Jurassic World (2015)

More than 20 years ago, they wanted to open a dinosaur theme park and things went horribly wrong. Now, in 2015, they haven’t learned anything from the past and decide to not just open up a park filled with all possible dinosaurs but genetically build a bigger, stronger, smarter and hella scarier dinosaur. It doesn’t take a genius to know that things pretty much went as badly as they did 22 years ago + some twenty thousand people badly.

For once I can state that yes, I have seen Jurassic Park and I loved it! It was thrilling, entertaining and definitely ahead of its time. On the plus side, since it was limited in terms of technology and CGI, Jurassic Park was raw and surprisingly realistic. I’m not going to fall into a habit of comparing these two movies throughout but keep in mind what I said about Jurassic Park because there’s something about Jurassic World that I want to address later on.

So, as already mentioned, Jurassic World is about a genetically enhanced dinosaur which as you might have guessed it, escapes from its prison and starts terrorizing the park. This happens pretty much in the middle of the movie, after a very long introduction to the movie which features two boys and their very determined and career-driven aunt Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard). Though the introduction was sort of necessary and it built up the whole idea of the park well, it felt like forever because all I wanted was Chris Pratt and every minute he was not on screen felt like torture. Thankfully Pratt’s Owen was finally included into the movie and the plot started building up momentum, gradually  getting where it always wanted to go.

As far as positives go, there were many little things that I was so happy to witness. First, as you might have guessed it, was Chris Pratt and every inch of his toned body. Not to sound like I’m objectifying him but he was so hot running around, driving around and just being around that I couldn’t even focus on anything else. Pratt was the star of the movie because he was so natural, charismatic, fun and entertaining to watch. Three other stand outs were two of the younger cast members, Ty Simpkins and Nick Robinson as Gray and Zach, and the comic relief provider Jake Johnson as Lowery. Each of them had great moments, including Lowery’s very awkward almost kiss that made fun of the cliché make out sessions.

The female lead Bryce Dallas Howard as Claire was alright, she held her own and though she wasn’t my favorite, she didn’t disappoint me either. It has already been commented on and discussed but I want to pitch in that it is extremely idiotic to have a woman run around in heels in a jungle! Get a freaking grip people, give her some boots, tennis shoes, something – it’s not just stupid, it’s annoying and idiotic. I get the fact that it might be visually more appealing to see a woman run in heels and all, but let’s be honest, she would have broken an ankle 2 minutes into their first escape. That, or she would have gotten stuck in the mud, broke a heel or something other than what she was doing the whole time. And based on the fact that I managed to rant a paragraph about heels, it bothered me a lot more than it should have.

Among the human characters there was also a big focus on four raptors Owen had developed a bond with. Their presence was mandatory for the plot as well as the general idea of the movie, showing that these animals are capable to think, feel and understand. You might even consider calling them intelligent and loyal which is something that made them extremely vital to the whole movie. Their presence was a plus side though I’m going to be completely honest when I say that the movie could have used a little less to have a bigger impact.

Let me clarify this by sharing my favorite scene of the movie which happened to be in the very beginning – when our genetically enhanced dinosaur escapes. It’s hidden and yet it’s presence is known but since we don’t see it anywhere it feels very scary! The thrill is the fact that we know it’s coming, we know it is there but the excitement is not being able to see it visually. Couple of similar moments were thrown in later on in the movie as well, for instance the camouflage element but other than that, the dinosaurs were mostly in your face. I’m not saying I would have wanted to see less of them but I would have loved to have more tension of knowing the danger and not really seeing it. Which was something that as far as I remember Jurassic Park succeeded in more. What I’m trying to say is, in short, is that Jurassic World kept going too far with things, taking every scene a little further than necessary and the flow of the plot suffered a little bit because of the possibilities to show every dinosaur and every inch of them.

Bottom line, Jurassic World feels too much with all that’s going on and there isn’t a lot of tension in the movie which ends up lowering the overall quality. The highlights were definitely there but as a whole, the movie wasn’t as great as I expected and to be honest, I expected a lot more than I received. Thankfully Chris Pratt delivered the hotness and I don’t even mind sounding hallow when I say this because we all know most women went to see him and not the dinosaurs anyway.

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