by Ed Travis
Welcome to Jurassic World, indeed!
No one is more surprised than I am about the following sentence. Jurassic World is a highly entertaining night at the movies. Public skepticism seems to be running high at the moment I write this, as the marketing campaign hasn’t done a great job of selling the self-aware and frankly self-deprecating tone of Jurassic World; instead showcasing money shots without context that feel like terrible ideas at a gut level. Audiences heading into the movie who have seen trailers know that Jurassic World features a fully functional and operational amusement park filled with dinosaurs. This is the best conceit of the whole film and was easily the biggest selling point of the movie upon seeing the first trailer. Who hasn’t always wanted to see a tourist getting picked off by a pterodactyl, after all? It is pure human nature. But other major factors notable from the trailers include a new alpha dinosaur created from genetic modification (the Indominus Rex), as well as a pack of trained raptors led by a strapping Chris Pratt. Sure, a new dinosaur was probably inevitable and will sell toys to kids. It makes sense even if it might raise a eyebrows. But trained raptors? Could you possibly neuter the greatest killing machines of the previous 3 films more thoroughly? It sounds like the kind of thing that might have seemed like a fun brainstorming session which you ultimately discard when you start thinking about the practicality of it all.
But writers Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver, Colin Trevorrow, and Derek Connolly (with that many credited writers who knows where credit is due?) seemed to be aware of the risks they were taking with the story, and embody the potential skepticism onto the capable shoulders of one Chris Pratt. Pratt plays a former soldier named Chris Pratt (character names in this movie are borderline meaningless and I couldn’t tell you a single one from memory after having seen the movie an hour ago) who is, indeed, training raptors. He himself is skeptical of the control he has over them, though, and is quick to note the animals are not safe, are wild, and obedient only to the laws of nature. His superiors, on the other hand, embodied by Vincent D’Onofrio playing the most obviously walking piece of meat in cinema history, are keen on “weaponizing” these dinosaurs. Think the Weyland-Yutani Corporation from the Alien universe and you get the idea of where this new series of Jurassic films may well be headed. (A direction that is well-trodden, but that I also quite enjoy). Pratt is able to voice the extreme skepticism that many in the audience might be feeling regarding the intelligence of breeding a newer, smarter dinosaur to attract more guests to the park. He’s also able to display rogue-ish heroism and his trademark sense of humor as he genuinely does form a bond with the velociraptors, though just how tenuous this bond is becomes a source of stress and entertainment throughout the film.
While the overarching plot ultimately feels inevitable and borderline cut and dry (Things go wrong, dinosaurs start running amok and killing people, a small band of survivors will have to find a way to escape and lead thousands of tourists to safety), the tension I felt in my gut throughout the movie is undeniable. It should be noted that I haven’t seen a Jurassic Park film since the last one hit theaters some 14 years ago, and I never counted myself among those who experienced a genuine awe and wonder at the original film (give me a break, adolescents are humans at their worst), nor do I remember the last time I saw it. There was a freshness to Jurassic World that I experienced which may not be experienced by people far more familiar with the series that has come before. Perhaps Jurassic World hews TOO closely to the original film in reusing certain imagery, beats, and set pieces. But the elements of awe and wonder which are so fondly remembered from the first movie and so often decried as missing from the next two are present here through the eyes of brothers travelling to the park (Ty Simpkins from Insidious and Nick Robinson from The Kings Of Summer playing “younger brother” and “older brother”).
While the character names aren’t important, the film does allow us to empathize enough with our main band of protagonists to root for their survival and feel their basic humanity. Bryce Dallas Howard has the unenviable task of playing the uptight park manager who wears ridiculous heels throughout the entire movie (again, this is a knowing part of the story and not simply an oversight), is the Aunt of “the brothers”, and who ultimately rounds out our core team of protagonists. It should be noted that Jake Johnson (star of writer/director Colin Trevorrow’s excellent little indie comedy Safety Not Guaranteed, which presumably won Trevorrow the Jurassic gig) plays a hilarious control room operator who damn near steals the show, and also adds a layer of self-deprecation to the movie which is much appreciated.
But what is perhaps more important than the self-awareness, or just how broad Chris Pratt’s capable shoulders really are… is the dinosaurs. And while I’m not a huge fan of the look of the Indominus Rex, it sure is a cool “villain”. We don’t know what it is bred from, nor do our protagonists. So its abilities are slowly revealed in exciting ways. And let me tell you, once those “trained” raptors are allowed to cut loose? They steal the whole show. The visual effects of Jurassic World certainly aren’t as bad as they appeared in the earliest trailers, but also aren’t the envelope-pushing breakthroughs that made the first film such a classic. But that said, today’s effects do allow us to see packs of raptors hunting at full speed, and even as a grown man who never was a big “dinosaur kid”, I got goosebumps. The raptors, seemingly neutered via the earliest trailers, instead remain the coolest dinosaurs on the block here in Jurassic World. With the Indominus proving a worthy adversary for them and our human protagonists.
Jurassic World is far from perfect. Many will likely decry the legion stupid decisions made by characters throughout the film. But this argument is invalid because the Jurassic Park franchise is built upon the realization of one remarkably stupid decision after another until not only was an amusement park filled with real dinosaurs created, but even after it failed horribly, another, bigger park was built right over it. So fans simply can’t get too uptight about a few dumb moves on the part of our heroes. There are also some jokes that hit with a thud and your typical distracting product placement which is omnipresent in major tentpole films these days. The big new directions the film takes may very well not click with everyone the way they did with me. And meanwhile, the similarities to the first film could, alternatively, be too apparent for major fans who have often revisited that film.
As a nominal Jurassic Park fan who hadn’t taken a trip back to the park in ages, and who went into World with more than a little skepticism, I have to say I feel like Colin Trevorrow proved more than up to the task of creating what is easily the second best Jurassic film. And there was just enough tantalizing bait sprinkled into this film as to where a new series of Jurassic World films could go that, perhaps more than ever before, I’m excited about the Jurassic franchise again. And keen to see where Trevorrow might take us next.
And I’m Out.