Jurassic World preaches a cautionary tale about the dangers of building a meaner, cooler, nastier monster purely for the sake of money. The film ends up being a bit of an example of that very message, a film purely after the box office grab that gleefully references the original while retaining very little of the spirit of Spielberg's now classic.
That film was chock full of smart characters doing very smart things; a mathematician, archeologists, evan Hammond was a brilliant business man. Aside from perhaps Owen, played by a dull Chris Pratt, the characters in Jurassic World are brainless and do some downright stupid things. The film takes place in the same world as the other films but yet never explains why such a park would exist given the past events. Nor does it explain why no one seems to have learned anything about how to contain dinosaurs from any of the other films. This problem haunts the film as logical questions begin to take the loyal fan's brain over and detract from the relentless dino-action. For instance, in the first film there is something called the lysine contingency. A safe-guard in place to kill the dinosaurs within 48 hours should they ever escape. Why hasn't a similar plan been placed in Jurassic World?
The opening moments do build a wonderful vision of what a park of this magnitude might look like. A majority of the attractions and rides feel logical and plausible. This helps create some early magic. However the dinosaurs have not been given the same design care. One of the velociraptors is part blue, a side effect of frog genes no doubt but the film makes no attempt at explaining this. It is simply there to look cool.
The film follows Claire, Bryce Dallas Howard, as her two nephews come to visit her at the park. She is head of development or something like that and has concocted a plan to create a hybrid dinosaur, the I. Rex. Of course, this dino is going to escape and wreak havok. Enter in Owen, an animal trainer who has been working on training velociraptors. Trust me this idea plays out as dumb as it sounds. Owen's boss Vic, Vincent D'Onofrio, wants to use the raptors as military weapons ands sees his chance to test them when I. Rex escapes.
The film is then a series of occasionally thrilling action scenes. Director Colin Trevorrow is able to create some great effects and fun moments. There is a great initial scene with the I. Rex and Owen meeting for instance. However the characters are so stupid throughout that it becomes hard to get wrapped up in the bigger story. The film constantly calls back to the original film and yet none of the character seem to know anything about it. This makes no sense and it hurts the plausibility of the film. The original had characters worth coming back to because they felt intelligent.
Jurassic World is ripe with product placement, sloppy references to the original film and dumb characters. It also isn't entirely without moments of wonderment and excitement. Jake Johnson is the one standout performance. He is witty and adds a much needed funny bone to the film. The choice to make Pratt play the whole film deadly serious, underutilizes that actor's talents. While it is clear Trevorrow loves the material, he only wants to make it louder, cooler and more monster-like. The film is closer to a Godzilla pick than Jurassic Park in that the dinosaurs only serve as monsters and props. The first film treated these animals with respect and awe. In the end Jurassic World becomes the I. Rex, a creation driven by commercial interests .
2.5/5
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