When Jurassic Park released in 1993, cinema goers were enraptured by its blend of cutting-edge technology, sense of wonder seeing dinosaurs come to life and a theme park-esque thrill ride that took viewers on a suspenseful journey of survival from these terrible lizards. Jurassic Park was and still is a thriller classic belonging to be mentioned in the same breath as Spielberg’s other classics such as Raiders of the Lost Ark and Jaws.
22 years later, Jurassic World releases to a world that has grown used to wonder and spectacle. In a world of Marvel flicks, sci-fi epics and disaster flicks filling the summer, movie goers have adopted a been there, done that attitude. We’ve seen thrills and destruction and are always wanting to see more. Is it possible that Jurassic World can fill us with that same sense of wonder as its predecessor did years ago?
In short no, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
Jurassic World can be simply described as “Jurassic Park but bigger”. World takes some very familiar beats from its predecessors and in many cases, plays very similar to the original Spielberg flick. Director Colin Treverrow has done a good job of recognizing what drew people to the original Jurassic Park and making sure that’s featured front and center. The dinosaurs are the true stars of this movie, and as a result, makes for an entertaining flick as a result.
A new cast of dinos has joined this movie, including the big new baddie, the Indominus Rex which like its namesake, provides plenty of screen time of it wrecking the park and causing havoc to the other members of the film. While the movie is filled with other new and familiar returning dinos, Indominus is the clear star next to its fellow human and dino actors.
Leads Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard do decent jobs of playing the two opposites of this flick, Pratt playing the adventurous and dino-wise velociraptor trainer (yes, you read that right) who’s knowledge of the creatures proves invaluable as Howard’s businesses minded character who sees the dinosaurs and attractions that can be improved, adapted and changed to please their ever-growing visitors.
Ty Simpkins and Nick Robinson play Howard’s nephews, exploring the park on a vacation away from home. While the two end up adding little to the overall plot of dinos running amok, their banter and interaction with the other leads is adequate enough to move the movie forward. BD Wong, Omar Sy Vincent D’Onofrio and Irrfan Kahn do a great job as supporting cast, bring the fine balance of representing their character tropes and dishing out 1970’s disaster flick worthy dialog.
The visuals are also excellent, given that the original Jurassic Park was a mix of animatronics and CGI, World still retains that sense of believability and real world relationships despite the very heavy CGI use. In what could have been the worst part of the film, the CGI creatures all act believably and look fearsome.
Jurassic World is not as good as Jurassic Park and it doesn’t need to be. It’s a modern day melding of monster flicks and Westworld, a fast-paced flick about humans never learning from the past and bigger and badder monsters waiting around the corner. Who is the bigger villain at the end? It’s not something that’s really answered and for this kind of flick, that’s perfectly fine. It’s not the mindless dino carnage, cgi flick it could have been but neither is it the quiet introspective look at man’s failed ambition and spectacle that the original had. It’s the happy medium in between and for something like this, it totally works and is a lot of fun in the process.
*This film was seen in the IMAX 3D Format. The 3D did not enhance or hinder the experience.