Jurassic World aka your childhood 2 the revenge!
If you're getting up in your years you know what a Seminole moment the original Jurassic Park was not only for young people wanting to experience movie magic, but for the industry itself! It's 1993 and a very ambitious film project is about to be released under the guidance of Sir Steven Spielberg along with the wizardry of Stan Winston creature FX and then new young ILM computer generated FX. We were all taken aback in awe and wonder as something we had only read about and studied about in school jumped at us from the screen and into our imaginations. The simple idea back then being, if we can computer generate something small, we can generate something big. We watched in fear as the park opened and lawyers, scheming fat guys and hunters were picked off one by one by the most fearsome creatures ever to walk the earth, but we also watched as our young protagonists along with our dear Dr. Grant (Sam Neil) ran for their lives, but also took those moments to experience the less hostile dinosaurs with the wonderment and care we all felt as we watched it happen on screen. Not to mention a lawyer got eaten off a toilet, I mean what's better than that?
Cut to 25 years later as we celebrate the anniversary of this wonderful film that captivated us and stole our hearts as we all perk up a little now when we hear John Williams tear inducing score. Newcomer Colin Trevorrow has taken the directing reigns and alongside screenwriting pair Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver, who most recently successfully resurrected the Planet of the Apes franchise, busted out a script that I must say is an amazing piece of cinema that is the first perfectly rounded film of the summer so far. As if this dream team could not get better, we have returning producer Steven Spielberg, amazing music by Pixar and Bad Robot composer Michael Giacchino and of course the very in demand actor, Chris Pratt!
Jurassic World is set 22 years later after the Jurassic Park incident. The park now of course called Jurassic World, because the name Jurassic Park is like saying Macbeth in this flick, is set smack dab on top of the original site on the Isle of Nubar with a huge top of the line facility with just about every single gadget and technological advancement known to man built into the park for public enjoyment and safety. We follow a younger and older brother the younger Gray (Ty Simpkins) and the older Zach (Nick Robinson) as they leave their somewhat broken family home for an all expense paid trip to the park thanks to their Aunt who heads the park, Claire played by Bryce Dallas Howard. We are later introduced to Owen (Chris Pratt) and his pack of raptors that he has trained since captivity and good ole Engine who "helped" so much in the previous films is back in the shoes of Hoskins (Vincent D'Onfrio) who wants to weaponize the creatures. They are back on the island and Engine is snooping around. I wonder what will happen? All I know is don't trust the guy who played a giant alien roach in Men in Black and tried to kill Daredevil.
Now for me the most interesting part of the film is a very subtle subtext that the entire movie has throughout. It seems the past decade of business, attendance has dropped only to see a resurgence when a new attraction is introduced. The movie going audience in the real world at this point has seen so much on film with technological advancements that simply having walking breathing dinosaurs in a movie might not be enough to get people to see the movie. This is paralleled by the brother pair as the younger brother is amazed by these awesome creatures yet the older brother seems a little jaded and more interested in texting his girlfriend. In response to this decline in attendance the engineers decide to mess with nature and combine different dinosaur DNA to create an entirely new specimen as the older ones become obsolete. This reflects the film market of today. Why would anyone want to go and watch the older films? Especially when Hollywood can simply take pieces of the older films and make them into something new and more expensive. For a more cynical and terrifying day and age, the entertainment must reflect the worlds horrors. No more of the childlike wonder of the dinosaurs matched with the fear as stated in the dialogue, "This new creature will even haunt their parents nightmares." In that statement the innocence is gone and we are simply treated to the horrors of this new creature.
It is smarter, deadlier, and bigger. It quickly outwits it's trainers and creators and unleashes havoc throughout the park. A majority of the first half of the movie is the horror of the creature with small glimpses of that feeling of wonderment from the old movie, almost seemingly trapped by this new creature. Then there is the throwback.
There are a lot of remakes and sequels that try to capture certain scenes from it's predecessor that just seem very shoe-horned in, but in this case, it's very integral to the plot. At the halfway mark we get a glimpse of the remnants of what appears to be an old friend. Accompanied by that John Williams score. This launches into the giant battle royale at the end of the movie that little you will start beating in your heart like a drum in excitement.
The idea that the old is powerful enough to fight back the new. Without spoiling too much. Owen rallies his raptors against the new breed to fight! It just isn't enough. In a desperate effort, Claire calls in one more reinforcement you don't expect and a King Kong like battle ensues. Proving that just like New Coke, you don't mess with a classic. When said battle is over it is the complete return of that wonderment from Jurassic Park! The cynicism is defeated and once again fun in the cinema can return! Our hero dinosaurs rise to their seats of power triumphantly!
I can talk about how funny Chris Pratt is, how Bryce Dallas Howard rises to the occasion to become a better person and learn a lesson with her nephews. I can dissect Vincent D'Onfrio's character and his merits and follies. I can even talk about the Jewish guy from Harold and Kumar stealing every scene he's in! What I took from this film however was much more than presented in the trailers. Our old friends return with their power usurped by something big and new. They still thrive and survive, after all they are dinosaurs beating their own extinction. I give this five strands of Mr. DNA out of five! For stealing my heart and showing me once again how amazing the combination of practical and CGI FX can be done to bring back some of my oldest friends!
