Jurassic World - directed by Colin Trevorrow
Starring: Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Vincent D'Onofrio, Ty Simpkins, Omar Sy, Judy Greer, BD Wong, Irrfan Khan, Nick Robinson, Katie McGrath
Running Time: 124 minutes
Rated: M - Dinosaur violence on a level slightly lower than Jurassic Park
The original Jurassic Park trilogy is one of only a few that features three good movies - no duds.
Yes- the quality declined from movie to movie but that is more a testament to the excellence of the first film.
I enjoy every movie - very much.
And that is the main reason that I have been looking forward to this new movie.
Fourteen years have passed since Jurassic Park III and in that time the park on Isla Nublar has been rebuilt and has been running successfully for a decade.
I'd love to see the negotiations that took place to convince authorities that this was a good idea after all of the deaths there and the rampant T-Rex damage to San Diego.
This being the fourth Jurassic Park movie the director odds now stack at 50/50.... half of them directed by Spielberg (the first and best two) and two not.
The last one was Joe Johnston who has always been great and has given us the double delights of "The Rocketeer" and "Captain America: The First Avenger" but whose work on Jurassic Park III was really just adequate.
Now Colin Trevorrow takes a swing with only some TV, a documentary and one small budget flick to his credit.
(That would be the rather nifty "Safety Not Guaranteed")
Beginning with some very effective close ups and cleverly misleading shots "Jurassic World" wastes no time in setting up the story and the players.
Two brothers- a teen and a pre-teen are sent on a trip to Isal Nublar where Jurassic World has been open for ten years.
It is run by their Aunt Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard) - a woman who is far too busy to answer phone calls from family let alone spend time with them.
To be fair she has a hell of a job running this huge place.
Director Trevorrow does a superb job early on in showing the scope and beauty of the park.
It is a genuine spectacle and looks to have been designed with a lot of Disneyland in mind.
There is the main street, the monorail, the lagoon, the visitor centre, the hotel and row upon row of souvenir and food stalls.
It is very much a mini-city and is very impressively realised on the screen.
The stars of the show are of course the dinosaurs and they really are flawless.
All of the old favourites are here- the Triceratops, Ankylosaurs, Brachiosaurus, Gallimimus etc.
My personal favourites have always been the velociraptors and they have never looked better than they do here.
The movements of these lethal beasts and the excellent detail on their ever scanning eyes is terrific.
Watching a pack of raptors at full spring making their way through jungle with the unique sway and their heads fixed on their targets is one of the best examples of how far special effects have come since 1993.
Of the new creatures the giant Indominus Rex is the best.
In Michael Crichton's Jurassic Park sequel novel "The Lost World" there was a dinosaur that sadly didn't make it to the big screen.
Much of this animal has been transplanted into the Indominus Rex- one feature specifically.
For fear of spoiling anything I will not elaborate further but this enormous creation is glorious and very intimidating.
A lot of this big fellas capabilities are revealed with the arrival of Owen (Chris Pratt) who is very much the exposition device.
We have seen Owen perform the much discussed velociraptor wrangling already in a very effective scene but when he pairs up with love interest Claire he is employed to impart snippets of information to prepare us for when it all hits the fan.
And soon enough of course it does.
Things going wrong is what we are here to see and the movie delivers for the most part.
It is harder to impress audiences with dinosaur effects now than when the groundbreaking Jurassic Park came out in 1993 but there is enough action here to keep things rocking along at a decent and exciting pace.
Predictability creeps in unfortunately.
You should be able to pick who will get their comeuppances very early on and in attempting to pay homage to the films before it "Jurassic World" often merely rips them off.
Instead of a T Rex attacking two terrified children in a jeep this time we have Indominus attempting to snack on them in a gyroscopic vehicle.
The two scenes are effectively identical save for the fact the Spielberg did it better.
More worrisome is Owen's 'relationship' with the velociraptors.
It rewards early on with the startlingly good 'man falls into pen' sequence but later the idea that these things can be controlled causes some issues of believability.
If you have been concerned about this already you may find that it is not as bad as you'd thought but it still comes close to pushing the bounds of credibility.
I see what they are trying to do and they almost get away with it.
My main gripe is that the script throws in a lot of ground to cover.
More than it can do so effectively.
There is the career focused Aunt with no time for family, a romance, children worried about a possible divorce, teenage hormones, the perils of playing God with science and corporate skullduggery.
