In 1993 the world was introduced to
"Jurassic Park," a movie like we had never seen before. Noted for its
cutting edge computer generated imagery and world class practical effects, the
movie quickly became the highest grossing film of all time. Since its release
it has been hailed as a science-fiction classic, has influenced countless
directors and their films, and raised the bar for visual effects in movies. But
like most successful movies, it spawned sequels; unfortunately for
"Jurassic Park," its sequels were not particularly good. With the
last sequel coming out in 2001, most fans of the original movie were hoping
that the series had finally been put to rest. But a few years ago it was
announced that the series would be revived, and everyone got nervous. 2015's
"Jurassic World" was a movie no one asked for and no one wanted. It
seemed like another unnecessary revival like the upcoming "Terminator:
Genysis." While the CGI in the trailers looked top notch and the talented
cast acted as a glimmer of hope, most people, including myself, counted this
movie out. Everyone knew that this movie could never live up to the original,
so the question remains, "is it at least better than the sequels?"
Twenty two years ago a
group of scientists attempted to set up a theme park using dinosaurs cloned
from DNA found in fossilized mosquitoes as the park attractions. As you can
imagine, things didn't work out great for those involved. Since then several other
groups attempted the same thing, with similar results. But finally someone
seemed to get it right, and set up a truly successful park called Jurassic
World. Claire Dearing acts as the park's operating manager, working for one of
the richest men in the world. Despite the park being a huge success, attendance
has slowly been slipping as late; so the park engineers come up with a plan.
They decide to genetically engineer a new dinosaur by splicing other dinosaurs
and animals. Their creation is the monstrous indominus rex, a new type of alpha
predator. But apparently the park runners didn't pay attention to those that
came before them, and the indominus rex escapes from its cage. So it’s up to Claire, the
velociraptor trainer Owen, and the rest of the park employees to get the
situation under control before this new dinosaur tears everyone in the park to
shreds.
When I first heard
that this movie was going to be made a few years back, I was skeptical. It
seemed that once again the Hollywood machine was churning out another unnecessary
sequel in order to cash in on an easy pay day. And considering the quality of
the other two sequels in the series, my expectations weren't particularly high.
But that exact point might be why I actually enjoyed this movie, it was much
better than I expected it to be. Let's get it out of the way now,
"Jurassic World" is not as good as the original "Jurassic
Park," but it is a huge step up when compared to the sequels. Unlike the
original movie, I would not consider this a science fiction film; to be honest
it is a monster movie. And as a monster it does a great job. The overall vibe
of the movie is tense, and there are some moments that get your heart pumping.
The original "Jurassic Park" was noted for its groundbreaking CGI and
animatronics, and really raised the bar for special effects. If you watch it
today it still holds up fairly well. As far as I could tell "Jurassic
World" used almost exclusively CGI when it came to the dinosaurs,
fortunately the CGI is top notch and really brings the creatures to life. The
movie also had very good production design; the sets they built looked good and
colorful. The movie also looks beautiful, with huge sweeping shots of the
scenery that really shows off the island the movie takes place on. After
watching this movie I noticed one major problem, the characters; they aren't
memorable, to be honest I had trouble remembering their names. The actors do
the best job they can and several give pretty good performances. But the
characters just aren't memorable. One surprising aspect of this movie would be
its sense of humor, it actually works well. Much of the dialog is actually
funny, and the interactions between the characters are witty and funny. But
let's be honest, you don't want to watch a movie like this for funny jokes and
dialog. This is a movie you go to in order to see a monster destroy stuff, and
that is what you get with this movie. The action sequences are something to
see, there are a few things more enjoyable than watching giant dinosaurs
fighting each other. I think what this movie does best is that it is fun. It's
not going to win any awards for writing or directing, but this movie is fun to
watch and is certainly a good time to go see with some friends. But even though
it is a fun and enjoyable movie, it does suffer from a problem that everyone
who sees it will agree on; it's not as good as "Jurassic Park." This
movie is stuck in the shadow of the original. They can have all the dinosaurs
they want and add that classic soundtrack, but it can't compare. And a lot of
people are going to be thinking that when they watch this movie. While it isn't
perfect, or even a movie I would buy on DVD, I enjoyed "Jurassic
World." It reminded me of "Avengers: Age of Ultron," it does
exactly what a summer blockbuster should do; it's fun.
Pros: Solid acting from the cast, great CGI, beautifully shot, humor works surprisingly well, good production design, certainly entertaining and fun,
several cool action scenes, very
intense at times, classic soundtrack.
Cons: Characters aren't particularly memorable, stuck in the shadow of the original.
4/5 Stars
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