Jurassic World: The Park is Open

Jurassic World is a revitalization of the franchise, as well as the logical conclusion to the first book and film. Taking place 22 years after the original film, John Hammond’s dream is finally realized in the form of a fully-fledged theme park open to the public, a la Disney World. Two brothers (Ty Simpkins and Nick Robinson) are sent there by their parents (Andy Buckley and Judy Greer) for vacation over the holiday season. Their aunt, Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard), is chief operations manager of the park, and is forced to deal with an escape of Indominus rex, a newly-engineered dinosaur that nobody truly understands. With the help of raptor trainer Owen Grady (Chris Pratt), Claire and the park officials must get this new dinosaur under control as it wreaks havoc across the park. Add in the two kids, a bunch of escaped dinosaurs, and a fantastic ending, and you have Jurassic World in a nutshell.

People who grew up with the original film waited for this movie for years, both because of the various sequel hints dropped during Jurassic Park 3, and to see Hammond’s dream finally realized. However, after the first trailer dropped, reactions were mixed. Many were excited to see the innovations of the theme park, as well as more impressive additions such as the aquatic Mosasaurus. But Jurassic Park 3 burned the hopes of many a fan, and the trailer shot of Chris Pratt riding a motorcycle and leading Velociraptors into battle further divided audiences. Going into the film, there were few hopes of it living up to the original. By the end of the film it seemed better than expected, but still only all right. The amazing ending climax surpassed expectations and gave the Jurassic Park franchise one of its best moments. The climax alone is sufficient reason to see this film, especially for fans of the franchise.

The actors all seem to realize the legacy they are a part of, and treat their individual roles with the appropriate respect. Chris Pratt’s Owen seems to organically derive from the Jurassic Park universe, and he does very well in his role as the successor to Sam Neill’s Alan Grant from the original films. The children (a prerequisite for these films) are probably the most realistic and least annoying children in any Jurassic Park film, including those in the original. B.D. Wong reprises his role as Dr. Henry Wu from Jurassic Park, and manages to make Dr. Wu more interesting than he was in the original film. Even Irrfan Khan, who plays the owner of the park and John Hammond’s successor, acts in a way that honors Hammond’s (and the late Richard Attenborough’s) legacy. Bryce Dallas Howard does all right in her role, although she never quite attains the charm and strength of character of Laura Dern’s Ellie Sattler, or even Julianne Moore’s Sarah Harding from The Lost World. Really, the only poorly acted character is Vincent D’Onofrio’s very stereotypical Vic Hoskins, who never manages to leave the ‘90s in terms of his motivations. 

The park itself is fantastically rendered and realized, and it is the most realistic part of the film by far. If real-world scientists found a way to create dinosaurs in the modern world and chose to exhibit them in a wild-animal park, this is exactly what that park would look like, down to the corporate sponsors and rides. Granted, the park depicted in the film has various safety problems even before the expected disaster occurs. The best example of this is the Gyrosphere ride, which involves visitors rolling around dinosaurs whilst inside what is essentially a giant motorized hamster ball. But if this existed in the real world? Lawsuits. Death and lawsuits all the time. However, even these issues don’t take away from the realism of this park. The special effects of the dinosaurs do that instead. 

Many people have complained about how the dinosaurs of Jurassic World pale in comparison to the dinosaurs in the original Jurassic Park. Those complaints are valid, and the lack of practical effects in the film definitely causes it to suffer. While there are sparse examples of practical effects in the film, almost none of them made it into the film without being covered in digital effects. Even then, the one practical effect that made it into the film unscathed doesn’t quite compare to the Triceratops or the Tyrannosaurus in the original Jurassic Park. It’s an admirable piece of craftsmanship, but the loss of Stan Winston’s studios is felt all the same. Despite the problems with the special effects, Jurassic World does manage a few innovations with the dinosaurs. Most notably, some of the dinosaurs are actually given basic personalities. In past Jurassic Park films and books, dinosaurs were rarely seen as little more than monsters or simple animals. Any perceived personality was seen during interactions with humans, with the human actors essentially emoting for the dinosaurs. In World, the dinosaurs emote for themselves and are actually given character. Indominus rex, the dinosaur villain of the film, is made to act as a monster in the context of the other dinosaurs. 

Is Jurassic World better than the original film? No. Rose-colored glasses and practical effects have permanently set the original as the best in the franchise. However, World comes tantalizingly close. It’s certainly the best of the sequels, and the climax alone makes this movie absolutely worth watching. If not for the ending moments of this film, World would probably go down in history as an all right film with some quality moments. With the climax in tow, Jurassic World will instead go down as a fun, eventful, and exciting romp that helped define the summer of 2015.

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