Summer Movie Series
Jurassic World (2015)
Rated PG-13
Universal Pictures
The head honcho of Jurassic World is told to beef up attractions for the cloned-dinosaur theme park. The same request must have been made of the creators of Jurassic World, the sequel to the Steven Spielberg-Michael Crichton 1993 box office juggernaut. So the fantastic and improbable dino-Disneyland creates exotic dinosaur hybrids to wow its been-there, done-that, got-the-T-shirt visitors and sate its money-hungry corporate investors. Likewise, we get a film, directed by a competent Colin Trevorrow, trying to make everything bigger, bolder, faster, louder. As a big summer movie thriller it does the job.
The visceral response to massive prehistoric beasts chasing and chomping on humans while tossing vehicles around like Matchbox cars is likely a rapid heart beat. And this time, the dinos attack not just by land, but air and sea.
The setup, introducing the half-dozen main players, is swift and employs snappy dialogue.
As a deluxe cruise ship delivers teen Zach (Nick Robinson) and his younger brother Gray (Ty Simpkins) to their aunt Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard), Jurassic World’s top administrator, we take in the grandeur of this island resort/park/museum/zoo/research facility in sweeping aerial shots. Improbable though it may be, the filmmakers try to ground the festivities in American pastime familiarity: cotton candy and gift shop inflatable dinosaurs; a petting zoo, where little tykes ride cute baby dinos; self-guided tours in clever, transparent spherical vehicles spinning across grassy plains; an elevated monorail circling the park; interactive hologram exhibits. Then there’s the Sea World-like aquatic show, replete with a massive dino-whale blasting out of the pool to snag a hanging snack (a Great White shark!) for the roaring audience in the splash zone.
As this is set 20 years after the original story, we miss grandfatherly and original park creator, the late John Hammond (the late Richard Attenborough), but we remember dino-DNA expert Dr. Henry Wu (BD Wong) who takes on a darker persona this time out.
Owen (Chris Pratt, Guardians of the Galaxy) and Barry (Omar Sy, X-Men: Days of Future Past) are introduced as diligent, big-muscled dino wranglers. Owen, in fact, has made himself the alpha male of a pack of velociraptors. We watch him engage the viscous creatures like a lion tamer: firm and confident, but respecting the animals’ predatory natures and keeping his distance with safeguards.
Two other main characters bound into the mix: park bankroller Simon Masrani (Irrfan Khan, The Life of Pi), visiting his latest big-dinosaur investment, and Hoskins (Vincent D’Onofrio), head of the military wing of the corporation who has his own agenda for these hybrid dinosaurs. The new attraction, dubbed Indominus Rex, is teased as the mother of all dinosaurs. We get hints of him through shaking trees, deep-nose snorting and thunderous footfalls—you know the drill.
With the characters in play and the park abuzz with thousands of guests, things slide off the rails before we can get settled. In quick succession, Claire’s nephews break away from their put-upon handler (Katie McGrath) to roam the park sans adult supervision; Hoskins mounts what amounts to a corporate coup; and Indominus pulls a sweet fake-out that hastens his escape from captivity.
The rest is run-or-get-trampled, eat-or-get-eaten thrills, which the movie succeeds at wonderfully. Pterodactyls dive-bombing visitors, raptors tag-teaming against their adversaries and a Jurassic faceoff I won’t spoil. A quick visit to the crumbling site of Hammond’s original Jurassic Park (as John William’s theme leitmotif twinkles on the soundtrack) hits the right note of nostalgia.
I see no type of indemnity clause that could hedge this venture’s bet against a catastrophe of Jurassic proportions, and yet I sense that if we could build this World, people would pay thousands of dollars and travel thousands of miles to sign those waivers and dive right in.
Summer’s here!
| Marvin Brown’s Movie Review Archive
