It has been since 2001 since Jurassic Park III hit theaters. There have been other films to have featured dinosaurs prominently since then too, perhaps the finest example of this is 2005's
KING KONG. No film since then though has been so ambitious until 2015's JURASSIC WORLD. Jurassic Park III for me left a sour taste in my mouth. It wasn't based off a book, it was the shortest film in the series by a whole 30 minutes, and to top it off my favorite dinosaur, Tyrannosaurus Rex, is turned into a little bitch by a Spinosaurus. Basically with no new book from Michael Crichton there is no need nor want for another Jurassic Park.
I love dinosaurs. Dinosaurs were perhaps the first love of my life. I can't remember a time I didn't love these kaiju size thunder lizards. KING KONG (1933) captured my imagination like no other film has nor since. It is an adventure film, an exploration into the unknown film, there are dinosaurs, one massive gorilla, a beautiful scantily clad woman (Fay Wray) and an action extravaganza that never lets up! The film is streamlined, moving along at a vigorous pace. This film is the template for the modern special effects summer blockbuster!
In 1993, 60 years after King Kong, the special effects blockbuster film would be forever changed yet again. JURASSIC PARK is released for the first time. Never before had the world seen special effects like those in this film. Never before had dinosaurs been realized in such a way. The face of film was changed forever and imagination and wonder was fostered in the minds of millions of young viewers. In 1997 a sequel titled THE LOST WORLD: JURASSIC PARK was released and then in 2001 the final chapter simply titled JURASSIC PARK III was released. 14 years later and mixing the previous titles and we received the fourth film in the franchise, JURASSIC WORLD.
Over the last decade and a half we've seen a distinct increase in franchization of films. The world wants sequels and are happy with watching the same thing over and over again. I'm no exception. I celebrate such massive franchises as the Japanese Godzilla series, Zatoichi series, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the Friday the 13th series, and much much more. Given my love of dinosaurs the restarting of the Jurassic Park franchise is just the thing to secure my $13 dollars at the box office.
SPOILER ALERT
Here's what the film is about. The park is open. Attendance is down from previous years. They need a new attraction to increase revenue (yes, it's all about money). The geneticists develop a new type of dinosaur named the Indominous Rex. The park management hope that this new attraction will increase their profits. The geneticists however have an ulterior motive. They aren't after an increase in park patronage, but rather in the next evolution of weaponry. Weaponized dinosaurs... yep. Hubris anyone? Nope, that was the first film. There isn't a word to describe this level of hubris... well, there was a video game in the 1980's called Dynowarz. JURASSIC PARK 5: DYNOWARZ.
The Indominous Rex isn't the only war application explored at the park. Velociraptors (why the hell are they still breeding raptors?! Did they not see the first film?!) are being trained to serve humans. Chris Pratt's character is at the forefront of this project and has established himself as the alpha of a pack of 4 raptors. How this happened we are not privy to. He is called in to report on the Indominous Rex (well after the beast has reached full grown T Rex proportions. He firmly disagrees with everything the park has done. Bryce Dallas Howard's character refuses to acknowledge his warnings and acts foolishly in the financial interests of the park. By then it's too late.
Indominous Rex escapes. The park tries to contain it without killing it. It kills the containment team, security team, and every dinosaur it comes across, not for food but for the sheer delight of killing. It breaks the fences and aviaries setting loose nearly every dinosaur in the park upon the patrons. Chris Pratt is all that stands in the way of the evil Indominous Rex and oblivion. He and his pet raptors head out to hunt.
The Jurassic Park films function of the decisions of stupid people while the men with any measure of intelligence left are forced to save the day or suffer the consequences. Hammond spared no expense on everything in the park except on the one man that practically ran everything from his computer terminal. Also why the hell would you breed raptors if you can't even display them? For that matter why the hell would you breed higher predator carnivores? In the Lost World every single character is a moron except for Ian Malcolm and his daughter. In Jurassic Park III everyone but Dr. Grant and Dr. Sattler make stupid decision after stupid decision. It makes the quota of likable characters in these films very small. This film is no exception. It functions exactly the same as the other films with barely anyone doing anything sensible to save themselves.
