Review of Jurassic World (2015) by Dana F — 29 Jun 2017

I watched this movie against my better judgment, and as it turns out, my judgment was correct. This movie is basically just a rehash of the original film. I mean, they didn't even try to change it up, it is exactly the same formula, with exactly the same characters.

..which are in and of themselves formulaic archetypes: the control freak; the voice of reason/good guy; the corporate douchebag; the naïve kids (with weirdly specific skills/knowledge that just so happen to come into play); the security nerd; etc.

At the very least, it seems to be somewhat self-aware of its lack of originality, since the premise is pretty meta (i.e., the park/studio had to invent a bigger and badder dinosaur in order to attract visitors/moviegoers).

This movie was fun, exciting, and groundbreaking in 1993...now it's just tired. Action/adventure films have evolved since then, and so should this film have evolved into something new and at least a little different.

Funny that a movie about innovation contains so little of it. Aside from that, the story is stupid, the dialogue is corny, and the acting is sub-par at best. Even Chris Pratt, who has charisma coming out his ears, seems wooden delivering his lines.

And he and Bryce Dallas Howard have zero chemistry, the inevitable romantic arc is totally forced as these two people never once seem to even like each other. I will say that the visual effects are outstanding, as those dinosaurs look pretty damn real.

Other than that, the only good thing to come out of this movie is a funny zookeeper internet meme.