Jurassic World

 JURASSIC WORLD

Director : Colin Trevorrow

Year : 2015

Genre : Thriller

Rating : ****

 

After 14 long years of waiting, the 'Jurassic Park'  franchise returns with a mighty roar to the big screen with 'Jurassic World', a spectacular CGI filled blockbuster that faithfully sticks to the formula that made the original 1993 box office smash so popular but changes things up just enough to be it's own unique cinematic experience. Taking us back to the fictional Costa Rican island of Isla Nublar where it all began 22 years ago, 'Jurassic World' sees John Hammonds vision of a dinosaur themed attraction come to life but it isn't long before the prehistoric beasts once again break loose from their holdings and cause immeasurable chaos.

Without any doubt, 'Jurassic World' has been my most anticipated movie of 2015. I am a huge fan of Steven Spielbergs 1993 masterpiece and, despite their many, many problems, I also really enjoy the two inferior but still fun sequels - so the idea of a reboot of the franchise with modern CGI technology was almost too good to be true. The many trailers promised us a thrill ride and the many articles written before the films release promised an adventure in keeping with the tone of 'Jurassic Park'. So, does 'Jurassic World' live up to the hype of it's ingenious marketing campaign and, more importantly, after more than a decade was was it worth the wait? Well as is the case with any film in this series, the dinosaurs are the unequivocal  stars of the show and no expense is spared in giving us realistic looking and sometimes terrifying spectacle. It's just a shame that the same amount of time wasn't spent on developing the script or the characters.

Set 22 years after the disaster at Isla Nublar, 'Jurassic World' finally sees the late John Hammonds dream come true. Owned by the eccentric Simon Masrani (Irrfhan Khan) and managed by the uptight and headstrong Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard), the theme park has become one of the most popular tourist destinations on the planet and every day, thousands upon thousands of people walk through its gates to see the many reptiles and attractions that inhabit it. However after years of business, the public have become somewhat immune to the novelty of seeing living dinosaurs in captivity so the geneticists at the resort (headed by returning 'Jurassic Park' cast member B.D Wong) have come up with a brilliant (or ridiculously stupid) solution - genetic splicing and engineering.

 

Using the DNA of multiple carnivorous dinosaurs, the scientists create a creature that they believe will bring an end to the parks financial woes -  the monstrous Indominus Rex. However, when it inevitably bursts out of it's enclosure, the full power and ruthless bloodlust of the mysterious hybrid is finally realized and the chase begins to bring down the monster before it reaches the main hub of the island and kills every single person on it. With the help of a gruff but brave Velociraptor trainer (Chris Pratt), Claire must endeavour to not only save the lives of every visitor to her park but also the lives of her two young nephews who have come on vacation to the island at the worst possible time (Ty Simpkins and Nick Robinson).

The road to 'Jurassic World' has been a rocky one. Having been in development since 2004, the script and casting of a sequel to 'Jurassic Park III' has been as varied and as unpredictable as the DNA of the Indominus Rex itself and over the course of 11 years, multiple directors, writers and actors have both jumped on and off the ship of the potential film as scripting problems and production difficulties proved to be too much to handle. Stuck in development hell for the best part of a decade, it seemed that 'Jurassic Park 4' would never come to fruition.

However, after dozens of script re-writes, different casting decisions and dozens of potential directors, 'Jurassic World' has finally come to be and for the most part, the wait was a long but rewarding one. Directed by 'Safety Not Guaranteed's Colin Trevorrow, 'Jurassic World' is continually filled with eye-popping visuals and breathtaking action scenes, mostly thanks to it's dinosaur stars who are all beautiful and terrifying in their own rights. Bought to life thanks to (for the most part) stunning CGI visuals a well as a small use of animatronics, the dinosaurs all feel real and genuine and, as was the case with the 1993 original, a palpable sense of awe can be felt throughout the entirety of 'Jurassic World'. What the two previous sequels lacked in amazement and childlike wonder, this film certainly more than makes up for.

 

However, whereas 'Jurassic Park' was predominantly a science fiction adventure, 'Jurassic World' has more in common with the B- movie monster movies of the the 1950's and 1960's. The Indominus itself is an incredibly  frightening creation and I believe that, despite it's suitable 12A rating, there are numerous set pieces throughout the movie which are far too intense for the younger audience member. The blood and gore content is also increased and I for one what quite taken aback by just how strong some of the more surprisingly graphic moments in 'Jurassic World' were.

In this day and age of groundbreaking computer effects, we should expect realistic looking dinosaurs and make no mistake, we get them by the barrelfull. However, in this day and age of brilliantly written scripts and instantly quotable screenplays, we should also expect well rounded, three dimensional heroes to root for and villains to despise. But unfortunately, despite the best efforts of the entirety of the cast, the human characters aren't half as interesting as their scene-stealing reptilian counterparts. Every single one is a sturdy archetype and while the acting is good, a distinct lack of interesting dialogue or discernible motive really drags the film down. To their credit, the ensemble cast all give very good performances, most notably the immensely watchable Chris Pratt who once again gives a strong leading performance as the intelligent and intuitive Velociraptor wrangler Owen as well as the under appreciated Irrfan Khan who brings a flamboyant naievity and an enormous sense of fun to his role as Masrani, the eccentric owner of the theme park. The beautiful Bryce Dallas Howard similarly does a good job in her pretty thankless role as the manager of the luxury resort turned unlikely hero but once again a lack of distinctive character development severely detracts from her fine performance. 

However, we don't watch a 'Jurassic Park' movie for the humans and thankfully the many dinosaurs more than make up for them. Yes, it does have major problems in both the script and characterisation departments but as Summer blockbuster entertainment, 'Jurassic World' excels brilliantly. It is consistently exciting, thrilling and at times genuinely scary - with one of most satisfyingly awesome finales ever to feature in a popular motion picture. 'Jurassic World' may lack the magic of Steven Spielbergs record breaking opus but it certainly has the intentions and the majesty of it's superior predecessor.