Review: JURASSIC WORLD

JURASSIC WORLD  (ADVENTURE-THRILLER)
2.5 out of 4 stars
Directed by Colin Trevorrow
Starring: Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Ty Simpkins, Nick Robinson, Vincent D'Onofrio, Irrfan Khan, Jake Johnson, Omar Sy, Judy Greer, Lauren Lapkus, Brian Tee, Katie McGrath, Andy Buckley
Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of science-fiction violence and peril.
124 minutes
Verdict: Even as the best installment in the series since the original, JURASSIC WORLD is a mixed bag, squandering a fun first half as it turns into an unpleasantly excessive and unevenly paced mess.  Still, it can't be accused of failing to deliver on its promise of prehistoric monsters wreaking havoc and gobbling people up.
YOU MAY ENJOY JURASSIC WORLD IF YOU LIKED:
THE LOST WORLD: JURASSIC PARK  (1997)
JURASSIC PARK III  (2001)
JURASSIC PARK  (1993)
KING KONG  (2005)
GODZILLA  (2014) 

JURASSIC WORLD is the best movie in the series since Steven Spielberg's 1993 classic JURASSIC PARK, but that's not saying much.  Steven Spielberg's own directed sequel, THE LOST WORLD: JURASSIC PARK, is probably his worst film, and JURASSIC PARK III, directed by Joe Johnston, feels like a TV movie with blockbuster caliber special effects.  JURASSIC WORLD brings on independent filmmaker Colin Trevorrow  and is only his second feature film, following the far, far smaller comedy, SAFETY NOT GUARANTEED, but make no mistake, this is a studio product made by committee, for better or worse.  And yet, the movie manages to make its own jabs at that kind of thing, while also succumbing to its weaknesses.  JURASSIC WORLD is a mixed bag, full of special effects and huge moments of spectacle, but excessive, contrived and maybe a little too unpleasant at times.
The story begins 23 years (real time) after the events of the original JURASSIC PARK; since then, billionaire Simon Masrani (Irrfan Khan) has successfully realized the late John Hammond's dream of a fully functioning theme park featuring living dinosaur attractions on the tropical island of Isla Nublar, now called Jurassic World.  Gray Mitchell (Ty Simpkins), an young dinosaur enthusiast, and his cynical older brother Zach (Nick Robinson), arrive at the park to spend the weekend with their high-strung aunt, Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard), who is in charge of managing park operations.  Jurassic World is preparing to unveil their first originally designed dinosaur, dubbed the Indominus rex, which the corporate office hopes will boost dwindling sales, but wary of the park's history, Masrani requests that Claire have an expert ensure that safety measures around the abnormally dangerous exhibit are adequate.  So she calls in Velociraptor trainer Owen Grady (Chris Pratt), who arrives just as the Indominus mounts an escape and begins to wreak havoc through the park, which has just become a smorgasboard of dino fodder.  But Gray and Zach are missing when they launch security measures, having gone off trail in one of the safari vehicles, so Owen and Claire enter the fray to find them before the Indominus does.

The filmmakers are well aware that the primary draws of this series are dinosaurs and dinosaurs eating people, which they deliver on handsomely throughout the movie, although the creature effects rely more heavily on CGI than the early films featuring the exceptional animatronic puppets of the late Stan Winston.  There are still some physical creatures for actors to interact with, created by Legacy Effects, but their role is very minor.  The shift is unfortunate, but not unexpected, and Industrial Light & Magic does their job well enough, bringing back old favorites and introducing a few new highlights, notably the massive marine reptile Mosasaur.  Additionally, the decision to forsake accuracy for aesthetics is wise, backtracking from the way over-designed velociraptors of JURASSIC PARK III and opting out of feathered dinosaurs, an archeological find that has made dinosaurs markedly less awesome.

As is often the case with monster movies however, the human characters are given a short shrift.  Pratt, far less goofy than his blockbuster debut in GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY, but more fun than the advertising has suggested, is a decent hero, but the gender politics of his relationship to Howard's character are questionable.  He's a likable hero though, and Khan and Judy Greer, although relegated to minor roles are always very welcome presences, and yet, the characters are all pretty thinly written, with some melodrama shoehorned in when convenient.
In spite of those flaws, where the movie really works is in the first half, where Jurassic World is a functioning theme park.  While it may not be the wonder and awe of JURASSIC PARK, there's a sense of discovery, and a bit of real world theme park familiarity, as we get to see around the park with its merchandising, corporate-sponsored attractions (an ideal example of product placement done well) and exhibits.  There's even an amusing meta nod to the purity and brilliance of the original in light of the bloated corporate product that the franchise has become.  Simply put, the movie starts out a lot of fun, and it felt like it was exceeding my expectations.  But the movie can't sustain itself, bringing in a few too many plot threads, and even bringing in some of the meaness of THE LOST WORLD.  As the movie begins to drag in its midsection, it gets to a weird place of multiple climaxes that go beyond the earlier "fun" excess and into plain excessive excess.  Worse, the people feast gets to a be a bit too unpleasant.  It's a funny thing, making entertainment out of people being eaten by prehistoric creatures, and the line between "awesome" and "sickening" is fine and elusive.  JURASSIC PARK nails that balance, picking off the snotty lawyer, Wayne Knight and a couple of cool but not necessarily sympathetic characters who snuff it mostly offscreen.  THE LOST WORLD jumped over the line completely, most notably in its most gruesome death befalling a sympathetic character in a prolonged and precarious situation of trying to save other characters.  JURASSIC WORLD gets away with a lot.  If the victim is mostly nameless, or in Trekkie vernacular, a "red shirt", or a soldier, predestined to die in movie action, you can get away with some bloodier deaths - as long as it's quick.  If a character is truly despicable, and the film establishes his/her actions as cruel and unsympathetic throughout, a "punishment death" may be in order, and can afford to be nastier.  Soon into the latter half of the film, there was a death that, while not especially gruesome (as far as being devoured by a dinosaur goes), is a bit prolonged and manic, and wholly unearned by the minor character, and that really put me off my appetite for dinosaur mayhem through most of the remainder of the film.

The action is surely satisfactory for summer audiences, and there are a few creative death-by-dinosaur moments.  The film undoubtedly delivers on what it promises: big, special effects-driven action, dinosaurs, and people being torn to pieces by them.  It's not fair to discount it for not being as good as JURASSIC PARK, because most movies are not, but not everyone who liked JURASSIC PARK is going to like JURASSIC WORLD.  It's a bit more in the vein of THE LOST WORLD, but better, and yet, not quite good.  It will thrill some wanting to spend a couple hours on a hot summer day in a cool, dark movie theater watching the mayhem unfold, but it left me with a sour taste in the mouth.

All images via Universal