Should you watch this in 3D? Nah, there isn’t much difference.
Should you watch this at weekend movie ticket prices? Definitely.
Should you watch this at weekday movie ticket prices? Yes.
Secret ending? Unfortunately not.
Running time: 125 minutes (~ 2 hours)
“Jurassic World” is an action adventure, science fiction movie that’s the fourth in the “Jurassic Park” series. Once again, a dinosaur theme park is built — but when the biggest, meanest dinosaurs escape, panic and havoc ensues. It stars Chris Pratt (Owen Grady), Bryce Dallas Howard (Claire Dearing), Vincent D’Onofrio (Vic Hoskins), Ty Simpkins (Gray Mitchell), Nick Robinson (Zach Mitchell), Omar Sy (Barry), B.D. Wong (Dr. Henry Wu), and Irrfan Khan (Simon Masrani). It is rated PG-13.
In the universe of “Jurassic World,” the dinosaurs might be intelligent and learn to overcome their surroundings, but the humans never learn. For the fourth time, some humans have decided to build another theme park by cloning dinosaurs using fossilised DNA, and again they’ve decided to genetically manipulate the dinosaurs, resulting in forces beyond their control. And yes, they’ve actually acknowledged that the efforts of the original “Jurassic Park” pioneers ended in disaster.
Despite repeating the premise for the fourth time, “Jurassic World” still entertains with plenty of action, grand set pieces, and of course, dinosaur fights.
Highlights
Carnage and chaos
Face it — you’re here to watch dinosaurs break loose and lay waste to everything in sight. The movie quickly settles you into the characters, the location, and the big bad dinosaur that’ll break loose in the end, before giving audiences exactly what they came to see. Flying and swimming dinosaurs wreak havoc across the screen, even as old favourites like the Tyrannosaurus rex and Velociraptors chomp their way across the landscape. There’s even a brand new dinosaur in the mix, the Indominus rex, that serves as the ultimate hybrid dinosaur that the heroes must face at the end.
Well-paced action
The action never lets up. Not a single minute is wasted on needless rambling. Exposition is short and sweet, and serves only to get us to the next amazing set piece. The pacing is fantastic, and keeps the tension high throughout the film. You’ll never catch yourself wondering how much time has passed in this movie.
Dinosaurs vs dinosaurs
It’s all well and good seeing humans fight dinosaurs, but there’s little else our species can do but fire ineffective guns or lob pitiful explosives at them. If fire and bullets can’t hurt the dinosaurs, what can? Other dinosaurs, of course! The film adds plenty of dinosaur fights, pitting species against each other as the humans struggle to get out of the way. And of course, there is the rampage of the Indominus rex, which savages every dinosaur it comes across.
References to the original Jurassic Park
Not only do the characters mention the circumstances of the original Jurassic Park, and the fate that befell its creators, the protagonists also come across the forgotten remains of Jurassic World’s predecessor. One of the characters from the first film, Dr. Henry Wu, even returns for this installment, further cementing the connection and helping build verisimilitude in a world where humans repeatedly try to clone dinosaurs for fun and profit.
Letdowns
The Mitchell brothers are hackneyed stereotypes
We’re definitely not expecting deep characterisation from this movie, but the Mitchell brothers are cookie cutter stereotypes of the sullen teenager going through puberty (Zach) and the eager young boy who’s meant as a symbol of hope (Gray). Though they serve decently well as the hostages — I mean, stakes in the film, a little bit more effort could have been put into shaving off some of those stereotypes.
“Jurassic World” is a fun dinosaur adventure that knows what you want to see it, and delivers that action in spades. If you love dinosaurs (and who doesn’t?), then “Jurassic World” is going to please you from the first minute to the last.
“Jurassic World” opens in cinemas 11 June, 2015 (Thursday).
This review was also published on Yahoo.
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