of Delta, Echo, and Charlie. Despite turning against their handlers, all of them recognize Owen on sight and stop themselves from attacking, which gets Charlie killed by Hoskins' men and Echo and Delta by the I. rex after Owen brings them back to fight at his side. In the end, Blue is the Last of Her Kind and Owen has lost all of his raptor companions whom he had raised and cared for since their births.
- Charlie's death is particularly sad, as not only is she the first to seem to reconsider switching sides upon seeing Owen, before being blown up, but according to the LEGO game, she is the youngest of the pack and looks to Blue for guidance and command, and holds her in such high esteem that she'd often give up her meals to feed Blue. She likely only switched sides because Blue did and was almost immediately killed for it.
- The expression on Owen's face when Charlie is killed right in front of him. He lowers his gun when he first sees her and starts to reach out to the obviously conflicted raptor... and then a rocket blows Charlie to pieces. Owen just stares at what was once his youngest raptor in shock and horror; this is exactly what he's been terrified would happen since Hoskins first showed up at the raptor paddock.
- Just Blue being the Last of Her Kind. All through the series, it's emphasized that Velociraptors are pack hunters and live in complex family groups, much like lions and wolves. Owen says that he tried to mirror this type of upbringing and structure as much as possible, so it's likely that Blue has never been separated from her sisters or Owen for more than the briefest periods of time. And now she's suddenly all alone? With no pack of any type to support her physically or emotionally? That's one of the worst fates that many pack animals could ever face, especially one like Blue who's never lived in the wild and had Owen provide everything for her since birth.
- After Owen signals to Blue that she can't come with him, she can be heard calling for her sisters while running deeper into the park. Blue was knocked out for much of the I. rex fight, so she probably doesn't know that Echo and Delta are dead. And none of the other raptors were shown witnessing Charlie's death, either. She doesn't know that she's all alone yet.
- Unless she was calling out to Rexy instead.
- Zach and Gray exploring the ruins of the old Jurassic Park Visitor Center as a slow, almost haunting piano rendition of John Williams' classic theme playing. The nostalgia WILL hit you hard as Zach and Gray find the building almost overgrown with jungle, with the famous doors barely visible in the overgrowth, inside discovering a torn piece of the "When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth" banner and using it as a makeshift torch to explore the building, coming across the famous dining room with the Raptor painting, eventually ending up at the garage with two Jurassic Park Jeeps and also finding a pair of antique night goggles identical to those Tim Murphy used in the original film. For fans of the original film, this whole sequence could be as a heartwarming moment as it is a Tear Jerker. Seeing the original park in such a withered, decrepit, and overall forgotten state is rather heart-wrenching.
- The fact that both Richard Attenborough and Michael Crichton have passed away adds another poignant layer to this scene.
- For the jeeps in particular, note that their numbers are 18 and 29. These aren't just two random jeeps; they're the exact ones that Alan, Ellie, Ian, Hammond, and Gennaro rode in the first movie when they first saw the Brachiosaurus. Jeep 18 transported Alan, Ellie, and Ian, while Jeep 29 transported Gennaro and Hammond.
- Zara's horrifically traumatizing death. The poor woman is snatched by a Pteranodon, dropped, snatched by a second Pteranodon, dropped from a great height into the lagoon, picked up by a third Pteranodon, and then finally chomped by the Mosasaurus. It's an end worthy of an Asshole Victim (and more drawn out than the death of the movie's real Asshole Victim), yet it happens to someone whose only real sin is being a harried PA annoyed at being tasked to babysit two kids who immediately run off on her. To make matters worse, we hear her speaking on the phone earlier on and mentioning she is getting married soon. Thank God for the Mosasaurus...
- Hold those thanks. If you pay attention, you'll notice that the Mosasaurus chomped its teeth around the Pteranodon's torso; the Pteranodon was carrying Zara almost vertically with its feet, which means that poor Zara was swallowed whole in midair. Which means that, instead of getting a quick death via being bitten in half, she gets swallowed down and digested, and is still conscious for all of it. She will probably suffocate inside the Mosasaurus's mouth, or she'll drown when the Mosasaurus inevitably swallows water, or she'll end up in its stomach to be digested, still alive.
- Then again, the Mosasaurus is said to extra set of teeth on top of its palette, which means there's a very high chance Zara was instantly skewered to death. Either way, it's still a gruesome way to go.
