Jurassic World – A well executed improvement, but highly predictable.

War of the Movies: 7.8/10

Metascore: 61/100
RottenTomatoes: 70%

Directed by Colin Trevorrow
Released on June 12, 2015
Running Time: 124 minutes
Starring: Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Ty Simpkins, Nick Robinson, Vincent D’Onofrio

Twenty two years has passed since the first Jurassic Park was established on Isla Nublar, about 120 miles off the west in Costa Rica. Now, what John Hammond wanted became a reality, Jurassic Park became a huge fully functional dinosaur theme park. To keep a constant flow of people coming into the park, they need to create a new dinosaur, bigger and deadlier than ever before. However, playing God has its consequences…

In Jurassic Park, John Hammond create dinosaurs as they were before, with the same instincts as if they always have been alive. In Jurassic World, they modify greatly the DNA code of the dinosaurs to create a kind never seen before, a hybrid more powerful but also way more clever than any other. The point of this creation? To bring more visitors to this particular theme park that has been open for ten years and now faces a declining rate unless a new attraction is given to them. Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard) works for the company that runs the park. Over a holiday, her two nephews come to visit the park with a VIP pass. However, things turn badly after this new creation is running wild where ever it pleases. It’s now up to Claire and Owen (Chris Pratt) to save about 22 000 visitors by trying to track and kill a dinosaur, all the while trying to find and save her nephews who went off ride in an attraction when they obviously shouldn’t have. There is nothing new about this fourth film, the biggest dinosaur of all is cut loose by mistake, kills for sport instead of instinct to eat, and terrorize the entire site of the theme park. You can guess very easily who gets eaten and how they will die. Unlike the other films there is not one element of surprise, everything you see you will know in advance it’s going to happen. It may not be original, already have been done three times before with the same concept, but it remains an entertainment that many won’t want to miss on big screen and for good reasons.

The special effects are really what this movie is about, it is the greatest achievement of this film. When you see the first scenes, with an alternate version of the original theme song, big doors open and you hear “Welcome to Jurassic Park” you are immediately immerge into a world unlike any others that is so well executed. The theme park looks awesome, with many original attractions for the visitors, the dinosaurs look more real than ever before, as does the attacks on humans. Does the 3D lives up to the expectations? Sometimes yes and sometimes no. I can say that I’m happy to have seen it in 3D to have an idea of what it was like, but I won’t be disappointed if I see it again sometime and it will only be in 2D.

The big problem of the movie? The script! Honestly for a film about dinosaurs eating people, I wasn’t expecting so many laughter in the audience. Jurassic World proves that awesome special effects isn’t what makes a story better. In the first one there was many great lines that made us laugh, but it was well place into the movie. In this one, they are really over doing it with the non-subtle jokes. Yes you will be thrill when you see the new big dinosaur that can easily compete against a T-Rex, but this thrill doesn’t last as long as we would like because the director was quick on the script to make us laugh as much as possible, breaking the mood quite considerably during some intense scenes.

The acting it was fine in its assemble. Chris Pratt did a good job, and a good part of his scenes has humor in it, which suits him perfectly well, but he lacks the more dramatic atmosphere that Sam Neill brought in the first film. As for Bryce Dallas Howard, she was outshine a lot by Chris Pratt, but for the scenes that she was not with him, she did a good job overall as a corporate woman. A little aspect about her role that bugged me during the movie? The fact that she could outrun a dinosaur in high heels!

One other thing that I like that wasn’t related to special effects, the call backs that make us think about the first movie. Let’s face it, what Spielberg did in 1993 was truly spectacular, still up to date and still waiting to be surpassed. In the film they make references about the first instalment, bringing us back to great memories of when we watched it all those years ago. For example, the head scientist that works in the laboratory to create the hybrid dinosaurs? Go watch the first movie and you will realize it’s the same scientist that explain the process of dinosaur’s lab creations to Sam Neill.

Still, Jurassic World is a movie I recommend to anyone who wants to have a great entertainment. The fans will be please, like I was, that Jurassic World was way better than Jurassic Park III, and depending on the opinion better than Jurassic Park: The Lost World (For me I think Jurassic World won the battle over Jurassic Park: The Lost World!).

Should you see it?

Absolutely, it may have flaws for the script and is a lot predictable, much more than the three movies before, but it’s still a good entertainment that deserves to be seen on a big screen.