Almost twenty-two years ago to the day director Steven Spielberg unleashed one of the greatest movies ever made, Jurassic Park. Not only did it change the way filmmaking was done, but also showed the world the first real usage and capability of fully working CGI. As far as the world was concerned, Spielberg had really cloned dinosaurs and we were watching the best documentary ever made. Many years later, and several attempts to revisit the franchise, we finally are able to return to Jurassic Park with Jurassic World. And what could have been a total disaster is more like a fun ‘welcome home’ by an old friend that you’ve missed.
Twenty-two years after the events of the first film, the same island as originally envisioned by John Hammond from the first installment is now a fully functioning dinosaur theme park known as Jurassic World. The new park is owned by Simon Masrani (Irrfan Khan) and is run by park operations manager Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard). At the corporation’s request, the park’s geneticists have been asked to create a new dinosaur to spike attendance and “scare” visitors with a new attraction. The geneticists, still being lead by Dr. Henry Wu (B.D. Wong), create the Indominus Rex (aka IRex); a hybrid made from several types of different dinosaur species and mixed with others animals.
The new attraction is three weeks away from being opened and on the advice of her boss, Simon, Claire brings in Owen (Chris Pratt), the park’s on-site velociraptor trainer, to give the IRex’s new enclosure a final walkthrough. That’s when we see the IRex is far more of a “clever girl” than anticipated. As she escapes and goes on a bloody rampage through the park, it’s up to Claire, Owen and Jurassic World’s security team to contain the hybrid before she can cause more damage.
Jurassic World is just as fun and awesome as the original Jurassic Park. It’s quite thrilling to see John Hammond’s original vision for the park fully realized on screen. Kids feed baby dinosaurs in a petting zoo, safari trucks drive through herds of dinosaurs and go down rivers as the animals eat next to you. As John Williams’ theme sweeps you away and you get glimpses of the park, you start to think such a park would actually be a pretty cool thing to visit. But then there’s the running and screaming….
The movie doesn’t simply retread the old films, it breaks new ground and expands on the dinosaurs and the world. There is much homage to the original movie and it’s great to see. The filmmakers manage to make sure you never forget where we came from, but make sure you know this is a whole new movie.
One of the highlights of the film is the raptors and their personalities as Owen trains them. As you’ve seen in the trailers, he teams with them to go on a hunt and in one scene, the raptors go on a mission alongside a group of fully armed commandos. The movie is all action, for the most part, but does find some down time to throw some weight on the story as well. One of my favorites scenes in the movie is when the IRex is on a killing spree; the film slows down and takes time for Owen and Claire to care for a dinosaur as it takes its last breath. It adds personality to the dinosaurs, makes the IRex seem more of an abomination, and adds determination to stop it. Not going to lie, I may or may not have rolled a tear during this scene.
Leading this team of great actors is Chris Pratt, who we’ve seen go from a comedic role on TV to pure movie hero. His character is confident, funny, and fearless and he is the perfect hero for this movie; as is Bryce Dallas Howard. I must admit that when I saw her name in the movie, I didn’t think she could carry this film being the second lead. I’m glad to say how wrong I was. She is a strong, independent woman who can stand up and fight with the guys, but also admit when she’s wrong. Howard has the biggest character arc in the film and she makes you believe in her.
As the plot continues, we see Claire’s nephews, Zach (Nick Robinson) and Gray (Ty Simpkins), are visiting the island when the hybrid escapes and are subsequently caught up in the adventure. Here, the filmmakers remember to make the kids actual characters instead of the Wesley Crushers of the story. The kids get their time to shine and are solid actors, showing that they are not like the child actors from the other movies (no computer hacking, no lame gymnastics BS, etc.).
Rounding out the cast are some of the best character actors working: Jake Johnson, Judy Greer, Omar Sy and Vincent D’Onofrio. Each is great in the movie and all display their wonderful talent. No matter how big or small, their characters are fully three dimensional and you completely understand their motivations and where they’re coming from. Some better than others, but each is important to the film and never once are they forgotten about as the suspense and drama continues.
The special effects are some of the best I have seen this summer. Being that this was the franchise that started the CGI revolution, the effects better be incredible…and they are. Clearly everyone working on this project brought their A-game. You can see how much detail was put into every single frame and the love from all involved who wanted to make this movie come to life before your eyes. For example, the dinosaur fights looked amazing and with each snap or crunch you hear your heart beat that much faster. As far as this reviewer is concerned, those were real dinosaurs and this is just another documentary.
This time around, Oscar winner Michael Giacchino was given the task to score the movie. Working from the original theme by John Williams, Michael must take the old, add in the new and still make it sound fresh and does this with perfection. The music is such a part of the film that without it would not have been the same. His impactful score coordinated with impeccable timing set the appropriate tone for the scene. It was almost as if his goal was to make you cry or have you jump so far out of your seat you swear you hit the ceiling. Just like the first film, the score is almost a needed character that has to be there for the movie to work.
However, even great movies have flaws and Jurassic World is no different. The biggest defect is that it’s really just a lot of the same things we have seen before. You can only do so much with dinosaurs chasing and eating people so if you get bored with that, this might not be your thing. But, what makes this different, is that you’re spending time with great characters who are running for their lives. The other flaw is the movie plays a lot to the audience. This is clearly a movie that’s really made for the fans of the original installment. It’s as if someone asked you what dinosaurs do you want to see fight or how do you like to see people getting eaten? It does not take you out of the movie by any means, but you are very aware of it.
At the end of the day, the Jurassic Park franchise is nothing but a really good creature feature. But at the same time it’s also so much more. It’s what a perfect sci-fi/suspense/action movie can be: simple and not a lot of BS to deal with. I remember being fourteen years old, sitting in the theater opening day and being inspired by the movie I was watching and seeing the first real CGI, great acting, and a wonderful story unfolding before my eyes. Jurassic Park is the movie that made me want to become a filmmaker. It’s the movie that showed me that anything could now be possible. For me personally, it was my Star Wars and I hold Jurassic Park in very high esteem in my life. Seeing this new movie twenty-two years later gave me the same feelings I had as a kid. For me, I can’t put a price on that. This gave me all the right feels and the nostalgia I needed. Jurassic World is the best movie of the summer and should be seen over and over again.