Review of Jurassic World (2015) by Jim S — 01 Apr 2016

4/2/16.

An epic world of thrills, chills, romance, and of course, lessons in why-you-don't-play-God. Four years after the first Jurassic Park, Universal released a sequel, which wasn't so good, and four years after that, an even worse one. Fourteen years after that, we got a fourth Jurassic movie. Clearly Universal learned their lesson on making sequels (unlike the people in this fictional universe with genetic modification): make it bigger in scope, but keep some humanity in it. After witnessing the birth of the main antagonist of the film (Indominosaurus Rex, an inaccurate name, but try having a four year old say its real one. See: I can't even spell it, or remember it), we meet the Taylors: Mom and Dad (Judy Greer and Andy Buckley) who send their kids Zach and Gray (Nick Robinson and Ty Simpkins) to Jurassic World, the successor to Jurassic Park run by Mom's sister Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard), who starts out as a cold, distant aunt who makes her assistant Zara (Katie McGrath) sheppard the boys around. The beginning is much faster than that of the first Jurassic Park: they start with the boys leaving for Isla Nublar, followed by a park-centric montage set to a newer rendition of the endearing John Williams theme, followed by an inside look at Claire's operation. Instead of being in that exciting montage, Claire meets with representatives of a potential sponsor for their latest exhibit: that dinosaur that hatched in the opening credits: the Indominosaurus Rex. These types of scenes are actually realistic as to how a theme park operates, because while the whole "Spare no expense" thing for John Hammond was fun, those expenses add up, so they eventually had to spare time to get corporate sponsors. Later, we meet Owen Grady (Chris Pratt) a likable, ex-Navy dinosaur tamer (whisperer could also describe it well) who's brought in by Claire and her boss Simon Masrani (Irrfan Khan) to figure out why the Indominus is acting up. What happens after this and Zach and Gray's escape from Zara's supervision is a bigger, badder version of the first (legit) park's containment breach. Everything about it's bigger: the number of people (although they still focus on the small group of the Taylor kids, Claire, and Owen, with various workers and Vincent D'Onforio's character who wants to weaponize the raptors splitting in so the plot can advance), the size of the main antagonist dinosaur, and the stakes (The experts, lawyers, and family members there for the ride on a safety inspection seems microscopic in comparison to 20,000+ lives on the line from an asset containment). Throughout this dinosaur movie, the humanity is not lost: Ty Simpkins performs splendidly as both the excited kid-in-a-dino-theme-park and as the terrified-kid-in-a-dino-theme-park-containment-breach. There's also a little family drama in the Taylor home alluded to, but never touched on beyond one scene in the middle, but doesn't drag down the movie like a certain subplot with a chaos theorist and his stow-away daughter who won't be named here, but if you know what I'm talking about, good for you. Anyway, the plot moves smoothly, no BS, just Indominosaur birth, journey of the brothers, park montage, (spoilers), and adding to the realism of theme park operation: product placement that actually makes sense (You reading this Michael Bay?) and while not entirely adding to the plot, not detracting either, so it makes sense to see a Ben and Jerry's, a Brookstone, and have Verizon Wireless present a new dinosaur. You thought the effects of Jurassic Park (and the idea of dinosaurs being cloned) was special? Try effects that still stick to animatronics where they can, while doing what 90s CGI couldn't (or wouldn't) do, like giant flocks of pterosaurs and GMDs (Genetically Modified Dinosaurs). Michael Giacchino provides a riveting score. Nothing original (that's memorable like the original Jurassic Park overture), but with a little fine tuning and some new parts, we get the world's first genetically modified soundtrack, which also reflects the heightened stakes of 20,000+ people instead of ten (twelve at most?). Jurassic World is not always doom-and-gloom: contrasting personalities of Zach and Gray, of Claire and the Taylor mom, Claire and Owen, this one guy from the control room with an original Jurassic Park t-shirt and Claire, as well as Claire and Simon, make for funny, if not hilarious moments that bring us back to the humanity of the situation. There is profanity, but all of it's called for, and in good taste (unlike a certain t-shirt). All of this makes Jurassic World the Jurassic Park sequel we deserved, but didn't need until now; because every generation needs a reminder of what happens when we play God. This theme is exactly the reason we stick together with film: for survival.

6/13/15.

A whole new world. Of danger. Four years after the first park failed, we learned of a new island. That was stupid and a waste of two whole movies. Now, we see what John Hammond truly wanted: A living, biological attraction to inspire all ages. Not all ages were inspired as seen in the character of Zach (Nick Robinson) older brother of Ray (Ty Simpkins) who was inspired beyond comprehension by what he saw. The film opens with the two brothers setting out to visit their Aunt Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard) a scientist/high ranking authority woman of Jurassic World, who hasn't seen her nephews in seven years. When the boys make it to the park, we get less dinosaur-awe and more park-itself-awe early on. However, like the Park, the World just can't handle what was not meant to be controlled: Life. In this case, it's a new dinosaur, sponsored by (Redacted until they pay me. I know who you are, and so do you). What follows is a large scale repeat of what happened in the first one. I mean they did upgrade the name from Park to World, so of course it gets bigger. Put simply, these are the new roles of the Jurassic Park formula: Alan Grant is replaced by Owen (Chris Pratt in a more serious, but still intense role), Ellie Segler and John Hammond are melded into and replaced with Claire, because she is a scientist, in charge, and her family is endangered. Her character is the most dynamic, because she starts off brushing off her nephews, then becoming genuinely concerned for their safety. Samuel L. Jackson and Dennis Nedry are replaced with Vincent D'Onofrio's Vic Hoskins as the security guy, unrecognizable from his Daredevil role of Wi-(We don't say his name) both in appearance and behvior, but Daredevil aside, he does his job as a callous security man. B.D. Wong replaces himself as Dr. Henry Wu with his older self's Dr. Henry Wu, which helps tie to the original without pulling the mistakes of the other sequels and gives him a legitimate reason to be on the island of Isla Nubar. Speaking of him, other elements of the first movie make reappearances, like Mr. DNA, the dilophosaurus that took Dennis Nedry in the form of a hologram, and even a few shots that strongly evoke the first film while still being its own thing (We may never see a dinosaur eat a goat). The dynamic between Zach and Ray is a different one from John Hammond's grandkids: These two are male, and one is noticeably older than the other, where the previous two looked one-to-three years apart. I am proud to be able to say the CGI on the dinosaurs looked just as special as they were, but they are more blue-tinged than green, which is probably why the Beta of Owen's raptors was named "blue." There was also the same up-close quality to close ups of the dinosaurs that may seem to look like giveaways of their falseness, but seem more tangible and close to the actors than any CGI-mixed-with-live-actors could. Michael Giachianno could never replace John Williams' fanfare, but he could use it appropriately while adding his own tunes to scenes where it would be straight-up inappropriate to copy/pay tribute to John Williams. A world can be just as vibrant as a park, even more in fact. Jurassic Park had good chuckles, but there's a whole world of humor to be dug up in this film. Parents, there is just one s-word, but otherwise, Jurassic World is open for kids and adults. After a radically exciting final act that almost (almost, I must remind you) puts the raptors vs. kids in the kitchen chase to total shame. It also reminds us that unlike the dinosaurs, this film is not a clone of the first one: It is this generation's Jurassic Park, and I bet by the end of their run in theaters, kids will be clamoring to discover new fossils by digging up their backyards. The only thing more awe-inspiring would be an actual dinosaur in person, but since we know that can never happen, I'll take this: A world of excitement, laughter, disaster, and any sequel that can come after. The park is open (To a new generation, and hopefully longer than its first run.).