It has been over 22 years since the release of the most
iconic, endearingly entertaining survival films from Steven Spielberg was
released based on Michael Crichton’s latest science disaster book called Jurassic Park. It took the world by storm in the cinemas and
made Dinosaurs into a pop culture icon forever since its release as well as
being just simply cool. After 2 sequels
with Lost World: Jurassic Park being
a fun yet halfhearted return to that world and Jurassic Park III being a straightforward monster film with very
little redeeming qualities to it, we discontinue the idea that these films
exist and jump forward into the future to fully realize Hammond’s dreams of a
Dinosaur theme park in Colin Trevorrow’s survival adventure film sequel to the
original film going from the name Jurassic
Park to Jurassic World. This highly anticipated sequel seems to have
the exciting survival action of the original films on a larger scale as well as
some really talented, proven actors helming the cast with Chris Pratt, Vincent
D’Onfario, and Bryce Dallas Howard in the lead/supporting roles. The real question is can the film recapture
that sense of wonder and moral conundrum within its story to make it just as
compelling as the original film with a cast of likable, down to earth
characters or will it be an outlandish, cartoony take in the veins of its
lesser, average sequels that have been retcon out of existence? Let’s find out
by entering Jurassic World and
examining what this park has to offer this time around.
The story picks up about 22 years exact after the Isla
Nublar incident with the park now in full swing with Hammond’s dream fully
realized as thousands of people come in to enjoy the park itself. This is where
it becomes kind of messy with about 3 plot lines veining for time to be told
starting with the kids Zach (Nick Robinson) and Gray (Ty Simpkins) Mitchell are
sent off by their parents to spend time with their aunt Claire Dearing (Bryce
Dallas Howard) who works on the island as an operations manager for CEO Simon
Masrani (Irrfan Khan) owner of the new park.
The kids spend the weekend there while their parents handle a divorce
while Claire is looking over a new genetically enhanced dinosaur hybrid created
by geneticist Dr. Henry Wu (B.D. Wong) from the original film. On the other side, you have Star Lord…I mean
Owen Grady (Chris Pratt), Velociraptor trainer/expert being intimidated by the
head of inGen Security Ops Vic Hoskins (Vincent D'Onfario) to utilized the
animals as weapons that can’t be hacked or weighed down by technology (?). That is a lot of story elements being
introduced and fighting for time to be developed in its 2 hour run-time.
As you can guess, the new dinosaur named Indominus Rex
breaks out of its pen and all hell breaks loose as characters fight, struggle,
manipulate, and survive from a monster driven to destroy and eat everything in
sight on top of other dinosaurs literally causing havoc. A paradise gone wrong is a familiar theme to
this series and if there is any complement given to the story, it would be that
this film gets closer to the thriller/scientific mystery of the novel but
ditching everything else including the wit, horror, and intelligent
storytelling/pacing of the book and original film. Not to mention, it completely ignores the
last two films, not factoring into this film as it serves as a sequel to the
original film only. It seems to be on
the right track at the start of it with the emphasis on character development,
world building, and encapsulating the feels from the first film. However, that is only for the first half of
the film as the themes of genetic control and animal preservation in the face
of government suits is quickly tossed aside for what this film really wants to
be.
This is where the story becomes secondary in lieu of
visually driven, tense action set pieces that toss out logic, reason, and
ingenuity of character interaction and behavior that is all over the place in
throughout this film. Also, the second
half of the film devolves into a straightforward monster survival film in the
spirit of Jurassic Park III that
ditches any of the interesting moralistic dilemmas that were concurrent in the
first film and heavy handed in the second film, making it a simple, traditional
action adventure film. The original
story from Michael Critchen was able to balance all of that and create a tense,
thoughtful adventure about the dangers of genetic engineering without dumbing
it down which is exactly what every one of these films including the first film
have done making this entry kind of senseless in its purpose for existing after
the first film. The point that had to be
made was that it is another amalgamation of themes, ideas, and action set
pieces from the book thrown into this story with no clear sense of reason
behind its inclusion for this story (genetically engineered dinosaur,
militaristic purposes for the dinosaur, etc.).
Now that doesn’t mean the film is not entertaining at all
since it does adhere closer to the intention and spirit of the book especially
in the park being open to the public while all of the Dino-mayhem takes place
killing people left and right. It is
mindlessly entertaining in the creative energy and inventive use of the
creatures during the larger than life brawls which serve as the highlight of
the film. Despite the overuse of the CGI
throughout the film, it is effective in giving these Dinosaurs some
awe-inspiring, brutal kills especially in picking off the human characters. As for the characters, they are about as
stereotypical as you expect them to be from Grady being the badass animal
hunter/trainer to the prissy, stern Dearing and Hoskins’ obsessive need for
military prowess through Velociraptors trained for warfare. The characters were very much a mixed bag of
useless, annoying, unlikeable people that makes it hard for the viewers to
sympathize with the humans fight to survive from the Dinosaurs when the
Dinosaurs are treated like crap throughout the film and are given plenty of
heart pulling manipulations to really care for their plight. If there was a point to the kids being a
major focus of the plot other than to satisfying the status quote of the
original film, it was lost to me but the film relies heavily on the nostalgia
factor with dozens of callback to the first film. This is the unfortunate effects of a
screenplay in the hands of 4 different points of view that muddle up a very
large, encompassing story and shifts in tone happen to often as a result from
exciting and tense to really uncomfortably funny and awkward in showing its
humorous side.