Much of this was covered in the very first movie which did a better job in juggling them.
Here they feel tacked on - afterthoughts in some cases.
The oldest brother Zack (Nick Robinson) is seen with a girlfriend and later eyeing up several different young women at the park.
This aspect like the divorce concerns do not go anywhere. They are not setups for a later payoff and seem merely to exist to give some depth to characters who really only exist as dinosaur prey.
No doubt this is the by-product of a script that is in many ways a remake of the first movie- certainly structurally it is.
And there are many, many nods to it with references to people, the appearance of some old locations and equipment and the remaking of at least two classic Jurassic Park sequences.
All in all "Jurassic World" is very enjoyable and looks utterly amazing.
The 3D it should be noted is almost entirely wasted - I cannot recall a single moment where it was used to any great effect.
Special credit for the sound design - it is sensationally great. The sound of raptors squealing, engines roaring and large dinosaur feet pounding the earth have never been more disturbingly well realised.
The charm of Chris Pratt goes a long way towards making some of the script problems less problematic. He is caught in a role that will not allow for his usual laconic swagger to come through and it is only because he is so good at that that it is missed.
This is a more serious character and rightly so.
I was also impressed with Bryce Dallas Howard who has the daunting task of making the cold, drive workaholic Claire at all sympathetic.
With the aid of talent, some closeups, a tank top and the re-enactment of a classic Jurassic Park moment she does very, very well.
Ty Simpkins takes the honours from the younger cast members.
Great in many superb movies like "Iron Man 3" and "Little Children" he is unsurprisingly solid here.
And that phrase applies to the movie on the whole- unsurprisingly solid.
We have not had a bad Jurassic Park movie yet and this one ranks between the first and second for me.
More towards "The Lost World" than "Jurassic Park" but that still makes it an exciting, spectacular romp that will not disappoint.
Should a sequel be required the hooks are there.
Obviously the special effects are front and centre and cannot be faulted but I missed Spielberg's adeptness at building tension through a scene.
That is nothing against Trevorrow who does sterling work.
A little less slavishness to paying homage to the original and some fat trimming from the script would have bumped it a little higher for me but I still had a lot of fun with this one.
RATING: 80 / 100
CONCLUSION: It's the second best Jurassic Park movie let down only by predictability and an ending that underwhelms ever so slightly.
Running Time: 124 minutes
Rated: M - Dinosaur violence on a level slightly lower than Jurassic Park
The original Jurassic Park trilogy is one of only a few that features three good movies - no duds.
Yes- the quality declined from movie to movie but that is more a testament to the excellence of the first film.
I enjoy every movie - very much.
And that is the main reason that I have been looking forward to this new movie.
Fourteen years have passed since Jurassic Park III and in that time the park on Isla Nublar has been rebuilt and has been running successfully for a decade.
I'd love to see the negotiations that took place to convince authorities that this was a good idea after all of the deaths there and the rampant T-Rex damage to San Diego.
This being the fourth Jurassic Park movie the director odds now stack at 50/50.... half of them directed by Spielberg (the first and best two) and two not.
The last one was Joe Johnston who has always been great and has given us the double delights of "The Rocketeer" and "Captain America: The First Avenger" but whose work on Jurassic Park III was really just adequate.
Now Colin Trevorrow takes a swing with only some TV, a documentary and one small budget flick to his credit.
(That would be the rather nifty "Safety Not Guaranteed")
Beginning with some very effective close ups and cleverly misleading shots "Jurassic World" wastes no time in setting up the story and the players.
Two brothers- a teen and a pre-teen are sent on a trip to Isal Nublar where Jurassic World has been open for ten years.
It is run by their Aunt Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard) - a woman who is far too busy to answer phone calls from family let alone spend time with them.
To be fair she has a hell of a job running this huge place.Director Trevorrow does a superb job early on in showing the scope and beauty of the park.
It is a genuine spectacle and looks to have been designed with a lot of Disneyland in mind.
There is the main street, the monorail, the lagoon, the visitor centre, the hotel and row upon row of souvenir and food stalls.
It is very much a mini-city and is very impressively realised on the screen.
The stars of the show are of course the dinosaurs and they really are flawless.
All of the old favourites are here- the Triceratops, Ankylosaurs, Brachiosaurus, Gallimimus etc.
