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Jurassic World


Starring: Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Ty Simpkins, Irrfan Khan, and Vincent D'Onofrio
Directed by: Colin Trevorrow
Screenplay by: Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver

       It's been more than 20 years since the park first opened in the first Jurassic Park movie, and it seems as though the scientists still haven't learned their lessons from the past.
       Zach and Gray (Nick Robinson and Ty Simpkins respectively) are two brothers who are about to go on the trip of a lifetime, a newly reopened theme park called Jurassic World.  And it is on the same property of the old Jurassic Park, where a power failure allowed the dinosaurs in the park to roam freely, thus closing the park.  While it was a miracle that scientists could bring back dinosaurs from extinction, they knew the possibility of something going wrong.
       But now, the park has been open for a while and they want something completely new; something bigger, scarier, and that has more teeth.  So, they unveil this new attraction, a genetically modified dinosaur that never actually existed before.  Great idea right?  Probably not.  The dinosaur is contained in a zone that has massive concrete walls, large enough to keep it in (hopefully).  But when it escapes, it goes on a killing rampage, killing many of the other dinosaurs in the park.  And, this forces the park to close, AGAIN.
       First off, it feels like it hasn't been long enough for a reboot of the Jurassic Park series.  Yes, it's been 20 years since the first one and only 14 since the most recent one, but that still doesn't feel like a long enough span of time.
       The story is almost a copy of the original story as well.  Yes, this time they seem to have a little experience in genetically recreating actual dinosaurs, but the same risks exist as they did in the first film.  In a way, it also feels like a Godzilla type movie, in people are running away from and others are trying to stop a giant monster from destroying everything around them.
       Some of the characters are not developed well enough either.  They are very two dimensional and uninteresting, making it hard for the audience to be able to connect with any of them.  Another problem is that the story focuses not enough on one character.  It is not told from the perspective of any particular character, which I think is one of its weaknesses.  If the story focused more on one character and told it from his or her perspective entirely, it might be a stronger film.
       In the 1993 film, the special effects were revolutionary.  Rarely before was a film able to combine animation in the same shot as live action.  Today, this is commonplace in so many other giant blockbuster films.  Jurassic World seems to show off the wonders of these special effects in a similar fashion to the first film.  An example of this is in a scene in which Zach and Gray are watching one of the shows involving one of the dinosaurs whose habitat is in water.  The show is done in a similar fashion to the Shamu show at Sea World.  While the film uses a scene such as this to demonstrate the wonders of the special effects, it is not necessary.  People are used to these kinds of films that combine animation/CGI and live action together.  Just to give an example, many of us have seen The Avengers, right?
       Jurassic World is the giant blockbuster that could, but didn't.  I was expecting an exciting and thrilling film that would be original in some fashion, but draw on the first films only to a certain extent.  Instead, I saw a remake.
       I give Jurassic World a D+.

Image from: www.comicbookmovie.com

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