Directed by Colin Trevorrow, Jurassic World is set 22 years after the events of Jurassic Park and takes place on the same fictional island of Isla Nublar. A successful theme park of cloned dinosaurs, dubbed Jurassic World, has operated on the island for years, bringing John Hammond’s original dream to fruition. The park plunges into chaos when a transgenic dinosaur escapes from its enclosure and goes on a rampage, while a conspiracy orchestrated by the park’s staff creates even more dangers.
Ever since I was a kid I’ve had a fondness for dinosaurs and the prehistoric world, to the point where I watched every single piece of dinosaur-related media from films to shows and documentaries. Jurassic Park was and still is one of my favorite films of all time even after all these years. Steven Spielberg crafted one of the best sci-fi adaptations ever made and it gave the world a massive love for dinosaurs, spawning a whole new franchise.
We were given our first sequel The Lost World in 1997 and while it largely divided critics and audiences at the time I honestly think it was a well-made sequel that did some new things and was thrilling despite its issues. It’s honestly masterful in comparison to the god-awful follow-up Jurassic Park 3. Long story short even though the film has great technical elements it fell hard on everything else and felt like a film that wasn’t even trying, repeating the same things we got in the previous two films.
The franchise would remain dormant for 14 years until it was revived in 2015 with this fourth installment that acted as part reboot part continuation, and no one really knew if they needed or wanted it. But to everyone’s surprise, including myself, Jurassic World was a huge hit receiving massive love from critics and audiences as well as ending up as one of the highest-grossing films of all time. The series was saved from extinction and this was not only my favorite of the Jurassic Sequels but also managed to become one of my favorite films of all time.
I’ve watched Jurassic World countless times and it also gave me one of my best ever theater experiences that I’ll never forget. What is it that I love about this film? Well, there are a lot of things I love about it including the characters, the story, the action, the thrills, the visuals, the music, and of course the dinosaurs, but I think the major thing I loved about this film is how creative it is in comparison to its predecessors.
Does the film follow a lot of familiar story beats to the first film? Yes, but rather than be a full-on copy and paste of the first film it expands upon established elements while also injecting new ideas that give the series fresh new life. Some of these ideas were extremely risky but they managed to pull all of them off in spectacular fashion.
The first creative element was making the dinosaur park into a fully functioning reality. In the first Jurassic Park, John Hammond had a massive vision for how he wanted his park to be like for tourists, wanting them to feel amazed by the prehistoric creatures and have the experience of a lifetime. We get to see that fully realized but in a more modern setting by having a corporate entity move in, making a full-on theme park that yearly adds in new attractions to get in more guests.
It very much replicates what we see nowadays with amusement parks and zoos around the world, but of course the big difference here is that they are working with prehistoric animals. Some of these animals are highly dangerous and not fully understood by the ones who created them, just like before. But at the same time, you do see that the scientists and park staff aren’t entirely ill-prepared for certain dinosaurs, they manage to set up some with proper enclosures and necessities to keep them from running amok like the velociraptors.
There are a lot of brilliant ideas brought into play with this setting and I feel the filmmakers took full advantage of everything they introduced especially when it comes to the dinosaurs themselves. But before discussing some of them let’s talk about the characters.
While a few of them have some similarities to characters in the first film most of them are largely non-copied characters with different personalities and performances from their respective cast members. Christ Pratt delivers a solid action lead performance as Owen Grady, a Navy veteran, ethologist, and a Velociraptor expert and handler at Jurassic World. Having won over the world in 2014 with Guardians of the Galaxy, Pratt takes another franchise role but this time one that is a bit more serious, showing that he is capable of being an action lead.
He brings in charm and humor but also shows himself to be intelligent and cautious as the character of Owen Grady. He’s definitely the kind of guy you’d want to be with when dinosaurs are running loose, especially when he is an alpha of a pack of raptors. He’s different from the leads of the other films and was a welcomed change.
Bryce Dallas Howard plays Claire Dearing, the Jurassic World operations manager who was a surprising character in this film that I didn’t think I’d grow attached to. She starts off as an individual who looks at the park purely from a business angle and is so absorbed in it that she at first fails to see the reality behind the dinosaurs and the park, which puts her at odds with some people including Owen and even her own nephews Gray (Ty Simpkins) and Zach (Nick Robinson) Mitchell.
She does end up facing reality when everything is plunged into chaos and lives are lost, avoiding the typical full-on denial character cliché we often see in other films. She makes mistakes but she manages to set things right as the film progresses and becomes a better person by the end, which is some pretty great character growth fueled by an excellent performance from Bryce Dallas Howard. The only thing negative I will say about the character is that I think her running in god damn heels is definitely one of the dumbest things I’ve seen in a film.
As for the previously mentioned nephews, Gray and Zach, while they are obviously based on the siblings from the first film I actually find them to be better and more well developed than the siblings of the first film. Before you pull out the pitchforks, allow me to explain why. Yes, the siblings in the first film are great but we never really got to see their relationship explored all that much, while with these kids we get to see them fleshed out from the beginning. We get a brief window into their personal lives that manages to make them investing characters for us to care for alongside Owen and Claire.
