Jurassic World
Starring: Chris
Pratt, Bryce Dallas
Howard, Jake Johnson, Omar Sy
Director: Colin
Trevorrow
Written By: Amanda Silver,
Colin Trevorrow, Derek Connolly, Rick Jaffa
Rated M 109 minutes
I’m old enough to remember seeing the original ‘Jurassic
Park’ twenty plus years ago. I’m old enough to remember the wonder of seeing
Steven Spielberg’s creatures seem so real most of us wanted to believe they
were. Many, like me wished there was a Jurassic Park and how fun it would be to
go there. It was a stunning piece of
film making and a fantastical start to computer generated images that would set
the way for what we almost take for granted now. Looking back it was probably
quite primitive and kids today might be unconvinced but gee it was great stuff
back in the day. Looking forward the danger with familiarity is it can be the
breeding ground for blandness.
‘Jurassic World’ takes us to the park now establish as John
Hammond’s legacy and what a park it is. The creatures roam, there are rides
galore and if having the actual creatures isn’t enough you can also get up
close with a hologram or two (I don’t know why either). I must say park and the
island look gorgeous and inviting. Not so sure about the rather extensive
Shopping Mall but I guess it was ideal for the ubiquitous product placement of
which there is much; Samsung gets a good run as does Mercedes, Trader Joe’s and
Verizon. My teeth were clenched often with this as I sipped my also mentioned
Pepsi.
The thing about theme parks though is that you can never
have the thrill of visiting the first time again. We humans always need
something ‘more’ to go back and this is the problem this little fun park is
facing which worries the owner and the marketing manager. The raptors and T-Rexes
no longer a draw-well let’s get us some new creatures; oh look they’ve been
working on just that, nifty. The very engaging Chris Pratt (a favorite since
‘Parks and Recreation’) plays Owen adding believability and humour to the
archetypal hero role. He’s just going to win the day for us and we’ll go along
for the ride. But we need the archetypal heroine and sure ‘nuff we have her in
Bryce Dallas Howard as Claire . Why she even gets to wear the white outfit with
slit skirt and gosh darn it even gets to sprawl out on the ground at one point
with left leg exposed through the slit. In cast they weren’t enough we have the
baddie played by Vincent D’Onofrio who was only missing an accent to really
gives us an archetype and the traditional child dynamic of the cluey, slightly
annoying older sibling constantly clashing with the younger, smarter and
endearing younger bro. Ah, we can improve CGI but we can’t quite get away from
movie archetypes.
There’s drama aplenty and we know there’ll be victims,
humans and animals alike but good will win over bad. There’s a lot of noise and
‘oh wow’ moments which I frankly loved. I was a bit concerned that the current owners
of the Jurassic Park complex had obviously learnt nothing from their
predecessors and the tragedy that had befallen them, not the least that the
creatures will eat people when crossed. Seriously wouldn’t the last thing be to
have a park where the humans get up close with the creatures?
In the end though the story was a bit thin and relied on the
gee whiz moments to carry it through.
The dramatic moments, the jumps and heart starters made the humans even more
two dimensional and if you’re looking for an emotional arc don’t hold your
breath. As mind blowing as the effects are they are symptomatic of the
ordinariness of the amazing these days, not a lot really blows our mind. So the
patrons of Jurassic World aren’t satisfied anymore by the wonder of Jurassic
creatures walking among them centuries beyond their existence. Similarly the
patrons of cinemas today don’t get enough from the masters of creation who have
put together this perfectly entertaining but ultimately empty film, an unwieldy
beast in itself. That’s a shame but the beast is hungry now and if you build
and feed the beast well you just better have the right ingredients, diet and
magic. When you think about what the premise of this film is one might almost
call that thought a bitter irony or a sad dichotomy.
This film looks like it will end up being the most
successful movie EVER and that’s ok. If the role of movie making is primarily
to entertain and give value for the dollar then it ticks the boxes. Some of us
like a bit more than a tick the box effort.
3 out of 5
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