- Made worse by the fact that this horrific chain of events kicks off immediately as she's desperately urging Zach and Gray to get to safety versus "just standing there". Sure, she may have been annoyed with being what she felt was "demoted" to babysitter, but when push came to shove, she had the kids' well-being at heart as opposed to just trying to save her own life.
- On that note, how do you think Zach and Gray feel about the situation? They're both visibly horrified at the sight of it, not to mention the fact that one of the reasons she died in the first place is because Zach saw the Pteranodon coming before she could and ducked along with Gray...
- In her panicked state, she likely didn't realize that the boys were, in fact, ducking to avoid an impending Pteranodon attack. She probably did notice the snappy Dimorphodon that they were ducking right next to, though.
- Don't forget that if Zach hadn't talked Gray into ditching her at the Gentle Giants Petting Zoo while she was distracted, she wouldn't have had to endanger herself looking for them. Zach indirectly caused Zara's death and, judging by his expression when she's snatched, he knows it.
- Hold those thanks. If you pay attention, you'll notice that the Mosasaurus chomped its teeth around the Pteranodon's torso; the Pteranodon was carrying Zara almost vertically with its feet, which means that poor Zara was swallowed whole in midair. Which means that, instead of getting a quick death via being bitten in half, she gets swallowed down and digested, and is still conscious for all of it. She will probably suffocate inside the Mosasaurus's mouth, or she'll drown when the Mosasaurus inevitably swallows water, or she'll end up in its stomach to be digested, still alive.
- Claire's reaction when she finds the destroyed Gyrosphere and Zach's smashed phone, as she fears the worst struck her nephews.
- Simon Masrani's death warrants a mention. The guy just wants the best for his park, his visitors, and the dinosaurs. While he had some Idiot Ball moments, like approving the I. rex's creation and not evacuating the park when said beast got loose, instead letting his security handle it, when things finally got out of hand, he had no trouble getting into the front seat of a helicopter and pursuing the I. rex himself despite his not-so-good flying skills. Unfortunately, it got him and two of his security forces killed and the subsequent helicopter crash let the pterosaurs out of the Aviary and went on to create further chaos in the park, the very thing he died trying to prevent.
- Also, judging by the reaction of Claire and other staff in the control room, his death affected them so much that Vivian started sobbing as she struggled to announce that pterosaurs have escaped the Aviary. Incompetent or not, Masrani meant a lot to the staff of Jurassic World, and to Masrani Global as a whole. Even Hoskins looked sorrowful.
- Given that Masrani is basically John Hammond 2.0, it adds another layer to that moment.
- Irrfan Khan's untimely passing five years after the theatrical release of this installment adds another poignant layer to Masrani's death.
- Claire returning to the Control Room after the I. rex escapes. Every eye in the room turns to her as if to say "What have you done?" or "This is all your fault." Claire's face immediately mirrors that reaction and it takes several seconds for her to compose herself enough to update them on the current status and attempt to assume control of the situation.
- What's more is that we see a female technician, who has been sobbing and leaning on another coworker for support, breaking into fresh sobs when Claire enters. One could assume she may have been very close or even romantically attached to one of the unfortunate workers that ended up on I. rex's menu.
- Claire's My God, What Have I Done? reaction when she realizes that three people, Owen among them, are inside the I. rex's paddock with the I. rex still inside.
- Rexy joining the fight is awesome! Watching her nearly get killed? Not so much. The film makes it clear that even though she can still put up one hell of a fight, she's arguably one of the oldest dinosaurs on Isla Nublar and what with the I. rex having all of her strengths and then some, she was heading for an uphill battle. Luckily, she's spared the fate that befell the T. rex from Jurassic Park III with some timely assistance. Though the music slows and the camera lingers just long enough to really make any fan of her start to sweat something fierce.
- Blue gets much the same treatment. When I. rex throws her into the wall, the force is palpable and the way she lays there, eyes wide open, seems to make her death a Foregone Conclusion. That the other raptors die immediately following only seems to seal the deal. That she comes back in the nick of time is certainly a Moment of Awesome, but up until that point, the audience is given no reason to believe she's anything but dead.
- For some, The Reveal that it was ultimately InGen behind the whole crisis. If its current members like Hoskins and Wu are any indication, they've completely stopped caring about the dinosaurs and their founder's idea of a functional theme park. At this point, they're basically doing everything they can to put themselves back on the map, morality be damned. Granted, they weren't all sunshine and rainbows in the original film and The Lost World, but here they've gone full-blown evil. The scene of a pitch-black InGen helicopter carrying mercenaries even darkly mirrors the scene of Hammond and co. arriving on the island in the first film. It may be a good thing that Hammond has already passed away, because he'd be devastated to see what his company has turned into. They've turned into Biosyn.note
- The simple fact that if it wasn't for the attempts to make Living Weapon dinosaurs, Jurassic World likely would've continued to be a hit attraction. The park was a success and everything Hammond had wanted it to be for 10 years, and then this happened. It's extremely unlikely that another park will be built, or that Jurassic World will re-open; the public will now associate it with danger and terror, and avoid it like the plague.