They feel like kids of the modern age who people can relate to, and while they do end up in dangerous situations they aren’t dumb or super panicky in comparison to the kids from the first film. At the same time, they are still treated like kids who end up being mischievous and adventurous, which leads them to trouble but it’s all handled extremely well, especially thanks to the performances by their respective actors.
The supporting cast is also great, each having their own memorable scenes throughout the film that made them enjoyable to have on-screen. No character ever felt boring or out of place compared to Jurassic Park 3 or Jurassic World’s follow-up Fallen Kingdom.
Vincent D’Onofrio brilliantly delivers a good-for-nothing slimeball performance as the character Vic Hoskins, head of security operations for InGen, who wants to harness certain dinosaurs for military purposes, namely Owen’s velociraptors. He’s your typical greed-driven human villain, but the idea of having a character who wishes to use dinosaurs as weapons is a unique concept that does get expanded upon in Fallen Kingdom, and potentially expanded even more in the upcoming Dominion.
There are many dangers when it comes to genetic power as was established in the first film, and through this character we get to see that explored again when it’s in the wrong hands, and I think that was a unique angle for the filmmakers to take. Though of course, as one would expect, this plan falls apart gloriously when they are shown that nature doesn’t like to be controlled.
The last supporting character I’ll discuss is the new owner of Jurassic World Simon Masrani, played by the late great Irrfan Khan. He truly delivered a magnificent performance in the short time he is in the film and has both humorous and dramatic scenes that worked really well thanks to his performance, and he will be greatly missed by all of us.
Now that most of the human characters have been discussed let’s get into the real stars: the dinosaurs. While they are mostly CGI and not as much practical effects like in previous films they all look great and stand out with unique features from skin texture to colors. Returning species look amazing with the modern updates and newer species look equally amazing, though I just wish more of them were practical. The Mosasaurus is probably one of the best new additions, having a few spotlight scenes as well as being utilized cleverly as an aquatic attraction for the park, like whales at Sea World.
The deadly and intelligent velociraptors are back but instead of being the villains, they end up being kind of the heroes for this film. We see Owen connect and train the raptors, led by the beta Blue, to follow his lead as well as fight alongside him as they take on the true villain of this film, the Indominus Rex.
The idea of having a genetic hybrid dinosaur may have at first seemed like a serious stretch, but the logic behind its existence actually does make a lot of sense. The corporation consistently adds new attractions and species to keep tourists coming to Jurassic World, but then they decided to take things further by creating something bigger and meaner with more teeth. They succeed by combining the DNA of a T-Rex and a Velociraptor, along with other genetic add-ons, to create the ultimate attraction. What they end up doing instead is create the ultimate predator of great size, strength, intelligence, and genetic capabilities, such as camouflage and temperature change, that breaks all the laws of nature and brings chaos upon the park.
The Indonimus Rex is truly a terrifying monster that looks absolutely amazing and brings all the thrills and gruesome deaths to anything living whether it be human or dinosaur. As established in the first film, all the dinosaurs are given DNA from other animals to complete the cloning process which in turn creates their appearances and allows them to survive in the current time period. The filmmakers obviously based the Indominus Rex’s abilities based on this rule, but they expanded it, which is another excellent creative decision. It stays within the boundaries of the franchise’s story without jumping the shark and allows us to see a terrifying and seemingly unstoppable beast bring thrilling action to the story, and it serves as a great film villain that carries on the themes of why genetic power can be dangerous. This makes the film feel like a cautionary tale as well as an exciting sci-fi dinosaur adventure thriller like the first film, but with expanded ideas and new characters.
The film has so much going for it, from amazing set pieces to incredible effects to intense action sequences to beautiful cinematography and a gloriously epic score from composer Michael Giacchino. You probably wonder what more could be added? Well, clearly they saved the best for last when it came to the final act of the film. The raptors aren’t enough to defeat the Indominus Rex alone so of course our human characters bring in the big guns by releasing the T-Rex to join the fight.
And not just any T-Rex but THE T-Rex from the first film, leading to a truly epic clash of dinosaurs: the Indominus vs the T-Rex and Blue of the raptors. What an epic as hell action sequence that I don’t think anyone saw coming and easily one of the best scenes I ever had the chance to witness on the big screen with an audience that was going wild. Having the iconic dinosaur that started it all be the savior was an absolutely genius play by the filmmakers and I don’t think anyone can say this scene was not epic or awesome because they would be dead wrong. It also makes up for that truly short shit fight that happened in Jurassic Park 3 between the T-Rex and the Spinosaurus that many people besides myself really hated.
Jurassic World was truly an epic experience for me, reigniting my love for the franchise over and over again every time I watch it. Does it have things to nitpick the hell out of? Absolutely. I already mentioned the heels and the lack of practical effects but there is also some humor that doesn’t entirely work and some plot points that didn’t really need to be included. But the fun, the thrills, the beauty, the effort, and the entertainment value far exceed the flaws. I’m going to give Jurassic World an A+ = 97.
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