My personal favourites have always been the velociraptors and they have never looked better than they do here.
The movements of these lethal beasts and the excellent detail on their ever scanning eyes is terrific.
Watching a pack of raptors at full spring making their way through jungle with the unique sway and their heads fixed on their targets is one of the best examples of how far special effects have come since 1993.
Of the new creatures the giant Indominus Rex is the best.
In Michael Crichton's Jurassic Park sequel novel "The Lost World" there was a dinosaur that sadly didn't make it to the big screen.
Much of this animal has been transplanted into the Indominus Rex- one feature specifically.
For fear of spoiling anything I will not elaborate further but this enormous creation is glorious and very intimidating.
A lot of this big fellas capabilities are revealed with the arrival of Owen (Chris Pratt) who is very much the exposition device.
We have seen Owen perform the much discussed velociraptor wrangling already in a very effective scene but when he pairs up with love interest Claire he is employed to impart snippets of information to prepare us for when it all hits the fan.
And soon enough of course it does.
Things going wrong is what we are here to see and the movie delivers for the most part.
It is harder to impress audiences with dinosaur effects now than when the groundbreaking Jurassic Park came out in 1993 but there is enough action here to keep things rocking along at a decent and exciting pace.
Predictability creeps in unfortunately.You should be able to pick who will get their comeuppances very early on and in attempting to pay homage to the films before it "Jurassic World" often merely rips them off.
Instead of a T Rex attacking two terrified children in a jeep this time we have Indominus attempting to snack on them in a gyroscopic vehicle.
The two scenes are effectively identical save for the fact the Spielberg did it better.
More worrisome is Owen's 'relationship' with the velociraptors.
It rewards early on with the startlingly good 'man falls into pen' sequence but later the idea that these things can be controlled causes some issues of believability.
If you have been concerned about this already you may find that it is not as bad as you'd thought but it still comes close to pushing the bounds of credibility.
I see what they are trying to do and they almost get away with it.
My main gripe is that the script throws in a lot of ground to cover.
More than it can do so effectively.
There is the career focused Aunt with no time for family, a romance, children worried about a possible divorce, teenage hormones, the perils of playing God with science and corporate skullduggery.
Much of this was covered in the very first movie which did a better job in juggling them.
Here they feel tacked on - afterthoughts in some cases.
The oldest brother Zack (Nick Robinson) is seen with a girlfriend and later eyeing up several different young women at the park.
This aspect like the divorce concerns do not go anywhere. They are not setups for a later payoff and seem merely to exist to give some depth to characters who really only exist as dinosaur prey.
No doubt this is the by-product of a script that is in many ways a remake of the first movie- certainly structurally it is.
And there are many, many nods to it with references to people, the appearance of some old locations and equipment and the remaking of at least two classic Jurassic Park sequences.
 |
| This is what we are here to see and the scenes of dinosaurs rampaging do not disappoint |
The 3D it should be noted is almost entirely wasted - I cannot recall a single moment where it was used to any great effect.
Special credit for the sound design - it is sensationally great. The sound of raptors squealing, engines roaring and large dinosaur feet pounding the earth have never been more disturbingly well realised.
The charm of Chris Pratt goes a long way towards making some of the script problems less problematic. He is caught in a role that will not allow for his usual laconic swagger to come through and it is only because he is so good at that that it is missed.
This is a more serious character and rightly so.
I was also impressed with Bryce Dallas Howard who has the daunting task of making the cold, drive workaholic Claire at all sympathetic.
With the aid of talent, some closeups, a tank top and the re-enactment of a classic Jurassic Park moment she does very, very well.
Ty Simpkins takes the honours from the younger cast members.
Great in many superb movies like "Iron Man 3" and "Little Children" he is unsurprisingly solid here.
And that phrase applies to the movie on the whole- unsurprisingly solid.
We have not had a bad Jurassic Park movie yet and this one ranks between the first and second for me.
More towards "The Lost World" than "Jurassic Park" but that still makes it an exciting, spectacular romp that will not disappoint.
Should a sequel be required the hooks are there.
Obviously the special effects are front and centre and cannot be faulted but I missed Spielberg's adeptness at building tension through a scene.
That is nothing against Trevorrow who does sterling work.
A little less slavishness to paying homage to the original and some fat trimming from the script would have bumped it a little higher for me but I still had a lot of fun with this one.
No comments:
Post a Comment