When it comes to remakes and reboots in Hollywood, between being a hit or a miss, the movie released is more-often-than-not a miss. So I did have some reservations going into this movie because I hoped it wouldn't be just another corporate cashgrab. But as it turns out, I was pleasantly taken off-guard, because this movie turned out to be surprisingly good.
It was comforting to know that Steven Spielberg was onboard with this project from the start even if he didn't direct it, because there was evidence in the film that the cast and crew members understood how fans of the original movie wanted this film to avoid steamrolling Jurassic Park completely or otherwise insult the franchise (especially considering that the other two sequels kind of did that already). The good thing is that this film was able to balance the new material with interesting homages to the first film. Obviously since it's taking place over 20 years after the first movie, Jurassic World has to have its own new identity, but thankfully it does it with enough respect to the original material, and it acts as if it's coexisting with the first film rather than attempting to replace it or somehow "fix" it. And while it was bursting with references to Jurassic Park, the homages came off as entertaining rather than obnoxious or inappropriate, both of which I have witnessed in other films that didn't know how to work with their material quite as well as this one does.
With regards to the performances, I believe that for the most part, the actors did a sufficient job. Now, I say sufficient and not amazing because we have seen these characters before: Bryce Dallas Howard is the typical working woman who cares more about her job than her family, Chris Pratt is the rugged white guy who runs around saving everyone and making sharp comebacks, the older brother is sullen and largely annoyed by his younger brother until the threat of death brings them together, and the younger brother is the innocent kid who is somewhat bullied by the older brother until they learn to work together in the face of danger. And this was a minor problem I had with this movie, especially considering that they're always shoving these cardboard character cutouts in the face of the audience by shoehorning a bunch of exposition. For example, at the moment where Bryce Dallas Howard first goes to speak to Christ Pratt, when she arrives, he is not only fixing his motorcycle, but his response to her first few lines of dialogue are, "Should we continue the conversation here, or…in my bungalow?" And as is typical of her type of character, Bryce Dallas Howard gets mildly irritated and stands with her arms crossed over her perfectly white lab coat and polished high heels. This tone of course carries into the rest of the movie, as it's implied that they had a past relationship but now they have to overcome their differences to work together and save Howard's nephews. And with regards to the boys, they did an alright job. I mean they are child actors so I won't judge them too harshly, but I will say that there were moments between them that felt kind of forced. Like, the point in the movie where the younger brother is running around the park having fun and then for no reason it cuts to him crying next to his brother about how he doesn't want their parents to get a divorce. While I'm not abhorred to the idea of a "parent-divorce" subplot to add some conflict between the brothers (even though it's been done in almost every movie involving children ever), I still think it could've been worked into the narrative in a way that wouldn't have felt so uneven. This is especially considering the fact that the movie had already established Bryce Dallas Howard's character, so that should've created enough conflict between her and her nephews, but I guess the writers felt like throwing in one more character arc just in case they felt they weren't being thorough enough, even if they already had the conflict with regards to the boys being chased and attacked by dinosaurs.
But I kind of excused the human characters because in all reality, they are not why people come to see this movie: they come for the dinosaurs. I did think that the concept of a hybrid dinosaur was a smart idea for the story, especially considering that it builds off of the concept of genetic manipulation that we saw in the first movie, but updates it for modern audiences by taking it to the next level. With regards to the design of the new T-Rex, I was only disappointed with how they revealed the new dinosaur in some of the trailers instead of waiting for everyone to be surprised when they saw it in theaters. However, I guess it doesn't make a difference considering that this movie has now broken the record for the biggest opening ever. And in hindsight, this movie really does try its hardest to cater to the fans, which I can respect, and it makes the film more enjoyable. A lot of dinosaurs from the first film showed their faces, but I still think that the unexpected appearance of one dinosaur in particular towards the end of the movie really made the entire film worth watching. I'm not going to explicitly reveal why this moment was probably the best moment of the entire movie, but let me just say that it had my inner Jurassic Park fan squealing pretty hard. They did build up to this moment pretty efficiently and I believe that it made really the impact the filmmakers intended. I did like the pacing of the film, since they were smart enough to keep the action going, and to be honest there weren't too many dull moments. Sure, some of the parts dedicated to clunky character exposition felt a little forced, but not enough to drag down the entire film. Overall it was a lot of fun and it's certainly a decent film to check out.
Overall rating: 8/10
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