The first movie was about not messing with the balance of nature. The second movie was about leaving nature alone. The third movie was about how to ruin a franchise. This one, Jurassic World, is about HOLY SHIT!! This is, without a doubt, the most exciting movie I’ve been to all year!
Jurassic World stars Chris Pratt as and Bryce Dallas Howard, and features a monstrous new dinosaur called the Indominus Rex. The Indominus is a genetically modified hybrid that was engineered to bring in more visitors, who are (for some reason) bored with the dinosaurs that are already on the island. Of course, still being a Jurassic Park movie, things don’t go well. And the fact that Jurassic World itself was up and running and had over 20,000 visitors, it doesn’t just go poorly. It goes beyond hell. To be honest, I was more excited and thrilled while watching this movie than I was with any other movie this year.
I have been waiting for a fourth Jurassic Park movie… for 14 years. I would always imagine what it would be like when I was younger. I don’t think my 9 year old self could have pictured a more satisfying movie.
First off, from what I’ve seen in other reviews, people are unfairly comparing Jurassic World to the original Jurassic Park, just like they did with its 1997 sequel, The Lost World. They say it doesn’t recapture the magic of the original. Well, of course it won’t. Nothing is going to recapture the awe and wonder of the first. It’s impossible. Secondly, why would anyone want to see the same exact thing again? Don’t you want something new? Something different? And don’t you want it to feel new and different? I know I did! I just don’t get people. I don’t get critics, either.
Director Colin Trevorrow set out to make this one a lot different than the previous movies. He accomplished this by making it a monster movie. Honestly, I don’t see where else the franchise could go. It’s a franchise built off the idea of genetics and everything related to genetics. There was even a toy line in the late 90’s called “Chaos Effect” where they spliced together different dinosaurs to make some unholy monstrosity. The filmmakers took that idea, and gave us… the Indominus Rex.
The indominus Rex is no dinosaur at all. It’s a hybrid freak of nature that kills everything that moves. It’s the monster in this monster movie, and I loved it! I loved the way they presented it, I loved how unnaturally evil it was, and I loved how intelligent it was, and I loved its design. Just look at this screenshot I took from one of the trailers. It shows the baby Indominus hatching.
Just look at that thing! It looks like it hated being born! It just looks like it hates the very concept of life, so it kills everything else living! This creature truly was the new “attraction” we needed to go back to the theater. If it was just any other dinosaur, I don’t think people would care.
I personally thought that taking the direction of a monster movie was a good move on the filmmakers’ part. What I liked about the featured monster was how it felt like it could be from a completely different movie (which is a good thing, given how it’s an unnatural abomination of science). You never stop learning about its various special abilities, and it always surprises you.
Other than the Indominus, the movie’s other strong points are its characters. I know other reviewers and critics have said that the characterizations were weak in this movie, but I would have to disagree. Of course we won’t get another Dr. Grant, or Ian Malcolm. But the new characters are still very fun and enjoyable. I didn’t think any of them were poorly written or poorly acted. I didn’t even find the kids that annoying. I liked the kids, actually. They’re a lot better than ‘Eric’ from Jurassic Park 3! Or almost any other kid from most movies these days!
Obviously, the best actor in the entire film was Chris Pratt. He is simply perfect in Jurassic World. I liked his charisma, and I loved the character he played, Owen. I especially found Owen’s subplot with the Velociraptors to be the most interesting part of the entire movie. I know a lot of people in general were concerned about him training the Raptors, but I’ll let you know right now that it’s handled very well. That specific subplot was done very well overall.
My second favorite character was Claire, played by Bryce Dallas Howard. She was a little monotone near the beginning, but I think that her character called for her to be a buzzkill. But throughout the rest of the movie, she was a lot more fun. Other characters I liked were Mr. Masrani, played by Irrfan Khan, Omar Sy’s character, friend of Owen, Vincent D’Onofrio as Hoskins, and especially Lauren Lapkus and Jake Johnson’s characters.
