With thrilling adventure and stupendous special effects, Jurassic World is first-rate entertainment and definitely a highlight of the summer movie season. The fourth film in this franchise skips over the events of the last two movies (The Lost World, Jurassic Park 3) and fully realizes the concept of the original film.

Twenty-two years after John Hammond almost lost his grandkids to a T-Rex and pack of Raptors, his idea for an international park where humans can interact with dinosaurs up close has been fully realized. But with attendance down, the owners of the park decide to create a "new attraction" which in no time leads to all hell breaking loose.

But even with a killer new genetically altered dinosaur, ominously named Indominus Rex, an even bigger shadow falls over this production: trying to honor and top Steven Spielberg's achievement with the first film. "The first Jurassic Park is a moment in cinema history that can not be denied," said Bryce Dallas Howard, who plays Claire the supervisor of Jurassic World's operations and new attractions.

During a press conference for the release of the new film the daughter of director Ron Howard vividly recalled Jurassic Park's opening weekend in 1993. "I remember it clearly because all my friends were going to see the movie on opening night but I was not allowed to because I was twelve and it was PG-13. My parents were real literal (laughs). They went and saw the movie on opening night, came home and my dad said you have to see this movie in the theaters. So I got to go with my parents and the only way I can describe the experience is to being an aspiring painter seeing the Sixteen Chapel for the first time."

Howard was not the only teenager that weekend who was enthralled by Spielberg's masterpiece. Chris Pratt, who's coming off the stellar success of Guardians of the Galaxy, remembers Jurassic Park as "a defining experience, being 14 and getting to watch that movie twice in a row on it's opening weekend. It was then that I discovered how cool movies could be. So in taking on Jurassic World there was the hope of trying to recreate that magic but also the challenge of being protective of that legacy and trying to measure up to in a new way."

That particular challenge weighed heavily on Colin Trevorrow, who began his career with the critically acclaimed independent movie Safety Not Guaranteed, which caught the eye of Steven Spielberg and eventually led to Jurassic World being his second feature film. Although Trevorrow admits that this entry in the franchise does "reflect my experience of working with a big corporation that has a huge financial stake on a project that has a pre-determined release date and is going to come out no matter what;" his first step as the new man in charge of this franchise was getting Spielberg's blessing and not being overwhelmed by the legacy of the first film.

"I recognize the value of having the Amblin logo at the beginning of this movie. I think those stories are valuable to us as myths and legends and they deserve to continue being told," stated the director when asked about collaborating with Spielberg while making Jurassic World his own. "But the inherent danger of that is making a fan film and making something that is just derivative of the things that we love. So that was my initial fear in making this movie. I get a lot of questions about my psychological state when I was told that Steven Spielberg wanted me to direct ‘Jurassic Park 4.’ And where my brain went is that the worse case scenario was being accused of making a carbon copy of Jurassic Park. So in my first meeting with him and the many others that we had after that, that became my mission. To push forward and try to do something new and a film that I could be held responsible for. I want to be the only one that can be blamed if this film is a failure. If it’s a success it's everybody's fault."

Regardless of who takes the credit, or who might get the blame if expectations at the box office are not met, Bryce Dallas Howard is convinced that what makes Trevorrow the perfect director for this big budget summer blockbuster are his roots in independent film. "I think something that he brought to this movie is the mindset that you need to have when you're making a micro-budgeted film. Which is a lot of passion, a lot of efficiency and the ability to accomplish a lot with a small intimate crew," said Howard of the man who filmed her running in heels from one of the "stars" of the original movie. "He's a really smart guy and he's going to have a sensational career. I was really impressed by his integrity as an artist. And I know that for him this was another passion project and not another step in his career. When we were on this set, the catering was a lot better than an independent film, but other than that it felt far more intimate than you would think it would be for a monster sized franchise film like this one. That was all Collin."

For Chris Pratt the intimate and telexed atmosphere of the set did not disguise the fact that they were working on a film of a huge scale. "With a movie like this, they basically create and direct an animated version of the whole movie. It's not great, but it’s a moving storyboard of every single sequence. In a way its like when you put together a thousand piece puzzle you have to look at the front of the box so you know where all the pieces fit. So this version is the equivalent of that. At certain times it’s even more boring to shoot than to hear me talk about it. So depending on what the set up was, some days you get to do really cool stuff like interactions with the other actors or scenes with the raptors and in others you are just a prop and part of the bigger puzzle."

Even with this no nonsense view of big budget filmmaking, Pratt was extremely excited by the acting challenges he found in playing Owen, a former member of the military who has been hired to train and command the raptors of the park. "The first question is always, 'Who would this guy be?'  Because when Colin first pitched me the idea for the movie I was all over the place in terms of defining the character. Should he be like the Crocodile Hunter? Should I do an Australian accent? Which was met with 'I don't know maybe not’. But Colin said that he just wanted the movie to feel real. So in order for that to happen we had to create an organic relationship between man and beast and that it strikes an emotional chord with people. Which is a tough thing to try to accomplish when the dinosaurs are digital animated characters. So in doing the research I got to hang with some pretty great animal trainers. And that was a big part of the posture and physicality that I used for my scenes with the Raptors."

Pratt also relished the opportunity to completely step away from his the comedic persona that distinguished his work on Parks and Recreation and was also put to good use in his turn as Starlord in Guardians of the Galaxy. "There's not a lot of room for goofing around, with this character. We decided that through the years that he has been working at the park these are not his first set of raptors. So some of them did not survive the training, so some of them died on his watch. So that's pretty serious, with no room for comedy. He is a combat veteran, so there's a bit of a dark side.  He has chosen to live on an Island and move away from the world. All that stuff was interesting character work for me as an actor."

Colin Trevorrow is convinced that concentrating on the creative challenges of making this film is exactly what prevented it from becoming another run of the mill cash grab for a Hollywood studio. "During this movie we always talked about how could we make it special and I believe that we did because we all stayed hungry. When you work on a big budget film you get to eat lobster and steak, which literally takes away your hunger. But we kept our hunger to make a great film throughout this whole process. We all had things to prove and I'm a real proponent of populating a movie with people who have something to prove. Bryce had not done a movie in four years and wanted to take on the lead of a big movie. Chris Pratt wanted to step away from being a goofball and get to play a straight character in a big film. And with me I tried to push beyond what I could do as a filmmaker."

The ultimate validation for his efforts happened when Trevorrow handed over his finished version of the film to the studio. "The final cut of this movie belonged to Steven Spielberg and he gave it to me. So the version of this movie that's going out to thousands of theaters is mine. For a movie that has so much anti-corporate talk, it is pretty incredible that I'm able to say that for me it was a pure and gratifying filmmaking experience."

Jurassic World will be released in 3D by Universal Pictures on June 12, 2015.