JURASSIC WORLD (2015 - SCI FI/ACTION/THRILLER) **** out of ***** OR 8 out of 10
(Here we go again. Again)
CAST: Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Vincent D'Onofrio, Irfhan Khan, Nick Robinson, Ty Simpkins, Jake Johnson, Lauren Lapkus, Judy Greer.
DIRECTOR: Colin Trevorrow
WARNING: Some SPOILERS and some concrete examples of Idiots Who Forget The Past Are Doomed to Repeat It - straight ahead....
IT'S LIKE THIS: Clearly forgetting about the major cluster fucks that occurred in JURASSIC PARK, THE LOST WORLD, and JURASSIC PARK III, the corporate dingbats behind the whole "Let's clone dinosaurs and create a theme park" idea decide to try again - and this time they succeed. Well, for the time being, anyway. You see, the new park (termed, um, "Jurassic World") has been operating successfully for ten years - without a single incident. I guess these assholes must have learned a lot from John Hammond's mistakes. Or have they?
Sure enough, just when you'd think that maybe a theme park built around cloned dinosaurs may not be such a bad idea, Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard) the corporate bitch in charge of the park announces they will be introducing their "first genetically-modified hybrid" in response to declining attendance. Something tells me that it will also be your last one, Claire dear. Sure enough, the "mongrel" dinosaur, which apparently is a mix of all sorts of genes and DNA including apparently those of several WWE wrestling champs, gets loose and suddenly it looks like it's not going to be just another boring day at ol' Jurassic World.
Will the new dinosaur, colorfully dubbed the Indomitus Rex (I-Rex?) , going on a rampage through the park, will Claire and her two visiting nephews, Zack & Gray (Nick Robinson & Ty Simpkins) get out alive? What about the the thousands of visitors and personnel? Will the cockamamie crazy plan of raptor wrangler Owen Grady (Chris Pratt) to use his pet Raptors to subdue the I-Rex work? Or will it be yet another bad decision in a long line of bad decisions that started when John Hammond first uttered those unfortunate words over two decades ago: "Hey, what would happen if we somehow got some dino-DNA and created Dino-Land?"
Guess. Idiot.
FINAL ANALYSIS: I remember first watching JURASSIC PARK back in 1993 and feeling both satisfied and unsatisfied at the same time. While it was a first-rate suspense thriller with interesting characters and dynamics, I also felt there could've been more "dino action." In fact, I was very surprised that the battle between the T-Rex and the two surviving raptors was meant to be the climax of the film. Compared to the book, there wasn't as many dinosaurs interactions and attacks.
Then, in 1997, THE LOST WORLD came out, and the reverse happened - there was much more satisfying dinosaur action, but the new characters were also a lot less compelling than the ones in JURASSIC PARK. Then, in 2001, JURASSIC PARK 3 came out and pretty much felt unnecessary, despite adding some new twists to the dino menagerie like the Spinosaurus and Pteranodons. If my beloved Sam Neill hadn't been in it, I would've completely written it off.
Finally, after 14 years, we have the next and most exciting chapter in the JURASSIC franchise. JURASSIC WORLD takes the story into a new and exciting direction, fusing elements of a disaster film like THE TOWERING INFERNO and THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE with the traditional features of the previous JURASSIC films. Here, we have a fully-functioning park, and director Colin Trevorrow brings back the similar sense of wonder that Steven Spielberg brought to the first film. Trevorrow also provides us with engaging characters that are worth rooting for - something that elevated Spielberg's film from the other two that followed it.
The area where JURASSIC WORLD trumps JURASSIC PARK, though, is in the "dino action" area. JURASSIC PARK kept the dinos largely hidden for the first half of the film, similar to how Spielberg handled the Great White shark in his first classic, JAWS, which made for some solid suspense. Unfortunately, the second half of JURASSIC PARK could've had more dino scenes. Fortunately, JURASSIC WORLD more than makes up for this with its endless parade of raptors, T-Rexes, pteranodons, Triceratops, and, of course, the Indomitus Rex (and other suprise guests). The best part is Trevorror does this without sacrificing character dymanic the way THE LOST WORLD and JURASSIC PARK 3 kind of did.
It helps considerably that Trevorrow is working with a solid, vivid cast. Chris Pratt successfully tamps down his goofy side to give Owen Grady some considerable authority and gravity, demonstrating that comedy isn't his only forte. There are those who say that Pratt is being considered to play Indiana Jones in the reboot of that franchise, and given his charismatic but no-nonsense turn here, I think that he's a good fit to inherit the Fedora hat and whip from Harrison Ford.
Similary, the character of Claire Dearing could've been a one-note icy bitch in the hands of a lazy actress, but Bryce Dallas Howard gives texture and nuance to her portrayal of Claire. She plays her cool with a definite edge, but never cold, and hints at some softness behind her all-busines facade. It helps a lot that Howard has a nice chemistry with Pratt, and their "fire-and-ice" roles actually work well with one another. As Trevorrow said in an interview, JURASSIC WORLD is actually much more the story of Claire than anyone else, tracking how the terrifying events at the park turn her from a driven, corporate shark to someone who sacrifices it all to save her friends and family. Howard most definitely makes the role work.
Ty Simpkins and Nick Robinson are cute as Gray and Zack, the nephews who awaken Claire's protective maternal instinct as they all try to survive. Jake Johnson and Lauren Lapkus are good comic support as members of Claire's operations staff. Irfhan Khan give some nice layers to his role of the billionaire backer of the park who realizes too late just how imprecise he has been in his oversight of it. Finally, there's Vincent D'Onofrio as the usual mercenary who wants to use the dinosaurs for nefarious reasons. The character may be the thinnest and most one-note of the group, but at least D'Onofrio makes him entertaining.
All in all, Colin Trevorrow manages the neat trick of creating an exciting action-thriller full of awesome dinosaurs action - without losing sight of the humanity amid all the chaos. That is quite a feat. Bravo...
