Jurassic World (2015)

Sex :
Violence :
Director Colin Trevorrow
Writers Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver, Colin Trevorrow, Derek Connolly
Starring Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Nick Robinson, Vincent D'Onofrio, Ty Simpkins
Genre Monster
Tagline The park is open
Country
Horror Movie Review - Jurassic World (2015)

Review

"You just went and made a new dinosaur? Probably not a good idea..." - Owen Grady

It's 22 years since the events shown in Jurassic Park and Isla Nublar is now a fully functioning dinosaur theme park, Jurassic World, taking one step beyond John Hammond's original concept. We have various tours, golf courses, a luxury resort, avian enclosure, and naturally a few added attractions including a way cool aquatic one. Visitor numbers are growing around 2% per year but spike when a new attraction is added to the park. So what is corporate to do? Hey let's create a genetically modified dinosaur never seen before, like that's not going to create any sort of problems right?

So we get a couple of visiting kids out in the park, genetically modified dinosaur shenanigans, raptors going on a rampages, and a T-Rex. Different day, same old stuff really. This time round raptor trainer Owen is going to have to go bush, take on the awesome Indominus Rex, and save the kids from various prehistoric nasties. Life will find a way, yadda yadda, something new, something borrowed, did I get the blues?

Director Colin Trevorrow certainly gets the issue at hand with World, Spielberg wowed us all with Jurassic Park, how to repeat the dose and get the franchise rebooted after the disaster Jurassic Park III turned out to be. For mine he achieves that by going back to the source, adding some additional dinos, and playing the same drum as used in the original movie. Clearly audiences have been hanging out for a return to the park, and Trevorrow delivers on their expectations, though unfortunately not taking it that one step beyond the previous franchise entries. Still World is arguably the best of the sequels.

While we certainly get the dinos we expect, Raptors, T-Rex, Apatosaurus, triceratops, et al and we get some new cool ones including Mosasaurs, Ankylosaurs, etc. the much vaunted, at least pre-release, Indominus Rex proved to be somewhat disappointing in execution. It looks nothing more than a T-Rex to be honest, with some interested traits that are used sparingly and then dumped without any explanation. For example the Indominus is highly intelligent and can somehow avoid infrared detection, which is used real early in the movie and then forgotten about. Similarly the big fella can camouflage itself, which from memory happens twice in the flick, and then, well you know the drill. So uhmm basically mixing in DNA from other organisms isn't a good idea, I believe Ian Malcolm might have explained that already but let's not get caught up with any new ideas. I would have like the Indominus to be more of a problem for our central characters than simply yet another Godzilla clone smashing itself through various environments. There's a whole been there and seen it before vibe happening to the central dino, though I guess it's why we all paid our ticket prices in the first place. "Oh, yeah. Oooh, ahhh, that's how it always starts. Then later there's running and um, screaming." - yeah thanks Dr Malcolm I think I have the point covered Bro.

Before rocking on with this diatribe of the absurd I just have to state for the record that Chris Pratt riding a dirt bike with a pack of velociraptors was the coolest thing I have seen at the cinema this year. Back to normal service.

Okay hand in the air time, yes something of a dinosaur geek, though I had to check the spelling of various "saurus" words, though damned if the paragraph doesn't hang together as opposed to the script for Jurassic World. Seems the movie has been in something of a rewrite marathon for a couple of decades with a host of scribes brought in to get something legible up on our cinema screens. Unfortunately with so many hands at work, hey it hasn't made it any lighter, there's a host of problems with the movie. Ideas suddenly pop up with no build, oh the Raptors have a new alpha - say what? - and are then left dangling, characters act totally contrary to their motives, and the audience will be left bewildered in parts as some of the dialogue makes absolutely no sense in context of the movie you are watching. Some bitches been messing in this kitchen and the result isn't Master Chef passable.

On the bright side of the talon the CGI by and large works to give the viewer a believable experience. When the dinos are in motion they are rendered excellently and the animatronics when used work like a brought one, though some of the CGI dinos not in motion are slightly off putting. Overall I'm giving this aspect of the movie two thumbs up, the aerial dino attack for example had me hollering for more.

Similarly the plot certainly had me on board, including the two kids who weren't nearly as annoying as expected. Okay we have seen it before, including within this same franchise, but it's pretty much what we put coin down for. Was anyone expecting anything different? The visuals are enough to get us home without the need for something incredibly different or extravagantly new, hell can't believe I just said that, they're going to drum me out of the review department! In simple terms the plot is satisfying, engages the viewer, but doesn't go anywhere different to expectations, popcorn cinema at its best.

There's a fair amount of reference to Jurassic Park which is either a good thing or a bad thing depending on your point of view. Park veterans will recognise all the winks and nods while newbies won't be hindered by them. Director Colin Trevorrow is for mine rebooting the franchise and is doing so by forgetting about events in the two previous sequels, not a bad decision if push comes to shove, so I was happy with spotting all the call outs. There's a statute to John Hammond late in the movie for example and one of the kids is carrying a book by Dr Ian Malcolm toward the beginning of the flick. Missing for mine were some cameos of previous characters, while Henry Wu is back doing the bad thing with DNA I was expecting Laura Dern to reprise Dr Ellie Sattler amongst others. Guess the Goldblum and Sam Neill were otherwise engaged.

Before I forget the ground work has been done for a sequel, though I'm really hoping this doesn't involve dinos loose in mainland cities.

Well I've rambled on pretty much incoherently for enough time, you are either going to dig Jurassic World or you are going to have better things to do. By and large the movie isn't dangerous, there's no risks being taken, and it is exactly what you expect. I wanted to catch the T-Rex roaring on the big screen just one more time and got exactly what I was after; movie comes recommended for those not needing anything more than popcorn cinema. Take a giant bite out of this one, time for some rumble in the jungle kids.

ScaryMinds Rates this movie as ...

  Reasonable remake that lacks somewhat in the scares department, safe viewing for non-horror fans.