Jurassic World Review

Like many, I was probably too young to watch Jurassic Park on first viewing. It wasn't the raptors in the kitchen which scared me, it was the dilophosaurus exploding at Newman, then spitting venom at him and then eating him in the car which disturbed and horrified me unlike anything I saw before it.

But like all kids, being scared is the ultimate form of entertainment and that's one of the reasons why Spielberg's masterpiece is still revered today. That and the groundbreaking special effects which even today look superb no matter how many times you think rose-tinted glasses play a role in it.

Jurassic Park never got the sequel it deserved. The Lost World: Jurassic Park was a mess which saw Jeff Goldblum return to try and save another island's free roaming beasts from an evil corporation which ends on a forty minute epilogue in San Diego which, even as a youngster, felt like padding.

Jurassic Park III in the meanwhile tried to streamline and make a simple rescue mission. What we got was an annoying female lead, special effects that looked better a decade earlier and non-inspiring set-pieces which, for intents and purposes killed the franchise stone dead for over a decade.

Thankfully, in an era of superhero movies, no ideas and nostalgia and much like the resurrected dinosaurs, life finds a way and the series is back; bigger, brighter and possibly...better than ever?

Jurassic World sees Chris Pratt, Pratt's assistant, Bryce Dallas Howard and an IT guy try to stop the rampage of a new gene-spliced dinosaur which runs amok in a fully open park with twenty-two thousand guests just waiting to be trampled, thrown and occasionally eaten in gruesome ways.

Lets get one thing outta the way; Jurassic World is mercifully, a much better film than The Lost World and Jurassic Park III. A lot of this has to do with the new setting which, rather than an abandoned island with dinosaurs roaming everywhere, has a heavily congested island with victims roaming everywhere.

The first twenty minutes establish the island as a major tourist destination with working attractions and people happy to be there. For this brief moment, the idea of an island cut off from mainland civilisation with super predators capable of destroying everything and eating everyone seems like a great idea and credit has to go to director Colin Trevorrow and his crew for creating a superb looking setting.

Of course it all goes disastrously wrong and it's up to our aforementioned heroes to save the day. Hollywood's new golden boy Chris Pratt plays Owen; an ex-navy seal who serves as the park's velociraptor handler who has some how managed to get four of the fearsome beasts understanding simple commands.

Owen is an unusual character as he doesn't view the park as a certifiable disaster like Jeff Goldblum's Ian Malcolm or a sense of wonder like Sam Neill's Dr Alan Grant; Owen's a guy who simply works hard and only sees the danger of the park's new monster from an animal behaviorist's perspective (which quickly proves him correct).

It's a refreshing change and Pratt's natural charisma works perfectly for the character; an everyman who we desperately want to survive, but selflessly and constantly enters dangerous situations to try and save the day.

Bryce Dallas Howard plays Clare Dearing, the park's operations manager. At the start, she's an aloof, somewhat uncaring individual whose only goal is to stop the park's free falling visitor numbers (so much so that she fobs off her two nephews with her P.A. without ending a phone call). She thankfully mellows out as the body count rises and yes, she does do a lot of running in high heel shoes.

Of course, the main attractions aren't our two lead characters and are the dinosaurs. The beasts barely make an appearance until the first quarter of the movie has concluded but from there, you barely go five minutes without one of them turning up.

They mostly look superb although, despite the two decade gap between the original film, the CGI does look a bit ropey, especially in the daylight. It's nowhere near as bad as The Lost World and especially JP III, but there are some noticeable moments which kill the atmosphere, such as the slightly too bold outlines of the raptors in earlier scenes.

The star of the show is the aforementioned new dinosaur, Indominus Rex. A ginormous killing machine, created to boast park attendance ratings somehow balances the line of ancient predator and obvious genetic monster as a sickly white scaled, red eyed beast with massive claws, although a more terrifying foe than the hastily introduced Spinosaurus of JP III, the Indominus Rex also represents one of the more surprising failures of the film.

Whereas the Tyrannosaurus of the original film only killed one person (and an arsehole to boot) and The Lost World saw this increased to one unfortunate guy, a guy terrified of snakes, a latino and eventually the human big bad between three of them, Indominus Rex's kills come thick and fast, often in horrifying and mean-spirited fashion.

Of course, the increase in body count is partly down to massive increase in potential victims, but the deaths of some of the no-names vary from horrifying (with characters flatlining and point of view kills) to ones that are so elaborate that they go in the opposite direction and become comical.

The biggest flaw with the film, which is an entirely optional one and surprisingly isn't the fault of Trevorrow, his crew or the cast but how much of the film was spoilt in the trailers. If you've seen any of them, there's barely any surprises in the film and it's fairly easy to work out the plot and even character deaths, thus destroying any potential tension.

The other notable problem with the film is the lack of likeable characters who you don't want to see die. Whilst Pratt's and his team are likeable, Howard thankfully gets better, Jake Johnson's IT guy serves as comic relief and one of the kids who actually wants to be at the park are just enough to invest into, the film is chock to the brim with so many unlikable characters, its the nameless visitors are the primary source of who you end up caring for more.

The saddest part is when everything goes out of control, many quickly change with little to no explanation. Irrfan Khan's character as the owner of the park arc goes from eccentric, fun-loving billionaire to uncaring, evil owner to suddenly wanting to be at the forefront of the action and saving the day in a twenty minute arc.

Whilst Ty Simpikins plays the younger and more impressionable kid of the movie who we actually like from the off-set, his older brother played by Nick Robinson plays the atypical bored teenager who's only interest is texting his girlfriend and trying to pork anything with a skirt on the island despite the wondrous attractions everywhere.

Much like Khan's character, he quickly changes when everything goes to shit and becomes the older, wiser sibling who tries to protect his younger brother and keep him grounded. It's not Robinson's fault and to his credit, much like Howard, I didn't want to see him eaten by the end, but the shift in character is a flaw in a script which pretty much reads "Jurassic Park...only open to the general public...and more people die".

Again, these are the only real issues in the film and again, Jurassic World is a much better film than it's two predecessors. It doesn't outstay it's welcome, it has enough throwbacks for longtime fans of the series to have a chuckle, it's set-pieces, whilst mostly spoilt from publicity are massive and highly enjoyable and a decent if somewhat small cast who you want to survive from the perilous setting.

A enjoyable popcorn flick and worthy sequel to the original after two decades of mediocre follow-ups.

7/10

H

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