From executive producer Steven Spielberg, comes the much-anticipated fourth installment of the Jurassic Park franchise, Jurassic World. Directed by Colin Trevorrow and starring Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard, the film is a worthy sequel to the original 1992 blockbuster, offering a nostalgically tinged thrill-ride that will capture the imaginations of adults and children alike.
Set 22 years after the original incident on Isla Nublar, the film sees John Hammond’s original dream, horrifyingly brought to fruition – Jurassic World is a fully-functioning theme park, attracting thousands of visitors each day with their live dinosaur exhibits. However, admissions are beginning to decline, putting pressure on the park’s managers to come up with a new attraction that is bigger, better and – inevitably – deadlier than all the other dinosaurs in the park combined. Naturally, when their hybrid creation – the so-called Indominus Rex – proves to be more than they can handle, chaos erupts and the visitors of the park quickly find themselves in mortal danger.
Pratt stars as Owen Grady, an ex-military man who works at the park specialising in the research and training of a deadly pack of Velociraptors. Owen is the consummate hero of the piece. Level-headed and instantly likeable, the character comes alive to wondrous effect, channelling Pratt’s own winning charisma perfectly. However, this is not Guardians of the Galaxy. Unlike Pratt’s characterisation of Star Lord, Owen doesn’t suddenly initiate a dance-off to distract a nearby threat, nor does he quip off that many snappy one-liners. This is undoubtedly a more serious performance from Pratt, wholly different to the goofball antics he is renowned for, and to our pleasure, he really delivers as the man with a plan – which in this setting, where almost everyone is a mindless idiot, is very relieving.
Bryce Dallas Howard’s performance as park manager, Claire Dearing also becomes more and more interesting as the film progresses. To begin with, she is a straight-jacketed, emotionally repressed career woman – focused more on her job than anything else. However, when the action begins and her visiting nephews are put in mortal danger, Claire steps up to the plate and becomes a hero within her own right. Though some of her moments are slightly overshadowed by the skewed focus that is put on Owen’s masculine bravado, in the final sequence, she totally owns it and evolves into an altogether stronger character.
The rest of the characters, to put it quite frankly, are nothing more than dino-fodder. A lot of the supporting characters are very feeble and two-dimensional, which is disappointing when you consider how brilliant the human element of the original was. The kids, Gray and Zach (played by Nick Robinson and Ty Simpkins) come across as arrogant know-it-alls, that lack the innocence and charm that Lex and Tim provided so beautifully in the first film. The growing brotherly connection that follows after their traumatic run-ins with the runaway attractions, also seems a bit heavy-winded and inauthentic. Meanwhile, Vincent D’onofrio’s villainous character, Vic Hoskins, is certainly dislikeable enough to deserve his inevitable comeuppance, but the motivations behind his antagonism are quite bland and clichéd. Jake Johnson’s dino-loving techman seems to provide a promising element of comic relief at the start of the film, but that sadly gets lost amongst the later action.
Ultimately, the most powerful connection in the film is between Owen and his velociraptors – Blue, Charlie, Delta and Echo. Though they are extremely dangerous animals, the relationship between Owen and the raptors is one of mutual respect that – despite a few wobbles – only continues to grow as the film goes on. While this is clearly one of the highlights of the film, there is an element of underwhelming disappointment in the fact that the dinosaurs themselves seem to have more character than most of the humans.
The plot itself is quite slow-building – a lot of emphasis is put on the kids, which as previously mentioned, can get tiresome, given that they simply aren’t that engaging. But as soon as dinosaurs are let loose, and the havoc begins, the film really picks up the pace. The final sequence is quite simply mind-blowing, in a punch-the-air kind of way that will have adults and children alike flailing in their seats. The interwoven homages to the original film are decidedly mixed – some nods work fantastically well, while others dissipate into the background. The CGI used in the film also works to a certain extent. While obviously better than the grossly underwhelming visual effects in Jurassic Park 3, the dinosaurs here still lack some of the dynamism that the animatronics in the original so vividly gave. Despite using animatronics on certain dinosaurs (such as a dying Brachiosaurus), the filmmakers opted to rely more heavily on CGI, which is a shame.
Ultimately though, this is a good film that despite it’s weaknesses in certain sub-plots and supporting characters, is still thoroughly enjoyable. If you can accept that it’s obviously not as good as Jurassic Park, and simply embrace the spectacle and the action, alongside the charismatic lead of Pratt’s character, I can guarantee that you’ll find this film to be a lot of fun.
Rating: 8/10
Jurassic World is out in cinemas nationwide, now.
Words by Annie Honeyball