Jurassic World review

Alright, let us forget that Jurassic Park: The lost World and Jurassic Park III ever existed. Why? Well because Jurassic World has done just that.

 

Jurassic World tells the tale of two brothers, Zach and Grey, on a X-mas vacation at a theme park full of dinosaurs. See Jurassic park fell flat, but after 20+ years it is a thriving theme park and now known as Jurassic World. Wouldn’t you know it, Zach and Grey’s aunt Claire runs the day to day operations of the park. Hmmmm….this seems familiar. Zach and Grey head out to explore the world that is Jurassic and of course run into dino troubles!

Jump back a second here…..

Now it seems that the theme park is losing money and interest with people. Because you know how boring dinosaurs are right. Anyway the park scientists have been cooking up a sweet new dino hybrid named the Indominus Rex (sounds like a lame college radio band). This new hybrid is supposed to be all the rage (since it was spliced together with all manner of crazy stuff) and will get investors and visitors super excited! However, it all goes to hell when the damn super hybrid Indominus Rex escapes and wreaks havoc on the other dinosaurs and people in the park.

Jump over to this guy, Owen, who is training Raptors to obey commands so they won’t eat people I guess. This of course leads to Owen and Claire trying to rescue the boys, not get eaten and save the day all at the same time. Hmmm…..sounds familiar still.

Now various dinos are loose. The park attendees are in peril. Triceratops pony rides! The military arm of IGEN is on scene to hunt down the Indominus Rex. Wow the great white shark population must be taking a serious hit if they are being fed to a Mosasaur twice a day. The raptors are weaponized. Nick from New Girl has a fantastic moustache! The kill count is rising! Kids in constant peril! Whatever will happen!?

Now I went into this nearly blind. All I knew was that there were dinosaurs, kids, Starlord and a new super dinosaur on the loose. I had very low expectations.  After it was all over I really enjoyed the hell out of this movie! It is just really damn fun and ridiculous in all the right ways!

Indominus Rex or the Pepsi-saurus

The plot is not complex. The characters are all established and they all get their own special screen time that show cases their relationships, strengths and weaknesses throughout the film. The pacing is good. The movie doesn’t just rush ahead to get to the dinosaur carnage. You get to see a lot of the ins and outs of Jurassic World before it all falls apart. Hmmmm….very familiar again.

There is a ton of familiarity going on in Jurassic World. So much so that it really feels like a direct sequel to Jurassic Park then the other two films. That was probably another reason I enjoyed this movie as much as I did. The subtle and not so subtle nods to the original were fun. That original score that we all know (and should love) being used on and off was stellar! The use of lost kids in the park. The discovery of the ruins of the original park. Those red and grey 1992 Jeep Wranglers. The same scientist making giant reptiles in the lab. The red flares. Hell even the cartoon DNA strand was present. All of this and more was great nostalgia and helped tie this to the original film more than the other two.

Hey I'm that scientist guy and I'm back as that scientist guy!

The action was to be expected with a lot of yelling, biting, chasing, clawing, jumping, screaming and various dinosaur noises. There were two action pieces that stood above the rest. The first was the absurdity of Owen leading a quartet of velociraptors into battle while riding a motorcycle. This was just beyond silly. However, that is why it was awesome! The  second was the final showdown that had me cackling madly in my seat. The final conflict with the Indominus Rex would put most Godzilla battles on Monster Island to shame! It took only one small phrase from the terrified kid, Grey, to realize who was going to take showdown with the nigh unstoppable Indominus Rex. Any fan of dinosaurs, sci-fi, and giant monster movies (you know…like me) will just love this last action bit!

The C.G.I. in parts was really damn sweet, however, at times it just wasn’t great. It was mostly during the close up shots. Where the original film used models, here it was just more computer animation. Sure it works, but it just doesn’t seem as real as the first film. I guess there is something about a articulated dino model that seems a lot more realistic close up than a computer generated one. It is just weird that a 22 year old movie has better effects than now. Give me a close up of a C.G.I. dinosaur and that is cool. Give me a robot model of the same dinosaur close up and it almost seems real.

Jurassic World does not hold the movie magic that Jurassic Park did for me all those years ago. That being said it is way better that he previous sequels. It is also just a really fun popcorn munching action movie! A good time for any fan of giant reptiles and science gone wrong.

ASIDE:

Yes, there is more going on here besides action based around dinosaurs eating other animals. There is the bit about commercialism, corporate greed, and anti-military stuff. We all get that. There were underlining messages in all the other films too.

Then there is all the sexism, anti-feminism and what not in the film. That has been swirling around this movie. This is what is really annoying.

"Oh no! The personal agendas have struck movies again."
"They're annoying for sport"

It is first and foremost a damn movie about dinosaurs and people trying to not get eaten by them. Stop trying to make it anything else than that. This is not an essay on gender politics based on an dinosaur island theme park off Costa Rica. Looking for whatever proper gender roles you agree/disagree with (or any other political, world or personal leanings )in a mindless summer blockbuster is pure insanity!

You go see Jurassic World for dinosaur shenanigans, not to push an agenda.

All of you from ever side! Just stop this nonsensical shit and enjoy a movie!