I watched JURASSIC PARK with my son. LEGO bricks ruined the fun for me

Being a father and a movie enthusiast at the same time is a big responsibility. Raising a child requires attention, and selecting the right movies for evening screenings does too. If a father’s role is to reveal the mysteries of the world to his child, film can be one of the elements supporting this journey. Right? However, things don’t always go as planned. One of my dreamed-of movie nights was recently ruined. The culprit? Innocent-looking LEGO bricks.

Showing your child movies from your youth is risky and problematic. We can never know if our offspring will react to the images the way we hope. There’s no guarantee they will understand what the father wanted to convey through the film. Sometimes, however, the problem is something entirely different. Popular culture has grown to such an extent that it’s very hard to achieve a surprise effect today.

From a young age, I have been interested in topics related to the past, history, nature, evolution, humanity, and culture. When Jurassic Park was released in 1993, I found in this film a reflection of these fascinations, presented in an accessible, entertaining, and engaging way. The film left a huge impression on me. To this day, it’s one of the films that has affected me the most. And that’s how it stayed.

I see many common traits in my seven-year-old son. He also knows dinosaur and animal species, excelling among his peers. He has many figures and books, and he also finds his interests expanded in films, series, and games. I knew that one day this moment would come and I imagined the moment we would watch Jurassic Park together. I thought I would be his guide through the world created by Steven Spielberg.

We’ve already had our first screening. More will follow, as we plan to watch the entire series. But during our first joint screening of Jurassic Park, something happened that I completely did not foresee. It wasn’t me telling my son what was happening on the screen, but him telling me. In fact, the kid even knew the sequence of scenes, which embarrassed me.

Did I miss something?

I wondered… Did I miss something? Did some intruder sneak onto my Netflix profile while I wasn’t looking and watch forbidden content?

Nothing could be further from the truth. It turns out the whole fuss is connected with LEGO bricks. More precisely, with games created based on LEGO sets and the worlds they are licensed from. It quickly came back to me that my son has been a proficient player of LEGO: Jurassic World for several months. One of the game’s storylines recreates key scenes from the first film in the series. Of course, everything happens with animated LEGO characters, but the voices are added from the original actors. These scenes are almost exactly replicated from the film in their composition, supported by original voices, sounds, and music.

Yes, John Williams’ music was also not new to my seven-year-old. When the grand musical theme played during the helicopter flight scene, my son wasn’t surprised or uplifted. He also perfectly recognized the character of Alan Grant. He was only curious about how “that old man with a cane” would be presented. When the park gates opened, I felt a shiver again, and when the brachiosaurus appeared, I almost got emotional. I’m not sure if my son shared these feelings. For him, it was simply engaging with something he already knew well, just in a more vivid form.

Fortunately, the fun wasn’t entirely spoiled. There were moments when my son clearly flinched because he experienced them in a more intense way. Two scenes stand out: the first exposure of the T. rex and the “kitchen revolution” with the velociraptors. This is a testament to the excellence of these scenes – even when watched multiple times, they still work, filled with tension that keeps your eyes glued to the screen.

New LEGO models reveal certain plot elements

I realize that today’s popular culture operates on different principles than it did when I was growing up. Back then, to access the content of a film, you had to either watch it or read the book it was based on. Magazines rarely revealed the plot. Today, the internet is bursting with analyses, summaries, screenshots, memes, and consequently – spoilers. And LEGO bricks contribute to this process, often revealing elements of a film even before its premiere. It has become a tradition that before major blockbusters, new LEGO models reveal certain plot elements, such as the appearance of a character. Star Wars and MCU fans know something about this.

My son loves the mentioned LEGO game. He will probably soon achieve all the goals in it. I must say, from the point of view of mechanics and playability, we are dealing with an engaging and well-made product. However, I have (as a journalist and somewhat as a father) a problem with how shamelessly the creators copied everything contained in the films into the respective storylines of the game. I have no doubt this was done with the studio’s consent (Warner Bros. for the game, and Universal for the films), but for God’s sake, did no one consider how such EXACT revelation of the film’s plot would affect its later reception by the young generation?

I know, I’m a boomer. After all, it’s LEGO, a separate entity meant to play with pop culture. The atmosphere of these productions and sets has been consistently and pleasantly nonsensical for years. So, it’s worth turning a blind eye and enjoying the fact that the bricks and games create the opportunity to transform the myth of a brand, developing it.

And while I understand this, I cannot ignore the fact that this practice RUINED my dreamed-of screening. So, I give it the middle finger instead of a thumbs up.