I re-watched Jurassic Park almost a week ago and I was surprised by how much it still holds up today. It’s blockbuster filmmaking at its finest made possible by Steven Spielberg. It’s no surprise that the sequels had trouble following such an act. Even Spielberg himself fumbled with The Lost World. Unfortunately, Jurassic World continues the trend of lackluster follow-ups to a beloved classic. While it is better than the previous two installments, which isn’t much of an accomplishment considering how low those two films lowered the bar. Along with only passable direction from director/co-writer Colin Trevorrow, Jurassic World is plagued with a weak story, one-dimensional “characters,” total lack of charm and magic, and cheap imitation of its predecessor. The film’s saving grace is its thrilling third act, but even that can’t shake the feeling that maybe the park should have stayed closed forever. Set 22 years after the events of the first installment, Jurassic World sees the fully-realized dinosaur theme park envisioned by John Hammond (why they would open a park after it went so horribly wrong the first time is never explained). The person in charge of managing the facility is Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard), who not only had a past relationship with the main character Owen (Chris Pratt), but is also responsible for looking after her two nephews Zach (Nick Robinson) and Gray (Ty Simpkins) after they are set to Isla Nublar while their parents get a divorce (because broken families are a thing even in Spielberg movies not directed by Spielberg). When one of the newest attractions, a genetically modified dinosaur called the Indominus Rex, breaks out and threatens the safety of everyone in the park, Owen and Claire must work together to find Claire’s nephews while also trying to stop the beast from causing more death and destruction. Also, Vincent D’Onofrio’s character wants to use Owen’s velociraptor squad for military purposes for no other reason than because he’s evil. That’s three loosely connected subplots that don’t work together to form a cohesive story. While Jurassic Park being a masterpiece is debatable, it was a basic survival story. It understood that simplicity is sometimes better than complexity. There may not be tonal whiplash present in Jurassic World, but it’s three subplots never connect in any meaningful ways. Claire assigns an assistant to look after Zach and Gray while she manages the park so those characters are separated for the majority of the film. It leaves their family ties so underserved that the fact they are a family is made completely inconsequential. D’Onofrio’s Hoskins wanting to militarize raptors goes absolutely nowhere. It makes you wonder why his character was necessary in this film when we already have an antagonist in the form of the Indominus Rex. Also, the idea of militarizing raptors is idiotic and doesn’t make any sense. At the beginning of my review, I put quotation marks around the work “characters” because it’s not fair to really call them characters. They’re stereotypes of characters from films about survival. Owen is written as the infallible action hero who is never wrong about anything. He is so flat that he robs Chris Pratt of his charisma we got to know in Guardians of the Galaxy. Hoskins is basically a cartoony bad guy. Zach and Gray pretty much serve the roles of Tim and Lex from the first film, but they are so joyless and annoying, you would rather pay attention to any other character in the film, even if they all are equally dull. Jurassic World has no identity outside of being the fourth installment in the franchise. The film is so reliant on CG instead of practical effects that the magic of feeling as if the dinosaurs really are there is gone. Instead, we’re left with a film that is constantly copying and referencing a much better film. It was like Trevorrow was whispering in my ear, “Get it? Because first movie!” The film fails at standing on its own two feet because it has no idea how to balance respecting the legacy it’s built upon while trying to be a standalone feature. Universal hiring an inexperienced director in Trevorrow was probably the first sign that this would be a studio controlled film with a made-by-a-committee feel. The only time the film really shines is in the climax. It’s the kind of monster movie mayhem you would expect from a summer blockbuster and it does that job exceptionally well. Plus, Jurassic World really is a fully-realized. There is so much detail and imagination that I could see it being an actual theme park. Where the film truly goes wrong is its hypocritical commentary on the state of summer blockbusters today. Tomorrowland already made this same mistake a few weeks ago and now we’re seeing it again here. The film criticizes summer blockbusters for trying to be “bigger, louder, scarier, and cooler” because that’s what audiences want nowadays. Jurassic World is all those things it is apparently against. It dares to criticize other films just like it and blame us for the current state big budget tentpole films. Perhaps filmmakers should be more concerned making sure their films aren’t the things they can’t stand about movies before chastising us about how it’s our fault for the way things are. I’m not sure we will ever get a worthy Jurassic Park sequel, but after three disappoint follow-ups in a row, it probably isn’t worth trying anymore. Jurassic Park had a message about how wrong it is to meddle with nature. Maybe that could be applied to this franchise. It was wrong for Universal and Colin Trevorrow to dig up a dead franchise, bring it back to life, and masquerade it as a sequel worthy of the Jurassic Park name when it so obviously isn’t. They were so preoccupied with whether or not they could that they didn’t stop to think if they should. Final Rating: 5 out of 10.
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