Overview
Since December 2023, Brisbanites have been welcomed to... a real-life way to feel like you're visiting Isla Nublar, recreated dinosaurs and all. These creatures are made out of Lego, however, as part of the Jurassic World by Brickman exhibition that's turned Queensland Museum into its latest home using more than six-million blocks. Haven't wandered through it yet? You now have a couple more weeks to head along.
The showcase has been a hit, unsurprisingly, with more than 200,000 people attending, including previews and across extended hours. Jurassic World by Brickman can't stay in the River City forever, though, and was originally set to close on Sunday, July 14, 2024. Now that end date has been extended by a fortnight to Sunday, July 28.
When Michael Crichton put pen to paper and conjured up a modern-day dinosaur-filled amusement park, he couldn't have known exactly what he'd done — or what else, such as this exhibition, would come. The author easily imagined the story making its way to the big screen, because the Jurassic Park novel started out as a screenplay. He could've also perceived that a whole film and TV franchise could follow, and that folks would be quoting the movies for decades. And yet, we're guessing that he didn't predict recreating the Jurassic World movies, which started with the fourth flick in the series back in 2015, made completely out of Lego.
Jurassic World by Brickman first popped up in Melbourne in 2021, then Sydney in 2022. At each stop, Brisbane among them, visitors can peer at more than 50 dinosaurs, props and scenes from the Jurassic World movies that have all been fashioned out of the popular plastic bricks in the process. The four-metre-tall park gates, the lab where the dinosaurs are genetically engineered, those instantly recognisable jeeps, a heap of critters: they're all there. Welcome to... your Lego Jurassic World fantasy, basically.
Lego dinosaurs are clearly the main attraction and, yes, this event has gone big. You can see a life-sized brachiosaurus that weighs more than two tonnes, a huge tyrannosaurus rex, two life-sized velociraptors (Blue and Delta), and everything from a stegosaurus to a triceratops, too. Plus, patrons can check out some prehistoric creatures in the baby dinosaur enclosure, encounter more on the loose and learn how to track them over the exhibition's recreation of Isla Nublar (while using your imagination a whole heap, obviously).
Lego aficionados are also able to get building while they're there, with 2.5-million bricks to play with. This is a family-friendly affair, so expect plenty of small dinosaur fans for company.
Jurassic World by Brickman will now display at Queensland Museum, corner of Grey and Melbourne Streets, South Bank, South Brisbane until Sunday, July 28, 2024. Head to the venue's website for further details.
Images: Anna Kucera, Australian Museum.