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By Thomas Westerholm
Life & Trends Reporter
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The original cast of the Jurassic Park movies reunited for a Super Bowl commercial advertising Xfinity Wi-Fi, but fans of the movies weren't impressed by the de-aging process.
The ad, which dropped Monday on YouTube, is based on the concept of a Jurassic Park in which nothing shut down because the park was using Xfinity Wi-Fi.
"I think we're back in business," actress Laura Dern's character Ellie Sattler says in the ad as Xfinity Wi-Fi powers the park back up following a near-miss.
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"Guys, that could have been bad."
The rest of the ad is a relaxed look at the main characters enjoying a fully functional Jurassic Park, complete with Jeff Goldblum delivering a spoof on the film's classic line: "Wi-Fi finds a way."
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'No AI used here'
Commentators on Instagram generally said they loved the ad, including one fan that called it the, "best use of [artificial intelligence] ever."
Xfinity, however, responded: "There was no AI used here! This spot was made with a combo of practical sets, green screen VFX, and CGI: the same tools used to make the original Jurassic Park film!"
Another fan replied: "That is so sick! I respect the hell out of that."
'It's distracting'
Reddit critics, however, were less impressed, especially by the visual effects.
"Budgets must be slashed this year, only a quarter of the cast of Jurassic World: Dominion reuniting here," one person quipped.
"Look, I don’t particularly mind that they did an ad, but why in the world did they deem it necessary to de-age them," another individual posted.
"It’s an ad. The integrity of the concept isn’t that precious, and worse, it’s distracting.
A fellow pundit went further: "The de-aging is f***ing atrocious. They DID work Goldblum’s hahahaarrrrraaawwww in there though. Anyway, this sucks."
The de-aging was a common complaint: Another commentator remarked that it made their "skin crawl."
Finally: "Nostalgiaslop must be banned," an individual declared.
Not every contributor thought the ad was bad, however.
"As cheesy as it is, I just love seeing Jurassic Park working and the cast enjoying the rides," one admitted.
"Though the CGI looked very wonky in some places, but that's just my paranoia that every company is using generative AI, so I'm just like always squinting.
"But a very cute idea. I wanna go to a working Jurassic Park in the tacky 90s tropical style, dammit."
Newsweek has reached out to Xfinity for comment.
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