Jurassic World

Jurassic World

Starring Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Nick Robinson, Ty Simpkins

Directed by Colin Trevorrow

The Story:
Twenty-two years after the failure of Jurassic Park, the InGen company has finally opened their new theme park - Jurassic World.  Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard) is the park's operations manager, and attendance has been dwindling.  People aren't interested in being around live dinosaurs anymore, so she sets out to create a new type of dinosaur - more frightening, bigger, and more dangerous.  To this end, they create the Indominus Rex - a new type of dinosaur that's even bigger and deadlier than the T-Rex.

Claire's nephews Zach (Nick Robinson) and Gray (Ty Simpkins) are sent to Jurassic World by their parents to spend time with Claire and to see the dinosaurs that young Gray is still enticed by.  After arriving, however, they're pawned off on Claire's assistant Zara (Katie McGrath), and quickly scamper off on their own.

Meanwhile, the Indominus Rex seems to have escaped its habitat, and Claire turns to Velociraptor expert and trainer Owen Grady (Chris Pratt) to track it down.  Meanwhile, the new dinosaur goes on a killing rampage, taking out human and dinosaur alike, and Zach and Gray are next on its menu.

The Synopsis:
The first "Jurassic Park" premiered in 1993, and it was a visionary wonder.  Never before had dinosaurs appeared so life-like, and the story was a compelling one at that.  It's become a classic, one of the best movies out there.  Even with two subpar sequels, it still holds up today as a technical wonder.

When "Jurassic Park III" came out, Steven Spielberg promised that he wouldn't let his vision die with that incredibly terrible film.  It took several years, but finally "Jurassic World" premiered under the direction of "Safety Not Guaranteed" director Colin Trevorrow, with Steven Spielberg working closely with him to bring dinosaurs back to life for the moviegoer.

Thankfully the story that we're given is something that heralds back to the original, and can compete with it as being the best of the series.  The dinosaurs are back, in full glory, especially the classic T-Rex, which is the same one as the original.  With the addition of the genetically modified Indominus Rex, "Jurassic Word" makes dinosaurs come alive again for a whole new generation.

It's not just the dinosaurs that makes this film great, but a strong cast as well.  Led by two of today's hottest actors - Chris Pratt as the Indiana Jones-type hero and Bryce Dallas Howard as the typical cold-hearted-turned-soft manager - "Jurassic World" brings together the best of both worlds.  There's Owen, who trains Velociraptors and raises them as his children who almost single-handedly battles the I-Rex.  Then there's Claire, who starts off the film as a cold woman who only desires money but learns throughout the film that dinosaurs aren't just attractions.  Of course there's the generic bad guy Hoskins (Vincent D'Onofrio) who wants to use Velociraptors as soldiers.  Then you got the two young children who - sorry to say - I wished had gotten eaten.  The younger child spent most of the movie either crying or running around like crazy, and the older brother who spent more time trying to get a girl than protect his brother.  Both were incredibly insufferable, but that added to the enjoyment of the film - to be so drawn to it that you grow to either love or hate the people you see on screen.

It's funny to note how the film parallels real life in some aspects.  The whole reason the Indominus Rex was created was because people were getting bored of the other dinosaurs, so in order to increase attraction they decide to build a scarier, deadlier dinosaur.  It's like how we want the next big thing - we're not satisfied with what we have, but we want more.  We want the next big thrill.  We want the next dangerous thing.  So we keep pressing onward in our attempts to get to that next high, even at the possible cost of our own lives.  It also shows the importance people place on money and wealth over everything else.  Claire doesn't even know how old her nephews are, but she sure as heck knows to the penny how much the park is making.  It's when faced with life-or-death situations that you find out what's really important.

Oh, and also there's a lot of deaths.  Dinosaur deaths that bring a tear to your eye.  People deaths that mostly go uncared about (with the exception of one particularly gruesome demise of one of the main characters).   The dinosaurs are the real stars of the show, and the climactic final battle will go down as one of the best in modern cinema.

The Summary:
"Jurassic World" was just what the dying franchise needed to bring it back to life. 

The Score: A