REVIEW: Jurassic World
This review contains spoilers!
22 years after the events of Jurassic Park, Isla Nublar now features a fully functioning dinosaur theme park, Jurassic World. Billionaire John Hammond's vision is realised of a safari park families can visit just like Sea World. All is well at first but the ambitions of the park director (Bryce Dallas Howard) and CEO (Irfan Khan) backfire as their lab designed hybrid, Indominus Rex, escapes. It's then up to an ex Navy SEAL (Chris Pratt) and his trained velociraptors to bring down the savage beast. Pratt's colleague (Vincent D'Onofrio) sees the potential in weaponised raptors for military needs. Meanwhile, Howard's two nephews need to survive and make their way back to safety.
The film treats us, the audience, the same way it portrays the on screen visitors of Jurassic World. It knows nothing can re-create that awe inspiring feeling of seeing herds of dinosaurs for the first time. We live in a different world from the 1990s. So it's attempt to one up the original park is a disaster, and there is fun in that. There are several nods to the original like the safari jeeps and rearview mirror shot, but not once did i feel it was over the top pandering. The part horror tone and tongue in cheek humour of the previous films are intact. The effects heavy action sequences are well shot but nothing above average. The pterodactyls attack scene was impressive and frightening. The final battle involving the Indominus Rex, a T-Rex, a raptor and a Mosasaurus is worth the price of admission.
Where Jurassic World is truly let down however is in it's characters. The forced romance between Pratt and Howard doesn't help, neither does the cliche back story of divorcing parents for the two kids. There are no character arcs worth caring about. Despite those negatives, i had a good time. Going in with low expectations, i was surprised and entertained by this latest instalment of the Jurassic Park franchise. Instead of trying to imitate the magic of the first, director Colin Trevorrow has delivered a decent sequel that's fun and well executed.
