This summer, dinosaurs came roaring back onto the big screen in Universal’s highly anticipated latest entry in the Jurassic franchise, Jurassic World. So far the Chris Pratt led film is shattering all kinds of box-office records and has proven to be the highlight of Universal studios’ monster year. With hits like Pitch Perfect 2 and Furious 7 already making 2015 a success for the studio, the latest Jurassic movie is on pace to be their biggest hit ever. There was never any doubt that this movie would make money, but I myself did not expect the absurd amount of success this movie is experiencing. I guess it just goes to show that the luster of the ‘93 classic Jurassic Park was enough of a draw for moviegoers to revisit the famous island, despite two hugely disappointing sequels.
To my surprise, Jurassic World succeeded in capturing just enough of the original's magic to become a success. There is no doubt that it is a flawed movie, which I will highlight later, but Jurassic World is a very thrilling and exciting movie, that owes a lions share of its appeal to leading man Chris Pratt. His charisma and starpower help propel the movie to new heights of excitement, and the scenes with him are undoubtedly the most interesting. His character, Owen, is the head velociraptor trainer at the reopened and revamped park, and his relationship with the raptors is one of the better plotlines in the movie, as it touches on the man vs. nature themes that were prevalent in Jurassic Park. Speaking of plotlines, an over abundance of these proved to be the movies achilles heel. Jurassic World had somewhat of a meandering plot, always shifting from what’s actually stimulating, to pointless backstory between two kids that never really goes anywhere. Their lives are needlessly fleshed out in detail, details that never become relevant again. These two brothers, Zach and Grey Mitchell (played by Nick Robinson and Ty Simpkins, respectively) are not lame characters persee, but they are somewhat distracting at times, as their relationship sometimes comes to the forefront too often for a summer monster movie. Another distracting plotline is that of Vic Hoskins, played by Vincent D'onofrio. Hoskins wants to try and weaponize the raptors for the military, and yes that idea is so stupid it hurts. Unfortunately this nonsensical idea happens to be a big part of the story, as Hoskins’ militaristic plans are just another problem on top of the violent dinosaur on the loose. There are, as I expected, moments that are unbearably cheesy and unrealistic, but hey, two kids could easily start up a car with no gas that has been abandoned for a very long time in just two minutes of movie time, this is true.
Up to this point I have probably made Jurassic World seem like a bad movie. That is not true, as this movie does have some strengths. For one, the main antagonist, the Indominus rex, is a very scary and very entertaining dinosaur that proves to be a more than worthy adversary. This along with very well done action sequences and constant thrill make Jurassic World a thoroughly entertaining ride. I am not the biggest fanboy of the Jurassic franchise, but I still found this movie fun. The first 20 minutes or so are pretty tedious to be honest, but this movie is rescued by a very exhilarating final act and solid lead performances from Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard.
B