Jurassic World Review

Starring: Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Vincent D'Onofrio, Irrfan Khan, Jake Johnson

Jurassic World just had the biggest opening weekend of all time. In just three days, it grossed $208 million, narrowly overtaking 2012's The Avengers' record of $207 million. It beat Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows' record for biggest overseas gross, and became the first movie ever to make $500 million in one week. Yes, this movie is that big. And it blew anybody's predictions out of the water. Universal had it slated for $100 million for the weekend, and that was being very optimistic. The success of Jurassic World shouldn't be puzzling. It starts off 22 years after Jurassic Park, which was the biggest movie ever upon its release, and remains a cinematic landmark. I saw this movie on a Sunday night in a small theater, on a school night nonetheless, and it was completely packed. Much like the theme park in the film wanted to spice up the attractions, a genetically modified dinosaur seemed to spike up the attendance in more ways than one. But is it any good? That becomes a difficult question. This movie is epic in scope, and succeeds on many levels. But after seeing it, I can find faults that will limit its ability to become a milestone in movie history.

First, I'll talk about what I liked. The acting was very inconsistent. The one who was able to make the biggest impression was Bryce Dallas Howard, who plays the operations manager Claire. She has a really well written character arc. Her relationship with her nephews, is great, and her romance with Chris Pratt's character is believable. It's the way her attitude changes throughout the movie that makes you root for her. At first she's an ignorant corporate manager, but she changes as she begins to actually interact with the "attractions" she oversees. Speaking of attractions, the dinosaurs are as amazing as expected. The pteranodons (bird dinosaur) scene was incredible to see (Make sure to see it in 3D!), and legitimate terror was felt as they swooped in and picked attendees up. The Indominus Rex is also brilliantly done. The Indominus is a genetically modified dinosaur Claire ordered to spike attendance, only just like in the previous films, the animals they spliced its genes with end up giving it abilities no one intended. I'm going to keep those aspects a secret, because the twists with the Indominus Rex are so well executed that they all really surprised me. The movie succeeds with its plotline of the Indominus escaping, and Claire having to try and find it and protect the park from the monster they created. It's so epic I'd even call it awesome. There's a sense of awe in every dinosaur scene, down to the ending when the T-Rex comes out and...well, I'll let you see the movie in find out.

The fault is in the script. The story is so poorly executed in points, it's laughable when it shouldn't be. There are two storylines existing here, and it's obvious which one is at the forefront. There's Bryce Dallas Howard and the Indominus Rex, its escape, and the questions raised about genetic mutation and human interference. Then there is Chris Pratt's character Owen, and his Velociraptors, and Vincent D'Onofrio, who wants to use them as weapons in war. Eventually the stories combine when Claire asks Owen to help her track the Indominus, and the Velociraptors take their military field test attempting to track down and kill her. But it always feels like its unneeded, and I'd rather be watching the Indominus in action then a bunch of people arguing over the war-ethics of Velociraptors. I personally believed Chris Pratt was not good in this role. He didn't come off as organic, and his acting was very forced as was his humor. It felt as if he was trying too hard. Some of the movie's lines were so cheesy it was funny in the wrong way. Also, there was too much obvious product placement and nods to the original. I'm all for paying homage, but it was so inconsistent. I couldn't figure out if Universal wanted to create a carbon copy of Jurassic Park complete with merchandise, or create its own movie with nods to the original. They literally re-create the iconic T-Rex roaring scene from the first film with the Indominus, and it doesn't make as big an impact.

So Jurassic World is as grandiose as it promised, yet it suffers from problems in the sloppy writing. I urge everyone to see this movie. It's by no means a bad movie, but everyone should definitely form their own opinion. It just fails to capture any of the magic from the original. While some scenes had me on the edge of my seat, I know from seeing Jurassic Park in 3D a couple of years ago that NO scene from this movie even comes close to the terror and intensity of the T-Rex scene. I will say I had an awesome time seeing this movie, and if you go in with an open mind, you can too!

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