It's just my personal feelings but the idea of Chris Pratt, a fun cuddly likable fellow, displaying enough cajones to dominate a pack of raptors seems ridiculous. In fact in the movie the raptors can't decide whose more manly, Pratt or Indominous Rex. That's kind of like wolves trying decide who to be more afraid of, a Kodiak Bear or a hamburger. And then there's the stock villain character of Vincent D'Onofrio which only adds to the bad decision making. And Bryce Dallas Howard doesn't make a single sensible decision until the very end of the film. Only the two young boys have garnered any sympathy from me in the film but even they go off road and intentionally endanger themselves. So like any good slasher film or body count film I don't care if anybody dies.
But we didn't come to this movie for the humans. We came for the dinosaurs! Simply put, the dinosaurs are awesome! Where the actors fail amazingly the dinosaurs flourish. There is a fight between the Indominous Rex and an Ankylosaurus which is basically Godzilla Vs Anguirus all over again! With a made up dinosaur in the mix the film takes on a kaiju like feeling. Indominous Rex, with all its ludicrous abilities, makes a great villain, one you love to hate and can't wait to see get his ass kicked at the end (something which should have happened to the Spinosaurus in JP3 but never happened). The raptors being submissive to Chris Pratt aside (I mean he'd have to have bested the former alpha in a wrestling match, ripped off the raptor's arms, bit out the raptor's tongue, tore off the raptor's claws and gutted and eaten him in front of the other raptors to earn their respect!) the raptors are pretty cool and have more character then they ever have. But they have also lost their frightening presence. And if you listen to Robert Muldoon's (my favorite character in the entire series) discourse about raptor's from the first film none of what happens with the raptors in this film makes any sense.
The dinosaur for me in this film and the one featured heavily in all the trailers is the Mosasaurus. It only has three scenes but it is such a sight to behold. I've always had a soft spot for the water dinos. But even then, after discussing it with some friends, the spectacle that was the first film is still a bit lost. We've become so desensitized to special effects films that even dinosaurs lose their shock and awe a bit as compared to the first film. The thrill of seeing a convincing dinosaur on screen has been lessened in the last 20 years.
SUPER SPOILER ALERT
The ending of this film is where it's at. I hope you've seen the movie because I'm gonna spill it. When Chris Pratt takes the raptors out to hunt the Indominous Rex the raptors turn on the humans (a twist which I love). Everything culminates at the visitor center when the raptors and Indominous have a little falling out when they can't decide between Indominous and Pratt as their alpha. They choose Pratt... and attack the Indominous. But the raptors are not enough. Bryce Dallas Howard runs off to get help and releases the Tyrannosaurus Rex. T Rex bursts through the skeleton of a Spinosaurus on display onto the scene (a nice jab at the the third film)! The raptors and T. Rex team up against the Indominous. It's a knock down drag out fight which puts the Indominous at the edge of the water. The Mosasaurus breaches the surface and drags the genetically engineered monster down to a watery grave.
It is the craziest ending you could ever think of. You either buy into it or you don't. You can tell that this film was made by fans of the original trilogy. There are loads of direct references to the original film and little tid bits and nods to the sequels. Having gone back and watched the previous three films before seeing this one I have to say Jurassic World is right on par with Jurassic Park III in terms of quality. Sheer nostalgia is keeping this movie alive and breaking every record in the box office. The kids who grew up with the original film are now grown up with children of their own. Several generations are reliving the experiences of 22 years ago. I honestly can't explain why this movie is doing as well as it is in the box office other than nostalgia and the entire world is feeling nostalgic this summer.
Between all the Jurassic Park films this one is somewhere between Jurassic Park III and the Lost World. Between 2013's Pacific Rim and 2014's Godzilla I feel both those films were better. This movie has nothing on Peter Jackson's King Kong. Compared to the other summer blockbusters of 2015 Mad Max is still the best one of the bunch. Don't get me wrong, I love dinosaurs and this kind of movie fair. Jurassic World is a helluva lot of fun and a very entertaining movie but it isn't far off from some of the SyFy original films of the early 2000's. Indominous Rex is just another Spinosaurus and Chris Pratt is just another wannabe Harrison Ford. Oh yeah, and T Rex's roar is off and not right.
Overall Ranking: 5 out of 10
Nude-O-Meter: 0 out of 10
Despite what it sounds like I did like the movie. No, honestly I did. I swear!
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