A truly great Jurassic Park sequel may go down in history as one of the “unfilmable” challenges of our time. With fourteen years since Jurassic Park III and no big rush to craft a new film, the creators of Jurassic World had the time they needed to do it right. They fall short of greatness, crafting an objectively better film than JP2 and 3 that doesn’t even come close to the original. Either way, it managed to be more entertaining than the trailers led me to believe.
The trick with Jurassic World — something the trailers failed to touch on — is the way it modernizes the concept of a theme park for dinosaurs in reasonably clever ways. The “Jurassic World” in the film is a massive attraction built atop the failures of the original park, with the holes plugged and the technology perfected. You may ask with each sequel why anyone would go back or try again, and Jurassic World answers that quickly, establishing that Jurassic World has been running so smoothly that attendance is down and patrons are becoming bored with the dinosaurs.
It’s that self-aware and somewhat cynical viewpoint that gives Jurassic World its edge. The first half of the film is mostly great, showing us how things have evolved over the twenty years since the original Jurassic Park incident. Everything is buttoned up, corporate, mainstream, and safe. There’s a Starbucks, a dinosaur-equivalent of Seaworld, safari rides, and even a team of raptors-in-training led by Chris Pratt as Owen Grady.
In an attempt to raise attendance, the park-runners get overly ambitious, crafting a sort of super dinosaur. It proves to be smarter and more resilient than anyone anticipated, escaping its pen and jumpstarting the action that drives the rest of the film.
Jurassic World benefits from a more modern viewpoint to set the tone early on, but when it comes time to kick up the pace that modern viewpoint manifests itself in less-than-great ways. 1993’s Jurassic Park may have had some rough CG here and there, but it holds up today by intelligently blending the CG with practical effects. Jurassic World, by comparison, seems to rely almost entirely on CG to show off the dinosaurs. The result is something that feels indulgent and overanimated, and more often than not the action comes off as hollow and forgettable as a result.
The action is at its best in scenes that crib from the original film, emulating the more famous and heart-pounding moments of Jurassic Park. The results are effective, but it’s also a cheap solution. In terms of suspense and action, Jurassic World fails to find its own identity, often stumbling whenever it presents a new idea or fresh action sequence.
If only the writers had gone the extra mile to emulate the original film’s robust cast of characters too. Jurassic World is Chris Pratt’s show from beginning to end. Bryce Dallas Howard has her moments as park operations manager Claire Dearing, but the rest of the cast ranges from forgettable to offensive. Claire’s nephews — the film’s requisite children-to-save — are particularly painful, coming off as an amalgam of tropes packaged and force-fed into the plot. And don’t get me started on the “villain.” He's so transparent that I could barely muster a shrug when he got his comeuppance.
The original Jurassic Park is not a perfect film, but it’s hard to compare any of it to Jurassic World without the latter looking bad. Even the use of the iconic theme song falls flat, as the film chooses to pan over bland views of the park whenever the track plays. Where are the dinosaurs? Where are the lovable characters dropping to their knees in awe of a massive Brachiosaur?
Modern cynicism gives Jurassic World a knowing, clever premise to work with, but that same modern attitude strips the film of the wonder that dripped from every pore of the original. What you’re left with is a by-the-numbers summer CG action film with a few clever ideas and a distinct lack of lovable characters. It’s totally watchable, but completely forgettable too.
