Before Jurassic
World even begins to get
going, we see the familiar E.T. production banner for Steven Spielberg's Amblin
Entertainment ride across the screen. Amblin, known mostly for its
light-hearted kid-friendly adventures of the '80s and '90s, pretty much defined
how most people look at that particular genre of film. 1993's Jurassic Park took that to a whole new level,
inspiring awe and wonder in the middle of a deadly thriller. While subsequent
sequels may have dropped the ball, the first film got the tone just right. Jurassic World, which takes us
to even greater dino-theatrics than before, captures the magic of Jurassic Park while employing a whole new bag of tricks to
stand firmly on its own.
Directed with surprising blockbuster-sized
chops by indie filmmaker Colin Trevorrow (Safety Not
Guaranteed), Jurassic
World is at times terrifying
and wondrous, yet never stops being just plain fun. No small task given the
franchise's rich backstory, which Trevorrow and co-writer Derek Connolly (along
with Amanda Silver and Rick Jaffa) weave in seamlessly without bogging us down
in details. Twenty-two years have passed and now Jurassic Park is fully
operational on the isolated Isla Nublar, and has been running disaster free for
years. But this being such a huge corporate venture, the need to create bigger,
flashier, more dangerous dinosaurs is constant. Audience interest needs to be "refreshed",
or so we're told by strict operations manager Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas
Howard), putting the needs of corporate shareholders over more immediate
concerns like safety and morality.
In pursuit of these greater profits, the team
of geneticists led by Dr. Wu (the returning B.D. Wong) has taken to splicing
together hybrid dinosaurs to create something new. This isn't exactly a new
idea as the first wave of created dinosaurs used DNA from other creatures...but
how did that turn out last time? Not so well, and we know it won't turn out so
well here, either. Their greatest triumph, the 50-foot-tall Indominus Rex, is a
gigantic killing machine with the traits of a Tyrannosaurus Rex and other
unknown (at first, anyway) creatures. It's meant to be their biggest draw. It
will turn out to be something far worse. We don't have long to wait before the
Indominus breaks free and is loose upon the park, which we would call an utter
disaster but they blandly call a "containment anomaly". Can't scare away
the public!
And it's that sanitized corporate nature
that proves to be the greatest threat in Jurassic
World; well, that and our insatiable need to play God. Chris Pratt, more
action hero-y than ever, plays Owen Gracy, an ex-Marine now an animal
behaviorist who trains velociraptors. What for? Who knows; but he's formed a
bond with four of them (naming one "Blue", which is like naming a
Gremlin "Stripe"), becoming their “alpha male”. That's piqued the
interest of an evil military contractor (all military contractors are evil in
movies) played by Vincent D'Onofrio, who hopes to make a profit using them as
weapons. When the crap hits the fan he sees it as an opportunity for a field
test rather than a "holy sh*t"-level disaster. Unfortunately,
the day all of this goes down is the same day Claire's nephews Zack (Nick
Robinson) and Gray (Ty Simpkins), who she hasn't seen in years, are visiting
the park.
Trevorrow clearly has affection for the
original film, but at no point do we sense that he is a slave to it. There are
some moments that feel like vague homages; the trembling ground with every
stomp of the Rex's feet, or a scene in which visitors are surrounded by
stampedes of herding dinosaurs. One moment in particular that recalls Jurassic Park involves a dying herbivore,
slaughtered by the Rex for sport. It also happens to be the film's most
touching moment. As Pratt's Grady points out; these creatures don't realize
they were bred in a lab somewhere; their natural instincts remain. Some just
want to live while others only have the urge to kill. So you've got complicated
family dynamics, kids in danger, romantic entanglements, corporate malfeasance,
and Godzilla-sized chaos
all going on at the same time, yet Jurassic World never feels overstuffed. In
fact it breezes along nicely and the action sequences are thrilling and often
jaw-dropping. While not the technical breakthrough Jurassic Park was, there's
still something astonishing about the sight of a thousand pterodactyls flying
overhead and attacking the defenseless crowds (look out for funny cameos at
this point), just as it's chilling to see a mammoth Tyrannosaurus Rex charging
into battle against a foe of equal stature. 
Basically, the film looks
great, the score is spot-on, and the cast does a terrific job of making you
care about the characters. Pratt is the obvious centerpiece here as the Sam
Neil-esque hero, and Howard makes the best out of a slightly underwritten role.
Irrfan Khan is predictably good as CEO Simon Misrani, the spiritual and literal
successor to park founder John Hammond, while Jake Johnson, Judy Greer, and
Omar Sy provide laughs and a few dramatic touches. This is definitely a scarier
movie than prior efforts, though, and parents may be forced to shield their
kids' eyes when they aren't covering their own!
Jurassic World had a tall order ahead of it, but with
engaging drama and enough excitement to rattle the raptor cages, it works as a
worthy companion to Jurassic Park.
Rating: 4 out of 5
