'Jurassic Park' Just Got A Wild 'Reboot' - And It Fixes Everything (Literally)
Steven Spielberg's 1993 sci-fi adventure, Jurassic Park, which can be found on Prime Video, Apple TV, and more, brought dinosaurs back to life while rewriting the visual language of Hollywood. Adapted from Michael Crichton's 1990 novel of the same name, the story follows visionary and wildly optimistic founder John Hammond (Richard Attenborough), who invites a group of experts to sign off on his theme park before opening day.
When a disgruntled programmer shuts down the park's security systems, paleontologist Dr. Alan Grant (Sam Neill), paleobotanist Dr. Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern), and chaos theory icon Dr. Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) realize that the park's biggest flaw is the humans running it. The island slowly descends into a rain-soaked nightmare, filled with escaped raptors and a rampaging T. rex.
Jurassic Park's core premise is the idea that technology, no matter how advanced, is only as reliable as the people controlling it. And that message is exactly what makes Xfinity's reimagined version of the movie (in Super Bowl commercial form) so epic. By recreating the film's most famous moments with the original cast, familiar music, and restored visuals, the clip flips the entire story.
Xfinity's Commercial Changes An Iconic 'Jurassic Park' Scene
Thanks to a steady Wi-Fi connection, courtesy of Xfinity and a very enthusiastic tech support guy, Jurassic Park's security system is down for a fraction of a second before it boots back up again. So the fences stay on, and the nightmare never starts. Instead of Grant and Malcolm sitting frozen in their Jeep, with nowhere to go as a T. rex steps into the road, the power is restored, and the vehicle keeps moving.
The commercial works so well because the audience knows how wrong this moment is supposed to go. The ad turns one of cinema's great disaster sequences into a mild inconvenience, all because the Wi-Fi holds. But the commercial is more than just a single gag. Allan, Ellie, and Ian then enjoy everything the park has to offer, like spa treatments and taking selfies with the deadly T. rex.
That contrast is the joke. The Jurassic Park movie is built on the idea that control is an illusion. But the commercial imagines a world where control is just well-managed infrastructure. Of course, the clip knew better than to skip the most famous line in the franchise. When a very relaxed, unbothered Ian, lounging by the pool with a tablet, is asked if the signal is ok, he says, "Wi-Fi finds a way."
Nostalgia, But Make It Functional
The Jurassic Park ad works so well because it follows a very specific formula that Xfinity (and its tech cousins) have already proven effective. Take a beloved movie, identify its central problem, and eliminate it with modern connectivity. In Spielberg's E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), also on Prime Video and Apple TV, the entire emotional arc hinges on separation, failed communication, and no way to find each other.
E.T. can't contact home, Elliott (Henry Thomas) can't explain what's happening, and everything spirals from there. In the 2019 Xfinity commercial, which functions as a sequel to the film, E.T drops back into grown-up Elliot's life for a visit and is able to contact his home planet using new technology. And when it's time for him to leave, he gives Elliot's son a communication device so no one is sad.
The result is a version of E.T. that's less traumatic and easier on everyone's nervous systems. In 2018, Google released a commercial/mini-sequel to 1990's Home Alone (now on Disney+) that sees a grown-up Kevin McCallister (Macaulay Culkin) waking up alone in his childhood home. But this time the house is equipped with automation technology. So when the Wet Bandits show up, he uses voice commands to outwit them.
'Jurassic Park' Desperately Needs A Comedy Reboot
What all these ads understand is that nostalgia works best when it's not overly cynical, which is something the Jurassic Park sequels could learn from. If the original film serves as a cautionary tale about human arrogance and technology failing spectacularly, the sequels take that premise and stretch it well past its breaking point.
The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997) throws a second island into the mix, while gifting us with Jeff Goldblum's Malcolm in his most flustered yet charming state. And Jurassic Park III (2001) leans into "dinosaurs are everywhere and nothing makes sense" territory. By the time we reach the Jurassic World entries, the plot is basically Chris Pratt running in slow motion while huge dinosaurs leap through CGI clouds.
Watching those sequels, it's hard not to think that maybe the franchise secretly wants to be a comedy. The insanity is already baked in—oversized raptors chasing tiny vehicles, genetically engineered hybrid monsters whose only motivation is to look scary, and characters who consistently make every wrong decision imaginable.
In fact, the more these films pile on ridiculousness, the funnier the premise becomes. It's easy to picture a full-length Jurassic Park comedy with Alan doing stand-up about raptor behavior, Malcolm leading a wellness seminar for stressed-out park employees, and Ellie live-streaming a dinosaur feeding. It might sound a little out there... but comedy finds a way.
