Jurassic World Review

By MAGGIE VERDINO
SNN Staff Writer

Fifteen years ago, in the movie Jurassic Park III, we said goodbye to the island of Isla Nobla for what we thought was the last time. After the raptors’ eggs were returned, the Kirby family was back together, Spinosaurus was left alone, and Dr. Allen Grant made it off the island, alive. Jurassic Park fans wondered if it was the end of an era.

Last year, with a massive announcement and a team of fantastic actors behind it, