Jurassic World [2015] is the revitalization of the seemingly extinct franchise started so masterfully in 1993 with Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park. The sequel, set 22 years after the original, shows a fully functioning dinosaur theme park that has been operating very successfully for years. Visitors have become bored of the now unremarkable dinosaurs and the park decides to create something new and exciting. Unsurprisingly, things go terribly wrong and raptor whisperer Owen (Chris Pratt) and Jurassic World executive Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard) must scramble to fix the monstrous, prehistoric problem and save her nephews (Nick Robinson and Ty Simpkins) who are trapped in the park.
Hold onto your butts. Dinosaurs are friggin’ cool and while Jurassic World may not have the novelty of the original, seeing dinosaurs come to life is still thrilling. Expecting the mastery of the original film is a fool’s errand that I implore you not to do, but this latest sequel does a pretty good job of mixing the old with the new. We get some cool callbacks and references to the original while getting some fresh new ideas and themes. New dinosaurs are introduced and old favorites come back in some nostalgic ways and some new ways, too. The CGI creatures look great (almost) all of the time, but some more animatronics would have been more than welcome.
Personality disorders. While the film manages to strike a tonal balance of scary thrills with some nice moments of levity, the characters aren’t as fully formed. At best they come off as a little bland, at worst they come off as boring. Add in some dialogue that will have you wondering how anyone approved it and some questionable logic and inconsistencies, one may find themselves taken aback when the giant lizards aren’t on screen.
It becomes self-aware at 2:14 a.m. Eastern time, August 29th. Jurassic World gets a little more meta with its themes than its predecessors. It goes into corporate greed, specifically how the lust for money can take the integrity out of certain endeavors, directly referencing movie sequels. It deals with how audiences want bigger, better, and cooler. It’s pretty interesting but flirts on the edge of disaster as it dips its toes into self-fulfilling prophecy territory.
Once you look past some of its dinosaur-sized faults,
one will find a very fun film.
