Jurassic World - Review

Welcome, to a place where nothing can possibly go wrong...

Right? Right? I mean seriously...right?

The Plot

After nearly two decades, John Hammond's dream of creating a fully functional theme park with living dinosaurs has come true in the form of JURASSIC WORLD. But over the years since its opening, the public is no longer impressed with seeing a dinosaur anymore. That is when corporate pressures the current Operations Manager of the park, Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard), to come up with new attractions to get attendance spiking again. The solution: creating a new, genetically modified dinosaur that is bigger, scarier, and with more teeth. This doesn't sit well with the park's raptor handler, Owen Grady (Chris Pratt), who believes the creation and treatment of the new dinosaur could lead to disaster. And it proves right when the monstrosity outsmarts its handlers by escaping and killing everything in its path. Now Claire must team up with Owen to not only stop the monster she created, but to save her two nephews (Nick Robinson and Ty Simpkons) who are visiting the Park.

Review

I know that plot synopsis seems long, but that is not even close to covering the other plots that are happening in this movie. And there are many, but the one I stated above is the clear plot. Which automatically brings me to my first negative. There are too many plots going on in the film when the focus should've been concentrated on the premise that was promoted in the movie. Now, don't get me wrong, what was promised is pretty prominent, but it gets weighted down by so many unnecessary plot points.

Don't take this the wrong way. I highly enjoy the film. But I find it necessary to disclose what bugged me in the first place. And the multiple plot problem stems mostly from the lack of characterization and focus on a central character for the audience to latch on to. This problem starts mainly because it opens the film with the two kids played by Nick Robinson and Ty Simpkons. Both of them are phenomenal actors... in other movies. Here they are passable child actors and set up to be the audience's point of view as visitors of the theme park. The problem is there isn't enough development for either of them to make us want to remain invested in their side of the story. Robinson's character comes off as too much of a bully and unfaithful to his girlfriend back home. Simpkons is just a child with no real personality other than a fascination with dinosaurs. Had they been handled like the kids in the first Jurassic Park movie as another obstacle for the clear main character to handle, then I would've been fine with their presence, despite it being a lazy throwback. But we didn't get a lazy throwback, just lazy character writing.

It takes a while before the movie really locks on to the film's true main characters, Bryce Dallas Howard's Claire Dearing and Chris Pratt's Owen Grady. The movie would've been a lot stronger had it began with both of them from the start, rather than the children who gradually become an after thought in the film. While Owen may be the most fascinating character, due to his ability to train raptors, and Claire has the clear character arc of the story, they are both still just as poorly underwritten as the other characters in the film. Pratt's Owen is the badass, grizzled hunk and Howard's Claire is a workaholic who has to learn to loosen up. Characters that literally could've been played by anybody, but we're just thankful that it's these two who are casted. If anything, Pratt's turn as Owen shows the world that he's very capable of becoming Indiana Jones, if a film is to ever be made. And Howard shows incredible endurance by going through this whole ordeal in High Heels. Again, these are stock characters who are more interesting than the others, but the talent casted as them seems wasted.

Stock characters is going to come up a lot if I keep going about the rest of the cast, so I'll just sum it up here. Everyone is a stock cliche character in this film. Irrfan Khan plays an eccentric billionaire. Jake Johnson plays a nerdy computer guy. Omar Sy plays the foreign sidekick. And Vincent D'Onofrio plays the evil military commander. All of them, including the main ones, are stock characters who could've been spun into far more interesting ways, but they aren't. Which is surprising because director Colin Trevorrow and writer Derek Connolly have shown they are fully capable of crafting interesting characters in their debut film, Safety Not Guaranteed, but for some reason here they are completely lacking. But where they both do excel at, is delivering the spectacle the audience desires.

Yes it takes nearly 30 minutes before a fully fledged dinosaur is seen. But once they are showcased, the movie suddenly gets a thousand times better. Nothing can beat the sheer spectacle of seeing these majestic creatures on the big screen once again. But even as the movie states, the audience wants more. And what Trevorrow and Connolly devise is definitely a worthy villain for this outing of the franchise. That villain being the Indominus Rex, a monstrosity spliced together from several animals, not just dinosaurs, in order to be exploited for the audience's enjoyment. Though the only audience who would enjoy such a thing is us, the viewers, not the park attendees who have to run for their lives from this monster. And in order to stop this monster, the Park managers require the utilization of a controversial story device that has been criticized by fans.

The training of the raptors has been constantly complained about by fans as a terrible way of destroying one of the best villains in the series. However those complaints prove to be ill informed, as it is pretty clear in the film that these things can't be tamed and are still extremely dangerous. They may have a relationship with Pratt's Owen, but it is only with Owen. They are not docile, they are still animals and will follow whoever is the alpha, which Owen has worked hard on becoming their alpha. What is even more surprising is that the relationship between Owen and his raptors, particularly the one named Blue, is probably the most compelling relationship in the movie. And come on, watching Chris Pratt hunt the Indominus Rex with his raptor pack is awesome! As is the rest of the dinosaur action in the movie, which gets pretty graphic more so than I thought it would. Particularly regarding Katie McGrath's character and her encounter with several dinosaurs standing out as the one that will stick in people's memories. Trust me, if you don't know who she is, you will remember her.

Final Thoughts

While that may sound like a mostly negative review, I really mean it by saying once the dinosaurs enter the picture, the movie drastically improves into a spectacle. Is it a worthy follow up in the Jurassic Park legacy? I believe it is. Does it surpass the first movie? No it doesn't. Does it surpass the second one? For me personally, no it doesn't. Does it surpass the third one? Yes it does by the power of a thousand. The dinosaur action is spectacular, the monstrous new villain is terrifying, and there is enough likability in the two leads to make this a completely watchable experience. The movie delivers what it promises: a damn good time in the theater! 

SCORE: 7.5/10 - Weak start, weak characters, extraordinary spectacle, terrifying villain