- Lowery shutting down the Control Room for good. That's when it hits you that Jurassic World's ten-year run has finally come to an end.
- And to rub salt in the wound: The title of the end credits music? "The Park Is Closed". It's as beautifully nostalgic as it can be, given all the tragic stuff that goes down.
- It's rather understated, but when Gray expresses his desire to go home, Claire promises that she will make sure he and Zach get home safe, before noting that their mother will likely never let her spend time with them again. It neatly summarizes what's been an undercurrent of Claire's character throughout the film; she genuinely does want to spend time with her nephews, but her high-pressure job and years of utter commitment to routine made that difficult until a desperate situation arose.
- A minor one, but after Vivian tells Lowery that she already has a boyfriend, look at his face when they hug goodbye. Poor guy.
- Sure, Blue returning to assist the T. rex in fighting the I. rex is a cool scene, but listen to the noise she makes when she comes running back. She's calling for help. And all of her siblings are already dead, meaning nobody is coming to help her.
- It's almost worse. The I. rex has moved down Main Street during the battle. It's entirely possible that to reach her, Blue had to pass the bodies of both her surviving siblings. And she charges straight and fearless. Vengeance? Or did she just not care if she survived?
- Alternate Character Interpretation: It appears, from the raptor attacking Rexy in the first Jurassic Park, that raptors are viciously, perhaps even suicidally loyal to pack members. Once the I. rex killed her first raptor, she was going down, one way or another.
- Or another one: The I. rex "speaks" raptor, and that snort/bark is sort of a raptor call for attention. Blue wasn't calling for help; she was attracting the I. rex's attention.
- How about the poor guy who opened the Indominus's gate in a panic? He's hiding behind a truck and sobbing; that's how scared he is. He didn't want any of this; he was just trying to survive and knew that he probably wouldn't.
- A very small case, but that poor Dimorphodon the mercenaries killed on the way to Nublar. She wasn't attacking them; she was simply flying next to their helicopter, and they killed her completely unprovoked.
- The pterosaurs in general. Sure, they attacked and even killed several people, and they were responsible for the deaths of a beloved entrepreneur and a certain innocent concierge, but prior to that, they were just enjoying being another happy Jurassic World attraction until the I. rex came along and drove them out of their home.
- Claire's near-breakdown when she finally finds Zach and Gray. She's sobbing as she desperately asks where they went and why they didn't come back.
- The shot of all the surviving tourists huddled in the main hall after the attack on Main Street. We're treated to a particularly sad shot of a mother holding hands with her two young sons, both of whom are heavily bandaged. It's clear that they will remember this day for years to come.
- Made worse by the fact that all of this took place either on or very close to Christmas. Happy Holidays, indeed.
- Another is a man sitting next to a heavily-injured woman lying on a hospital cot. The clincher is that if she didn't blink onscreen, you would have sworn she was dead.
- After shutting down every thing north of the resort, Claire witnesses a little girl and her mother reuniting and talking with each other. This leads her to think of her nephews, prompting her to call Zara and tell her to bring the boys back to the hotel. Then Zara tells her that she can't find them...
- Think about all of the people the I. rex, the pterosaurs, and the raptors killed. All of those people had families—fathers and mothers and husbands and wives and children and siblings, and probably people who weren't related to them but were like family. All of those families and friends are going to get a message telling them that one of their loved ones had been killed horribly.
- In one case you don't even have to think: Zara was a bride-to-be. Her fiancee will be getting a pretty nasty surprise note .
- Not to mention all the other animals. The Apatosaurus and Ankylosaurus deaths were the only ones we saw on-screen. How many others may have been injured or killed? With the park closed down, will the survivors just be left to fend for themselves? What about the ones in the petting zoo? The others who were raised in captivity and have no idea what predators even are. Even the Mosasaurus, who saved everyone from the I. rex, is likely doomed to die of starvation. Even with her escape in the LEGO game, there's a chance she may not survive in the colder oceans of the modern day. Fortunately, it's revealed in Fallen Kingdom that she does survive.
