Above: a dinosaur. Photo ©Universal Pictures
Before there were superheroes,
amorous vampires, Transformers, witches, wizards and whatever the hell Channing
Tatum is, there was one king of the box office—dinosaurs. In fact, Steven Spielberg’s raptors-gone-wild
epic “Jurassic Park” was more than just a blockbuster—it was a pop culture
phenomenon, one that even made my fiancé consider becoming a
paleontologist. Now, with a little help
from Mr. Spielberg (who remains onboard as an executive producer), the
franchise has returned in the form of “Jurassic World,” which has already overshadowed
the original film at the box office.
Whether it eclipses it artistically is another matter.
With
typical summer movie-panache, “Jurassic World” leads us back to the original
flick’s signature location—an island theme park of roving, reincarnated
dinosaurs. Still, the park’s greatest
menace is not its computer-generated tyrannosaurus rexes, but the sneering
millennials who ruin the fun with their determination to remain
unimpressed. Apparently, a T-Rex eating
a goat doesn’t cut the mustard anymore, which is why CEO and park manager
Claire (a beautiful redhead played by Bryce Dallas Howard, not Jessica
Chastain) decides to create the ultimate dino-park attraction—Indominus Rex, a
killing machine bred from the DNA of myriad ferocious creatures.
Wrangling this mad-science saga
(Indominus ultimately escapes and wreaks havoc across the island) is director
Colin Treverrow. He’s not an obvious
choice for the material; his last film was the microscopic indie “Safety Not
Guaranteed.” Yet that movie may well
have prepared him for this new one; throughout “Jurassic World,” he manages to
focus on the kind of delicate visual details and intimate moments that often get
lost in the shuffle of a plotline involving killer dinosaur rampage. What’s more, he does a wonderful job of
creating shots similar to the original’s while imbuing the film with his own
flair. Because of that, “Jurassic World”
truly is an entertaining adventure, one packed with delightfully scary
monstrosities, a few majestic herbivores, and a perfect score by Academy
Award-winning composer Michael Giacchino (his music sounds like an artfully
creepy re-do of John Williams’ score for the first “Jurassic” movie).
Still, “Jurassic World” sometimes
falters in its brilliance. Above all, I
have to ding the movie for one thing—the characterization of Claire. She’s not a terrible character (she does get
her fair share of the action). Yet
following the feminist high of “Mad Max: Fury Road,” a movie that forces its
uptight career gal to rely on a Indiana Jones-esque dinosaur trainer (played by
all-around great human Chris Pratt) and frantically run around in high heels can’t
help but seem painfully outdated. In
fact, even when “Jurassic World” shows its characters in silhouette, they’re
reduced to retrograde gender stereotypes—the tough male adventurer and the
woman wrapped in elegant furs.
Still, I would give this movie a
B-. Mr. Trevorrow adds enough
interesting twists to make “Jurassic World” definitely worth the price of
admission keep families entertained; in the process, he reinvigorates an
excellent franchise, even if his film is missing that elusive little extra
something that could have sent it to the next level. Now, hopefully he can keep the momentum going
and unleash more crazy shenanigans in the next “Jurassic Park” installment.
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