Jurassic World; one of the most anticipated films of the summer, stomped into theatres last weekend and in the words of Samuel L. Jackson, “Hold on to your butts.”
The film quickly grossed more than any film’s opening weekend ever at $511.8 million beating out 2011’s Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2. Although the early reports of success make it seem like a box office smash, does the film stack up to the original?
Jurassic World takes place 22 years after the original film, and the movie pays plenty of homage to the original 1993 Steven Spielberg blockbuster Jurassic Park. In this reboot, the original park that Richard Attenborough’s character John Hammond dreamed up has finally become a reality. In fact the park has been around long enough where people are no longer in awe of dinosaurs. In order to drum up more business and bring people back to the park, the science lab, run by Dr. Henry Wu played by BD Wong (Yes, the same character and actor from the original film), creates a new attraction that's bigger, louder, more cool than any other dinosaur. By splicing genes of other dinos together with frog and cuttlefish DNA they are able to “invent” a new dinosaur called Indominus Rex. As we know from previous Jurassic films, that is an awful idea and backfires terribly on the park owner, president, and patrons of Jurassic World.
The film definitely offers action, suspense, and great dinosaur carnage. However, is Jurassic World on the same level as the now classic film Jurassic Park? I would say yes! Jurassic Park was innovative and gave moviegoers, like myself, something many people wanted to see. A great thriller with the main attraction, dinosaurs. I don't think anyone will forget the original scene in Jurassic Park when the T-Rex finally steps out of her paddock and stomps past the SUVs. So how does Jurassic World give us something moviegoers have never seen? Plenty of action from dinosaur fight scenes with both old and new dinosaurs.
The other major similarity between Park and World is that both films had a main character that embodied the film. In Jurassic Park you have the grounded expert Dr. Alan Grant played by Sam Neiil and in Jurassic World you have the ex-military raptor-whisperer Owen played by Chris Pratt. The two character’s couldn’t be more unlike, however both have a way of becoming the main character of films focused primarily on the CGI created dinosaurs rather than the flesh and blood actors. Pratt does a great job in this film and is a shining spot amongst the actors. Two more notable roles from the film are Vincent D’Onofrio’s InGen baddie Hoskins and of course BD Wong reprising his role as Dr. Henry Wu. Perhaps the role that falls the most flat is Bryce Dallas Howard’s Director of Operations Claire. Her performance is passable, but not great, especially stacked up against Pratt and the real stars the dinosaurs.
Getting to see the realization of what John Hammond had intended his park to be prior to the 1993 terror at Isla Nublar was amazing in its own right. Jurassic World offers us a trip down memory lane but at the same time feels fresh and new, something Jurassic Park: Lost World and Jurassic Park III were unable to do. With amazing action sequences, plenty of dino terror, and some smart film making, I give Jurassic World 4 out of 5 stars and I am very excited to see where they take this rebooted film series from here.
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