Film Review: “Jurassic World”

Summer 2015 is quickly shaping up to be the season of the
self-loathing, lecturing blockbuster. It was just a few weeks ago that
“Tomorrowland” gave audiences a high-flying adventure wrapped in an oddly
scolding tone about how the world has grown too pessimistic. Now comes
“Jurassic World,” in which director Colin Trevorrow delivers a loud,
effects-heavy blockbuster about why loud, effects-heavy blockbusters are bad
for us. Though Trevorrow fares better than Brad Bird in crafting a relatively
entertaining film around his thesis, the result often feels like a film at war
with itself.

Taking place 22 years after the events of “Jurassic Park,”
John Hammond’s dream is now a reality: Isla Nublar is now the site of a sleek,
multibillion-dollar theme park featuring real-life dinosaurs. As the film
begins, the park has been open long enough for the public to start clamoring
for bigger and better attractions. Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard), the park’s
operations manager, explains (somewhat dubiously) that “nobody’s impressed
by a dinosaur anymore,” and in an effort to satisfy that demand, park
scientists have turned to genetic experimentation, splicing together creatures
that will satisfy the public’s desire for “bigger, louder, and more
teeth.” Their latest creation is the Indominus Rex, a genetically-modified
monstrosity resulting from mixing a tyrannosaurus rex with some classified bits
of this and that (the secrecy is all the better to surprise us later on with
each of the creature’s newfound abilities). Naturally, the Indominus Rex wastes
little time before escaping its pen, running amok, and chowing down on tasty
humans. As self-reflexive commentary about the current state of blockbuster
filmmaking, this plot isn’t bad, though the time it takes for the film to turn
into exactly what it’s ostensibly critiquing is virtually nonexistent.

“Jurassic World” sets itself up as a direct sequel to
“Jurassic Park,” and is indebted to Steven Spielberg’s beloved film. Trevorrow
and his co-writers load their film with references and callbacks to the
original, and the story follows a lot of the same basic beats. These homages
will please fans, even if they constantly remind us of how much better that
first film was.

The biggest problem is the lack of any compelling characters
to carry us through the action. Howard struggles valiantly, but Claire is
painted as a bland cliché — the uptight, workaholic career woman with no time
for family. Her most impressive skill seems to be the ability to outrun
rampaging beasts without ever taking off her high heels. It’s symptomatic of
the film’s retrograde gender politics that it contrasts her character against
Owen Grady (Chris Pratt, as Burt Macklin, velociraptor wrangler), the park’s
animal behavior specialist. He’s the generically macho, unfailing hero who’s around
to keep the little lady safe. Owen’s background in the Navy is repeatedly
trotted out as the source of his skills, though what exactly in the military
prepared him to train dinosaurs remains a mystery. And if you’re going to cast
Pratt as your lead, why drain his character of the goofy,
rough-around-the-edges charm that makes the actor so likeable?

Naturally, there are the obligatory children in peril. This
time around that role is filled by Claire’s nephews, Zach (Nick Robinson) and
younger brother Gray (Ty Simpkins), who happen to be visiting their aunt when
all hell breaks loose, requiring Claire to embrace the maternal instinct Trevorrow’s script chastises her for lacking. In a
subplot straight out of an “Aliens” film, Vincent D’Onofrio portrays Hoskins, a
villainous military contractor with plans to weaponize the dinosaurs for war. Meanwhile,
Jake Johnson makes the best impression of the bunch, providing occasional comic
relief as a control-room technician who’s smarter than anyone else in the park.

The latest indie director to make the jump into the realm of
big-budget blockbusters, Trevorrow’s ascension is remarkable in that he only
has one previous feature behind him: the quirky sci-fi indie “Safety Not
Guaranteed.” He acquits himself well enough to big-budget filmmaking; there’s a
certain anonymity to the direction of most blockbusters — where it’s more about
the effects than who’s behind the camera — but Trevorrow does well with the
film’s many action scenes, staging them with excitement and clarity.

Thankfully the film does deliver on the spectacle. If you’re
going to shell out money to watch dinosaurs scarf people up like candy, you
might as well see it on the biggest, most impressive screen you can — IMAX 3D
is the way to go. In “Jurassic Park,” the dinosaur scenes added up to a grand
total of 15 minutes; here, barely a scene goes by without one lumbering across
the screen. They’re all beautifully rendered, but often missing the tactile
feel of the original’s often animatronic creations. There are some breathtaking
compositions in this “World” (shot on actual film) as well; the exploration of
the original park’s overgrown welcome center offers some particularly lovely
images.

While none match the original film’s most iconic set pieces,
there are several thrilling sequences, including a massive pterodactyl attack
on the park crowds and a chilling scene where Zach and Gray first meet the
Indominus Rex face-to-face. This film is more bloodthirsty than its
predecessors, notably in one incredibly mean-spirited scene where an innocent
character receives the sort of protracted death typically reserved for the
villain of the piece. The treatment of the Indominus Rex runs counter to the
previous films’ treatment of dinosaurs as any other animals, meant to be a
source of wonder as well as fear. Here the creature is presented as a
sociopathic monster that deserves to be exterminated.

If your sole concern is seeing rampaging dinosaurs terrorize
puny humans, you’re likely to leave “Jurassic World” happy. However, if you
want a story that can hold up beyond a second of scrutiny or characters you
actually care about, you’re going to be disappointed. “Mad Max: Fury Road”
proved that it’s possible to craft a crowd-pleasing action film while also
delivering indelible characters and a satisfying, original story; it’s fair to
hold the rest of our summer movies to the same standard. I’ll just have to
ignore my inner 12-year-old, who won’t stop begging to see the dinosaurs again.

This article appears in Jun 17-23, 2015.