Returning to the site of 1993’s Jurassic Park, now open as a fully-fledged tourist attraction, Jurassic World has endured a similarly torturous development process (albeit with fewer dinosaur-related deaths). Emerging surprisingly lean and mean after years of script splicing in Hollywood’s writers labs, comparisons with Spielberg’s original are inevitable, if perhaps unfair.
For starters, there’s no way to recapture the sense of wonder that Jurassic Park conjured as movie audiences were treated to frighteningly realistic dinosaurs interacting with (read: often chowing down on) present-day humans. And, try as they might, subsequent sequels never managed to improve on the original’s depiction of man’s folly in trying to impose order over nature – a theme that’s at the heart of the series and remains present here.
Although thematic elements may seem familiar, and authority figures’ attitudes to security still cavalier, Jurassic World thankfully doesn’t trade too heavily on nostalgia or callbacks to the original. There’s no mistaking its DNA, but on the surface level everything’s shiny and new, with fresh dinosaurs to be terrified by, and previously untapped dimensions to familiar fanged foes.
Visitor and audience wonderment is fuelled by the scale of attractions and fear of what lurks behind barriers for the most part, rather than the awe that came from interacting with docile dinos in the original, something that’s disappointing on the one hand, but leaving more screen time for thrilling action sequences that ramp up the tension and tempo. Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard acquit themselves well in such moments, plus, any action scenes nodding to Aliens/Predator 2 play just fine with me.
Guest fatigue with the familiar has driven park management to go bigger and badder with their creations, which feels like an unknowing parallel with the film itself. But going larger in places, ridiculous in others, and action-packed as possible makes this an inessential sequel that’s viscerally, if not emotionally or intellectually, stimulating.
‘Jurassic World’ Movie Times | ‘Jurassic World 3D’ Movie Times
