There’s no denying that the original Jurassic Park was a
cinematic game-changer - a shining of example of who Steven Spielberg once was
as a director back when he was still Steven Spielberg. In the original Jurassic Park, the dinosaurs and the
musical score were very much the stars, much more so than the cast, which featured solid
but not spectacular leads in Sam Neil and Laura Dern, and the finished product was a grand epic that would define a generation of action films. In the twenty-one years since the original,
Universal has produced a couple of less than inspired sequels that have found a myriad of reasons to
bring viewers back to this world, but those films were void of the
majesty and wonder associated with the original - opting instead to focus on destruction and
mayhem. The best thing I can say about director Colin Trevorrow's Jurassic World, is that it successfully brings back some of that original magic.
The second best thing going for the movie is that the set up
makes sense. There are no plans to bring
the dinosaurs to the U.S. or some elaborate far-fetched setup in which a kid gets
lost on an unregulated island of dinosaurs.
In fact, this film more or less ignores the events of the last two
outings. In Jurassic World, big business
is the driving force and why wouldn’t it.
And if you miss the parallels between the machinations behind Jurassic
World and the Parks and Resorts group at The Walt Disney Company, then you are
not really paying attention. All the merchandising and Disney-fying of Jurassic World aside, as
as the camera moves through the park and the score builds to a crescendo, it’s
hard to not feel a bit of that original wonder.
One of the main differences between Jurassic World above Jurassic
Park is that the casts are more the stars in this film. Chris Pratt, who is suddenly (and deservingly
so) one of the biggest action stars in the industry, is very much the lead of
this movie. He has the look and feel of the kind of protagonist who can carry a film of this size and scale on his shoulders. Sadly, it seems like Pratt
has been reigned in by director Colin Trevorrow's direction, as his performance is mostly
void of the goofy tongue-in-cheek sarcasm that has been the staple of his best
work. Don’t get me wrong. Pratt is good, but he could have been even better.
Bryce Dallas Howard is a nice contrast to Pratt. No stranger to action films, Howard knows how to hit the right notes in expository and action scenes alike. There are some choices that are made in her
character that are curious and my sense is that there are tidbits of backstory
that were left on the cutting room floor.
If those sacrifices are made for the sake of pacing though, then it is
well worth it, because the first act is an intentionally methodical
reintroduction to the all things Jurassic, and to linger in this place a minute
longer than it does would have been too long.
And no discussion of the film would be complete without
talking about the dinosaurs. This is
where the film runs into a few problems, but mostly because it uses the
dinosaurs as a melting pot for hot button issues (i.e. genetic manipulation,
weaponization, corporate greed). The
waters become so muddied that it all feels a bit sloppy and flippant. Still, the effects look great and the dinosaurs make for great theater, ultimately redeeming all that ails the film.
I had fairly moderate expectations for this movie going in,
but I came away from it very entertained.
It’s not the game-changer the original was, but it is big and fun, and
stands out against a slate of movies this summer that have been
uninspiring. Go see it if you haven’t
already - Jurassic World has scored the biggest global opening ever – on the
biggest screen you can find. Get the big
popcorn, the vat of soda, sit back, and enjoy the ride.
