Released: June 12, 2015
Director: Colin Trevorrow
Run Time: 124 Minutes
Rated PG-13
Cast:
Chris Pratt: Owen
Bryce Dallas Howard: Claire
Vincent D’Onofrio: Hoskins
Omar Sy: Barry
BD Wong: Dr. Henry Wu
Special effects, for better or worse, have been a major part of film for decades. When Star Wars was released, the game changed. Star Wars broke new ground in terms of story-telling, visual effects and camera-work. It turned the entire industry on its head and inspired generations of film-makers, actors, and fans world-wide. Star Wars set a new standard in 1977. James Cameron, who directed films such as The Terminator and Aliens at the time, started to push the use of visual effects with The Abyss. It wasn’t until Terminator 2: Judgment Day that broke new ground again in the use of CGI or computer-generated imagery. The real behemoth of visual effects was realized in Steven Spielberg’s adaptation of Jurassic Park. Based on Michael Crichton’s novel of the same name, Jurassic Park not only met expectations, it exceeded them. The combined use of CG and practical was unprecedented and seamless. You had no idea where the puppet ended and the CG took over. When the T-Rex first escapes its paddock….well, let’s just say that’s one of the most iconic moments in film history. It was brilliant, exciting and revolutionary. No one had ever attempted anything on that scale before, and Steven Spielberg knocked it out of the park(pun intended). This was 22 years ago, and I remember going to see this film in theaters. It’s an experience that I will never forget. I love dinosaurs and I love movies. Jurassic Park did the impossible and successfully combined the two. 22 years later, we get a new entry in the series: Jurassic World. How does it stack up against its predecessors?
Jurassic World begins as two kids are sent on a plane to Costa Rica where they get on a ferry to Jurassic World, a new dinosaur park that seems to be more successful than the park in the original film. There are thousands of tourists and business seems to be booming. After seeing the numbers falter, park director Claire and her team of scientists attempt to create a new kind of dinosaur, one that will both terrify and thrill audiences. They succeed in creating the Indominus Rex. When things go wrong(as they tend to do in these situations), Claire enlists the aid of her ex-boyfriend Owen, who is training velociraptors on a different part of the island. If the story and plot seems familiar, it should. If you’re tampering with genetics, something is going to go wrong. Why don’t people ever learn?! Jurassic World largely ignores the events of the previous two films and acts as kind of a re-boot. But I find myself hesitating to use that word. I’ll explain why a little later. The first thing you’re going to notice when you watch this movie is that the park as apparently successful and has been for several years. It has a very futuristic look about the whole thing. It’s actually quite spectacular. There’s a section where people get in these clear bubble-cars so they can roam with the dinosaurs as it were. The other thing you will notice is that aside from BD Wong as Dr. Wu, nobody else returns from the previous films.
That’s one of the biggest issues I have with the movie. Dr. Wu is a hold-over from the original film, but if they really wanted to keep the references to a minimum, they didn’t do a good job. Yes, Jurassic World references the previous films….a lot, and not in a subtle way either. I understand that kids today probably haven’t seen Jurassic Park, but for those of us who adore the original film, these references are painfully obvious. Creating a new dinosaur to wow audiences? As Owen says, “Dinosaurs. Wow enough.” That element was particularly cliche, but I can’t argue with the results. The Indominus Rex is spectacular, smart and enormous. When it comes to the dinosaurs, you will not be disappointed. From the raptors to the t-rex, the film is loaded with dinos. Visually, the film is spectacular, especially if you choose to view it in 3-D. Wow. The landscapes are amazing and the CGI is off-the-charts. This is definitely one you wanna see on the big screen.
The action, when it does happen is absolutely thrilling and spectacular with big explosions and people chased and munched on by dinos. But too much time goes by between set-pieces. Yeah, I get you need to have character development, but when characters that aren’t Chris Pratt are irritating, you don’t really care about that. The film shifts its focus from the action to a couple of annoying kids to try and give the film a sense of urgency. You don’t need to have kids in peril to be a thrilling movie. That also brings me to another point: One of the characters in the film dies in an extraordinarily brutal fashion. For a PG-13 movie, this particular death scene was particularly brutal. So, yeah, don’t take kids under 10 to go see this movie. It does get bloody and scary at times. Not that I get scared, because I’m a man and we don’t get scared. The acting isn’t terrible, but outside of Chris Pratt and Vincent D’Onofrio there’s nothing here that stands out. The characters…oh, man. We’ve got a park director, who is more interested in her numbers than her family, we’ve got another who barely knows how to fly a helicopter, and another who is the resident corporate scumbag. I will say, that D’Onofrio does a fantastic as said scumbag.
Chris Pratt’s character is by far the most interesting character that the movie has going for it. His character, Owen, is a former Navy SEAL, who has been brought on to help train velociraptors so they could, in theory, be used for military purposes. That’s interesting because, Owen ends up actually successfully getting his raptor to obey his commands, so when he has to use them later in the movie, they don’t actually attack, because he presents himself as the alpha, or leader of the pack. Chris Pratt has been making a name for himself in action movies since starring in last year’s Guardians of the Galaxy. He’s got the talent, the looks and the charisma to be a major leading star. There are rumors that he could be possibly end up playing Indiana Jones at some point, and I can see him doing that, because you see elements of Indiana Jones in Owen.
The music in the film uses the original theme by John Williams sparingly, but it is generally very good overall. The film certainly has its issues, but I think the whole is more than the sum of its parts. When I first saw a dinosaur in Jurassic World, my inner kid jumped for joy. It is a spectacular film, but you need to be patient, because some of the slower parts of the movie are frustrating. It just doesn’t have the same magic as the original film. I can honestly say that I can still recommend this movie, because it’s still better than Age of Ultron. I liked Jurassic World. It’s a good movie, but it is no way comparable to the original. Jurassic Park is one of those modern movies that I can say is damn near perfect. Will Jurassic World get a sequel? There’s absolutely no doubt. The movie shattered records in it’s opening weekend earning nearly 210 million dollars. So, yeah, it’s safe to say that we will see another entry. If they can lay off the blatant references to the previous films, that would be great. At the end of the day, I’m going to give Jurassic World a solid 8/10. It’s definitely worth watching on the big screen.