The actors all do a very great job, and they delivered performances that balanced the humor and thrilling aspects of the film. Yes, as much of a monster thriller that Jurassic World is, it has a lot of humor in it. And it all works really well! None of the jokes fell flat, and it keeps you laughing… but only when necessary. It wasn’t like Thor: The Dark World’s sudden transition between moods (read my review of it for more details). Jurassic World had the proper amount of humor that was well thought out in its placement and delivery, and believe it or not, that’s a lot harder to do in movies than it sounds.
At its core, Jurassic World is a thriller, and it has thrills. I DARE to say it has more thrills than the first movie and second movie. There’s more action, more death, more of that lovely chaos, and it looks awesome! It had me jumping quite a bit! It had the whole theater going! It was just so darn exciting, too! I was cheering and hollering and applauding and going crazy along with the rest of the theater (which was packed)! I’ll admit, Jurassic World may not be as deep as the first two movies, but it sure is a damn fun time! The last time I was this excited in a movie was when I went to see Godzilla 2014 last year.
I don’t think I can express how fun this movie is. Words can’t do the job. It’s like Christmas morning, while high on meth and cocaine, while riding a roller coaster that was rigged by someone from Mad Max that’s also about to fall off the rails at 120 miles per hour (you can quote me on that). That’s how pumped this movie got me. I can only hope that’s how pumped it gets others! I wasn’t this pumped when I saw Furious 7! I wasn’t this thrilled when I saw Mad Max: Fury Road! I wasn’t this excited when I saw... Avengers: Age of Ultron! Yes! I had more fun at this than Avengers!
The only downsides I really saw with this movie were 2 things. 1: The musical score, while freaking great, wasn’t as memorable as I’d have liked it to be. Maybe I was too high on dinosaur action to notice, so I guess I’ll have to see it again. Secondly, the CGI wasn’t as good as I know it can be. I’m a person that loves and appreciates CGI (more than others do these days), and I did notice some practical effects in this movie as well, which I must appreciate, but I didn’t think that the CGI was as perfect as it can be. Don’t get me wrong, it looked great, I loved the effects, and the CGI artists and other special effects crews did a fantastic job, but I think it could have been done a tiny bit better.
In conclusion, Jurassic World is a blood-pumping, heart-stopping, ass-kicking fun thrill ride of a monster movie. The ending fight is on the same legendary scale as Godzilla VS King Kong. It is completely worthy of the title, and makes up for the failure of Jurassic Park 3… mostly by ignoring it entirely, like everyone already did. I liked the new direction they took with it. The filmmakers put in a lot of heart and effort into making this work. The whole cast and crew were Jurassic Park fans, and it was their goal to make the best movie they could for other fans. Even Chris Pratt himself said something along the lines of, “It’s a movie by fans, for fans”. And these fans did a wonderful job! They didn’t recapture or recreate the magic of the original. They brought a whole new kind to its audiences. If you can understand that, then you might have as much fun with Jurassic World as I did.
FINAL RATING: 46 / 50
STORY: 4 / 5
ACTING: 4 / 5
CHARACTERS: 5 / 5
CGI/EFFECTS: 4 / 5
ACTION/THRILLS: 5 / 5
SOUNDTRACK: 4 / 5
TONE: 5 / 5
ENJOYABILITY: 5 / 5
REWATCH VALUE: 5 / 5
OWNING VALUE: 5 / 5
My review for the one that never happened, Jurassic Park 3: Here.
Personally, I feel like I have to thank director Colin Trevorrow, the cast, and the crew, for even making this film’s existence possible. Do people even know how long this film was thrown around from writer to writer, how many times the plot was changed, how many delays there were? It’s a miracle that they finally even got the greenlight on it!
It’s definitely one of my Top 5 Favorite Movies of 2015. I’m going to see it again very soon. I did notice that there was one subplot that left a loose end open for a sequel. I won’t spoil anything, but if you pay attention, you’ll notice that a certain character (a scientist) actually escapes the island with potential future plot devices for a potential future movie. If we get one or not (I hope that we do) the title better be “Jurassic War”.
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