"Nothing in Jurassic World is NATURAL."
It’s already difficult enough to talk about “Jurassic World” without comparing it to the first and most loved installment in the franchise. In a perfect world, I’d be able to see this movie as its own entity, be able to judge it on its own merits. But I can’t. Not because I have any particular attachment to “Jurassic Park”, not because I have anything against reboots in general, but because this newest version of “dinosaurs wreak havoc” will not let me forget about the films that came before.
There’s a line between being cloyingly self-referential and just straight out creating supertext out of subtext, and “Jurassic World” stomps across that line with large T-rex feet and goes bounding into the distance. From the very beginning of the film, characters IN THE FILM bemoan the loss of the original “Jurassic Park”, disparage the holograms and genetic mad science they must use to impress an audience…sorry, “consumer base”…of increasingly jaded young people. It’s not only distracting and awkward, it’s completely unnecessary. If am I watching a film like “Jurassic World” in the first place, I have no ILLUSIONS that I’m seeing something new. What I WANT is to be entertained and have a decent story told to support the frankly insane plot that’s unfolding before me. “Jurassic World”, by putting words in my mouth and constantly talking up the original film, not only betrays its insecurities about its own merits, it shows me that it doesn’t know why “Jurassic Park” was such a great film in the first place.
So, here come the comparisons, because the film invited them. First of all, the CGI is weak. Most of the dinosaurs look unnatural and strange, and the animators seem to be trying to anthropomorphize the beasts a bit, give them human emotions and facial tics, which looks AWFUL.
The characters are crap. Several of the subplots are straight up lifted from “Jurassic Park”, and they are not pulled off with nearly the same amount of skill and grace. This leads to a slew of stilted performances from the large, unremarkable cast of characters, the worst offender being a teenage boy (Nick Robinson) who is so sullen and unlikable that it makes you wonder if the writers have ever spoken to anyone under the age of thirty. BD Wong (who returns as Dr Henry Wu) has a nice dramatic monologue in the middle of the film but is criminally underused, and Chris Pratt is of course handsome and perfect. Pratt exemplifies what is wrong with the film’s character writing, though; ANYONE could have played that part and done fine. Pratt’s charisma helps make the character engaging, but ultimately he’s doing all the work the script couldn’t bring itself to finish. The less said about Bryce Dallas Howard’s character, the better.
There are some cool scenes, particularly a RIDICULOUS climax that doubles as a shout-out to one of the more famous scenes of “Jurassic Park”, but I came away from the theater feeling tired and used up. A real little kid who’s never seen the first film might enjoy this installment…but on the other hand, they might be so confused by the constant callbacks to the first film that they won’t be able to immerse themselves in the story. And THAT’S the true problem. “Jurassic Park” made you feel like you were there. “Jurassic World” purposely makes you feel like a spectator. And a really lazy loud one at that.
DRINK:
There’s a cocktail called “The Green Dinosaur”. Sounds pretty great.
POSSIBLE RULES:
-Drink whenever the film gets self-referential
-Drink for sexist tropes
-Drink whenever a dinosaur is called by name (pet name or species name)
-Drink when someone gets inside a vehicle
-Drink whenever someone talks about “control”
This review was written by Hollis Beck (Krissy Pappau). "Jurassic World" was produced by Legendary Pictures and Amblin Entertainment, and distributed by Universal Pictures. The film is rated "PG-13" with a runtime of 124 minutes. A huge thank you to our patrons, Keila Mei-Shing Garvin, Caroline Kittredge Faustine and Antonia Beck for your ongoing support!
So, here come the comparisons, because the film invited them. First of all, the CGI is weak. Most of the dinosaurs look unnatural and strange, and the animators seem to be trying to anthropomorphize the beasts a bit, give them human emotions and facial tics, which looks AWFUL.
The characters are crap. Several of the subplots are straight up lifted from “Jurassic Park”, and they are not pulled off with nearly the same amount of skill and grace. This leads to a slew of stilted performances from the large, unremarkable cast of characters, the worst offender being a teenage boy (Nick Robinson) who is so sullen and unlikable that it makes you wonder if the writers have ever spoken to anyone under the age of thirty. BD Wong (who returns as Dr Henry Wu) has a nice dramatic monologue in the middle of the film but is criminally underused, and Chris Pratt is of course handsome and perfect. Pratt exemplifies what is wrong with the film’s character writing, though; ANYONE could have played that part and done fine. Pratt’s charisma helps make the character engaging, but ultimately he’s doing all the work the script couldn’t bring itself to finish. The less said about Bryce Dallas Howard’s character, the better.
There are some cool scenes, particularly a RIDICULOUS climax that doubles as a shout-out to one of the more famous scenes of “Jurassic Park”, but I came away from the theater feeling tired and used up. A real little kid who’s never seen the first film might enjoy this installment…but on the other hand, they might be so confused by the constant callbacks to the first film that they won’t be able to immerse themselves in the story. And THAT’S the true problem. “Jurassic Park” made you feel like you were there. “Jurassic World” purposely makes you feel like a spectator. And a really lazy loud one at that.
DRINK:
There’s a cocktail called “The Green Dinosaur”. Sounds pretty great.
POSSIBLE RULES:
-Drink whenever the film gets self-referential
-Drink for sexist tropes
-Drink whenever a dinosaur is called by name (pet name or species name)
-Drink when someone gets inside a vehicle
-Drink whenever someone talks about “control”
This review was written by Hollis Beck (Krissy Pappau). "Jurassic World" was produced by Legendary Pictures and Amblin Entertainment, and distributed by Universal Pictures. The film is rated "PG-13" with a runtime of 124 minutes. A huge thank you to our patrons, Keila Mei-Shing Garvin, Caroline Kittredge Faustine and Antonia Beck for your ongoing support!
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