Jurassic World *review*

Jurassic World: When Dinosaurs

 Ruled the Box Office

  Going to see Jurassic World I went for one thing and one thing only, Dinosaurs. Jurassic World not only meets this expectation but actually manages to slightly exceed it.

  

  Jurassic World focuses on two pairs of leads the first are Gray and his older brother Zach, played by Ty Simpkins and Nick Robinson, while the second set of leads are employees of the park Claire, played by Bryce Dallas Howard, who manages the entire park and is too busy to spend time with her nephews or even pursue a relationship with her costar Chris Pratt who plays Owen.  The boys are shipped off to Jurassic World to spend the week with their aunt Clare who is busy getting Jurassic Worlds newest attraction off the ground, the terrible Indominus Rex. The boys go off to have fun by themselves but, even though they really should have seen it coming, terror soon strikes as the unthinkable occurs the Indominus Rex escapes its enclosure and begins wreaking havoc all over the island the boys, Clare,and Owen must all fight for their very survival before they all become the Indominus Rex’s next meal.

Jurassic World is escapism entertainment done right, there’s just enough character, action, and philosophy to keep the movie from being yet another box office disappointment while not forcing the audience to confront anything too difficult so as to keep the sense of adventure and fun alive and well.  The film is incredibly well paced and while there might not be much to the characters they were all fun and easy to get into. I also found while some of the acting and character personalities were very over the top they were all still believable to me even if they weren’t memorable.  Ok, so the kids might not have been anything to brag about but they served there purpose and gave us a sense of actual danger when they are confronted with the terrifying Indominus Rex while also serving as our tour guides through the park.

But the real stars of this film are of course the dinosaurs and Jurassic World delivers them in spades.  Jurassic Park CGI has never looked better there were many times I felt as if I were looking at real dinosaurs.  Of course there were several times when the CGI dipped a little which were mostly in certain close up shots but on average the dino’s looked fantastic.  However I was disappointed by the lack of practical effects; Jurassic park has always been one of the cinematic leaders of mixing practical effects with CGI and I can’t help feel that doing away with pretty much all your practical effects like taking a little piece of the Jurassic Park soul and just discarding it into the wastebasket.   Still the up side of CGI is that the dino’s were much more expressive taking on a true personality of their own adding to the enjoyment of the film.   However if you went in expecting to see a return to the serious and powerful commentary of man’s arrogance then you’re going to be sorely disappointed and just a little naïve. 

What needs to be understood is that Jurassic Park was its own unique and separate piece of art that

was never meant to and really can’t be duplicated in a franchise model.   This was a story that we only needed to tell once but since no studio is happy with a one shot we tried to pull out more from a dried well and we got to terrible sequels then Jurassic World came along and filled the well up just enough to make it relevant again because no matter how you spin it Jurassic World is the best JP sequel to date.

This is because Jurassic World does not promise anything it does not deliver in fact it delivered more than I expected.  More than any other blockbuster movie so far this summer Jurassic World truly attempted to give the audience the most well rounded experience they could, especially considering this movie is Jurassic park 4, and while it wasn’t as deep as the original it certainly wasn’t as shallow as the previous sequels.  The entire concept of Indominus Rex is very thought provoking and isn’t just pushed out of the way, the film does take some time to talk about how modern society is easily bored and how we have an insatiable lust for bigger, better and more exciting, we are so jaded that while wonders unfold before our eyes everyday we can’t even be bothered to look up from our Smartphone’s.  There’s also the fact that Jurassic Worlds plot is built off of the premise of Westworld’s concept of marketing versus safety which is enough to show that it requires more thought and demonstrates more class then many of summer blockbusters of late.

Jurassic world is a return to the old escapism entertainment of the 80’s and early 90’s when people still believed we could learn from our mistakes and create a  better future, when we still believed in the wonder of creation and the importance of family.    We are currently living in an age of anxiety and indifference and in such an age there has never been a greater need for simple escapism entertainment that lets us have these grand adventures from the safety of our theater seat and for just a little while leave our troubles at the door.  Besides this movie is all about dinosaurs and dinosaurs make everything awesome.

Spoiler corner:

.  Dinosaurs! Dinosaurs! Did I mention Dinosaurs!

. dino..oh, never mind,  it’s just a crappy CGI bird.

.  I guess they have to fill the annoying child quota that all Jurassic Park movies seem to have. Ok, I actually like Lex and Tim in the first one but everything after that…

.I probably had almost all those dinosaur toys as a kid.

.I really like that were spending a lot of time getting a good feel for the park and not just making this a simple monster on the loose story.

. So wait, let me get this straight, you’re mad at your sister because she has to work and can’t spend every moment with the kids you dumped on her because you’re trying to keep your divorce a secret? Dang lady no wonder you’re having marital issues.

. lol Jimmy Fallon

. so that Bubble Ride that’s designed to keep you safe no matter what starts cracking at the first swing of that ankylosaurus tail? Bit of a fatal design flaw if you ask me.

. I like all the nods to Jurassic park but why on earth did they keep the compound intact with all that equipment inside.

. Yikes! Don’t they feed these dinosaurs?  Those petradons are acting like they have been driven insane with hunger.

. OH! Shot down!... you know If there was any real critique I have of the film it’s that there were a lot of weird awkward jokes that at many times while funny seemed forced and upset the flow of the otherwise exciting narrative we were trying to tell.

.  T-Rex, Raptors, dino fights!  This is the absolute best!  The only thing that could make this better is if the Spinosaurus showed up * looks around* *sigh* … ok I’ll take mosasaurus as an acceptable replacement.