JURASSIC WORLD – The Review

The original JURASSIC PARK set a new standard for state-of-the-art visual effects. It was suddenly possible to see humans and dinosaurs interacting in a way that had never before been possible, and to feel the entire theater shake with the approach of a T-Rex. 23 years later not a whole lot has changed. As the belated third sequel opens, and John Williams’s famous theme swells, JURASSIC WORLD feels both nostalgically familiar and excitingly new. The story is simple: The Costa Rica-set Jurassic World theme park is now a popular tourist destination. Scientists there develop a bigger, better hybrid supersaurus which escapes its enclosure resulting in the usual monster mayhem. JURASSIC WORLD is a true summer movie experience. It’s got thrills, chills, and checks every box needed for big entertainment. It has its share of flaws, chief of which are the familiarity factor and a weak script, but it still offers a couple hours of glitzy, hi-tech fun. That’s just about all that anyone can reasonably expect from this kind of blockbuster, but the magical spark that characterized the original Spielberg film is largely absent.

The makers of JURASSIC WORLD get a lot right in this new take on the story. As expected, the effects are flawless – the dinosaurs seem as alive as the human actors (and in the case of Bryce Howard, more so). The scene where the huge Mosasaurus lunges up from his tank to consume a dangling shark was a nice way to foreshadow the dangers to come. My favorite scene is when the swarm of pterodactyls (some dino-nerds call them dimorphodons) attack fleeing tourists and one slob grabs his margaritas before running. But Williams’s music isn’t the only thing recycled here and the whole film feels like a retread of the first one. The most disappointing thing about JURASSIC WORLD is how perfunctory the screenplay by director Colin Trevorrow (and three other writers) is. Trevorrow was hired apparently based on SAFETY NOT GUARANTEED, his excellent 2012 indie nominally about time travel, but he fails to provide his own voice, seeming content to turn things over to the CGI gurus and ape Spielberg’s directorially style. JURASSIC WORLD presents cookie-cutter characters played by usually-good actors who collectively have nothing to do but spew expository dialogue, breathe heavy, and run. Hiding, screaming, getting eaten and dashing through doorways just as they are closing are tried and true tropes of the Jurassic franchise, and this movie does not disappoint in that regard. The cast is second fiddle to the spectacle. Chris Pratt as Owen Grady, the stalwart animal-trainer hero (we know he’s the ‘alpha-male’ because we’re told so several times) is likeable enough but here he lacks the scruffy charm that buoyed GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY. His leading lady is Claire Dearing, the park’s operations manager who spends the film alternating between terrified and valiant and is stiffly played by Bryce Dallas Howard. Better is Irrfan Kahn as the wealthy park owner who underestimates the danger at hand and an underused B.D. Wong, back from the original as Dr. Wu, the scientist who knows best. There’s also a pair of teen brothers (Ty Simpkins and Nick Robinson), Claire’s nephews, to provide rescue fodder and nice comedy relief in the form of Jake Johnson (the star of SAFETY NOT GUARANTEED) as a geeky park tech who wears his original ‘Jurassic Park’ T-shirt he got off Ebay for $150. Vincent D’Onofrio overplays the cartoonishly sinister contractor who thinks raptors would make dandy weapons of war. But the real villain of JURASSIC WORLD is the “larger than a T. Rex” Indominus Rex, a lab-brewed kind of evil genius beastie that Roger Corman would have named Megasaur! Indy manages to adjust his body temperature so he can’t be traced via thermal means, yank out his own tracking device, change color, and hunt just for sport, leaving a sad trail of bloody brontosaurus carcasses in his wake. He’s intimidating enough, but no rock star. An early scene with the critter, his snout dripping blood (he just ate a fat guy), leaning over to menace Chris Pratt from underneath the truck where he’s hiding should be scary, but it’s really not. He’s not that much bigger than a T-rex and that his genetically-enhanced abilities used as the angle to hang the film’s plot on shows a lack of ambition on the screenwriter’s part.

The bar for CGI destruction was set this summer with SAN ANDREAS and visceral excitement with MAD MAX FURY ROAD. JURASSIC WORLD is not nearly as good as either of those. It’s not any worse than the earlier Jurassic sequels, but that’s faint praise. I’ll recommend JURASSIC WORLD, but you may want to dial down your expectations.

3 of 5 Stars