The long emphasis on the plot, story, and character is
explored for a reason as there is an enjoyable adventure film here but at the
same time, it is contending with dozens of plot lines that are either underdeveloped
or tossed aside for a sequel to explore (at this time, a new trilogy of
Jurassic films are in development).
However, the film is quite exciting with its action and it does not
disappoint in that regard from the Indominus Rex killing mercilessly the guards
to the final showdown that I will leave to you to see as it is worth seeing in
theaters but it does involve the Dinosaurs throwing down with each other. You have to sit through character
expositions, pointless development of said characters (the main Kid characters
are the prime example of this misstep), and some really slow pacing in the
middle act to get to the really cool stuff near the end after being hopeful at
the careful handling of the first act.
After dealing with that long diatribe on the plot and story components
of Jurassic World, it is time to
rundown the technical elements of the film from the effects to the camera
work/editing as well as the art direction behind the dinosaurs and finally, the
score from a well-known composer that I was quite surprised to see involved
with this film. There is an extensive
use of CGI for most of the Dinosaurs featured throughout the film with very
little use of practical/animatronics in only a handful of scenes. They are very polish looking and function
well enough for the action set pieces featured in the film but they lack a
sense of grit and reality that the original films (the first and Lost World) were able to maintain thanks
to the way it was shot, lit, and framed to take these effects into
account. It is still amazing to see how
much detail and care they put into really getting these Dinosaurs to move
smoothly but it does feeling mind-numbing after some time especially when the human
characters are thinly written and quite unlikeable that you want those
creatures to just munch on them with very little care given at all. Anyway, the effects are refined and look
great in general with the oddities and the uncanny valley seeping into the
Dinosaur looks throughout the film especially with their close ups.
There seems to be a refreshing use of on-site locations and
sets built to really give the place personality specifically with the park
itself looking like a theme park. The
film moves at a brisk pace in the first and third act but it is the middle
second act that slows it down considerably with its shift in tone and story
genre really create a disjointed feeling of incoherency with the narrative
plotlines. The action set pieces are at
least clear and steady throughout, allowing for the viewers to actually see the
carnage taking place and it does not shy away from the fierce, hungry dinosaurs
chomping at the people left and right.
It does look good with its use of HD cameras and 3D even though it only
has a few screen popping effects (the ones featured in the trailer if you
watched the 3D) but the locales look lovely to watch. It seems on a technical level that the film
is as polished as it gets for a modern audience with its sleek look to the park
and settings as well as tense, thoughtful editing allow viewers to really
absorb the entertaining action set pieces that transpires throughout this adventure.
There is one more component of the film I really want to
examine and that is the music score from none other than Michael
Giachinno. It was quite surprising to
see him composing another film immediately after his latest work on Disney’s Tomorrowland. Most of the traditional themes created by
John Williams is present with some variations injected by the composer himself
which works well for the most part but it can be jarring to hear the variants
playing in certain parts specifically the vista shots of the park and
awe-stricken scenes of the dinosaurs.
The action beats are reliable, intense, and compelling to hear, which the
composer utilizes to great effect in the dinosaur attacks and the beatdown
finale. It does sound similar to his previous
work particularly Mission: Impossible
or Star Trek but it stills is great
to hear and thankfully isn’t as generic as say some of Han Zimmer’s live action
film scores. The music works for the
scenes overall and drives the action forward appropriately.
It has been a long journey of
viewpoints and reflections but to re-cap this review in general, Jurassic World is an enjoyable if
mindless return to a series that has languished in limbo for close to a decade
now after the fun yet pointless 3rd film in the series. As a reboot to the series that retcons the
second and third adventures into oblivion, it is surprisingly fun to watch the
action set pieces especially in how fun and inventive they get as well as how
brutal it becomes with the kills that occur in this film. Where the film does not hold up in regards to
quality or memorability is in its story which happens to be convoluted with
numerous plot points, characters with only the simplest, story stereotypes and clichés
traits developed, and the interesting themes of genetic engineering developed
for only short time before being dropped completely for more Dino
massacres. This feels like two films
mashed together with the first one being a thoughtful, engaging sci-fi film
that really does an admirable job attempting to follow up to the first film and
the other one being a straightforward monster/survival adventure made to
entertain without making viewers think about the absurdity of it all. It creates a film that is unfortunately a
mess but it can be enjoyed on sheer entertainment, star power, exciting
Dino-action, and actually feeling like a proper follow-up to the original film. This is one trip that you should take but
manage your expectations and you might get some enjoyment out of this film.
Score: *** out of *****
This monster/ survival adventure reboot to a series that is 2 decades old is reliably fun to watch and quite inventive with its use of the dinosaurs especially for the exciting action set pieces that really make it worth at least one view. The charisma of Chris Pratt’s character Tom Grady as well as the cheesy, unintentionally funny dialogue really make the film tolerable to sit through despite the lack of characterization for the majority of the cast that makes them into cartoon characters rather than rational human beings to empathize or sympathize with to care especially when they are in danger or get chomped on my dinosaurs. The story is the biggest crutch in the enjoyment of this film as it really showcases how confused and disjointed a film can be with 4 writers at the helm with their own styles clashing with each other. Jurassic World is a proper sequel to the original film but a very messy start to a new trilogy of films that we can only hope will improve with its upcoming sequels instead of making an
even bigger mess.
