Why the dinosaurs in 'Jurassic Park' are becoming less and less realistic

Budding paleontologists might feel like they've come to the wrong theater. Jurassic World: Renaissance , which opens in theaters Friday, July 4, introduces a monstrous new giant predator, the Distortus rex , a genetic abomination openly inspired by the Alien franchise.

The reversal is spectacular: the dinosaur film series produced by Steven Spielberg has long prided itself on surrounding itself with the most serious paleontologists and depicting animals faithful to scientific knowledge. But since the 2000s, it has steadily distanced itself from science, in the name of the commercial logic of "ever bigger, ever scarier."

When his idea for an adventure novel set in a dinosaur park first emerged in 1983, American writer Michael Crichton wanted the creatures to be as believable as possible. He consulted prominent paleontologists of the 1980s, such as Jack Horner, who also served as a consultant on the first film adaptations. Mr. Horner then embodied the "dinosaur renaissance," a movement that championed the revolutionary idea of ​​warm-blooded, intelligent, and agile creatures.

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