While a giant meteor may have been to blame for the extinction of the dinosaurs, as long as they continue to generate big box office revenue they’ll never be gone from movie screens. And what with advances in digital special effects being the excuse to resuscitate long dormant franchises, it was inevitable that the Jurassic Park series would return to terrify and thrill a new generation. (For the record, I showed JP to my 10-year-old son Grant the other night – 25 minutes in, he was asleep and the next morning, said, “It was boring.” What can you do?) Chances are those who take in the latest installment, Jurassic World, will not share this opinion, as it spends the bare minimum amount of screen time to get the viewer up to speed before the dino-mayhem begins. If nothing else, it’s an expedient film and as far as the plot goes, the more things change, the more they remain the same. It seems that John Hammond’s dream of an interactive theme park with dinosaurs as the main attraction has come to fruition and has been operating smoothly for ten years now. However, attendance is dwindling and the masses crave something newer, bigger and fiercer than a lame ol’ T-Rex. Pressed by Claire (a fine Bryce Dallas Howard), the workaholic in charge, the park’s scientists have spliced genes, mixed DNA and come up with a dinosaur to dwarf all others, the Indominus Rex. With genetic material from a wide variety of species and the public unveiling of this creature already set despite there being security concerns, what could possibly go wrong?
Really, the structure of the dinosaur movie is pretty basic and requires little tinkering to be successful – dinos live, dinos escape, dinos munch on people and intrepid hero saves the day. That’s the long and short of what happens here, but credit the script’s four writers with throwing in a couple of innovations that make for big fun. How about the fact that the I-Rex can camouflage itself, making for some scary sneak attacks? Then there’s the return of the velociraptors, who can now be trained and act as lethal pets. These neat additions, as well as allusions to the first and third chapters in the series and the return of a well-known bad guy from JP who’s given the Godzilla-make over and is now on our side, are innovations enough to necessitate a new entry in the franchise.
Not only is World an effort to see if the series is still financially viable, but it also serves as an audition for Chris Pratt for the role of “Action Hero of the 21 st Century.” While his turn in Guardians of the Galaxy made him a star, his Peter Quill was more boy than man, getting out of tight situations with luck rather than skill, a pithy quip always at the ready. This time out as Owen, the resident man of derring-do, he’s required to fill the frame in such a way that female viewers will swoon at the sight of him, intensely furrow his brow in concern, look tough with a gun, deliver wooden lines of dialogue with conviction and do it all with a straight face. Pratt effortlessly pulls it off, and if Disney is really considering casting him as Indiana Jones in a Raiders of the Lost Ark reboot, well, just hand him the fedora and whip, and I’ll be the first to buy a ticket.
Director Colin Trevorrow does a fine job keeping the film moving along, despite the real threat of it becoming cumbersome as a subplot involving a military contractor (Vincent D’Onofrio) threatens to trip it up. He also succeeds in staging some memorable set pieces, including a pterodactyl attack that pushes the boundaries of the film’s PG-13 rating. Fans will be well pleased by his efforts and in the end, that’s the point. The very definition of a summer movie, Jurassic World delivers all viewers expect from a movie of this sort, ensuring they’ll return to the popcorn counter throughout for repeated refills. After all, those empty calories will go well with those displayed on the screen.
Contact Chuck Koplinski at [email protected].