Friday 12 June 2015

Jurassic World a fast pass of entertainment



*** This review may contain dino DNA spoilers ***
22 years after the Isla Nublar incident, brothers Zach and Gray Mitchell go to Jurassic World, a fully functional dinosaur theme park to visit their aunt but things go awry and she enlists the help from an old flame to save her nephews.

Do you want to see Spielberg's Jurassic Park overgrown and in ruins, the original T-Rex, Mr DNA, Dr Wu, Ian's mug on the front of yet another novel, Richard Hammond's statute and a fully functional Jurassic World (park)? Then you've come to the right place.

Director Colin Trevorrow offers state-of-the-art CGI, however, less is more and as visually impressive as it is it looses it's organic feel. The background CGI of the park it's self is more awe inspiring than much of the dinosaur set ups. Even with the amazing giant water dinosaur it can't match the original for impact, but it works in its own right as a good ride and piece of entertainment with some notable stand out moments, including an aviary escape, a 
velociraptor chase and aquarium killing to name a few. To Trevorrow's credit it flows from scene to scene rather than in the originals set up to set up, yet due to its pace it's never spends enough time with its characters for you to really feel for them deep down. 

Michael Giacchino score and sound design are great complementing the visual effects, especially the climactic fight scene. The film takes a swipe at American 
war policy, commercialism and the like, however, even with four writers including Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver, Derek Connolly and Trevorrow the dialogue is not as credible as the previous instalments. There's plenty of nods to the other films, even a throw away line about why the Jurassic Park and World dinosaurs may not look like the dinosaurs that roamed the earth 65 million years ago cleverly batting off any criticism of the creature designs and any factual inconsistencies. 

Thankfully there's no part III annoying screaming and Chris Pratt's and Bryce Dallas Howard (as Claire Dearing) performances are great. The cast are enjoyable, funny even if a little ridiculous at times. The exploitation military subplot feels a little unnecessary and the dinosaurs are humanised a tad too much robbing World of its fear factor.

Louder and bigger doesn't mean better and it lacks any subtly, but it undeniably entertains. It's Westworld with dinosaurs with a few moments that even encompass the Jurassic Park novel, a reminder as to why you fell in love with dinosaurs all over again in the first place.

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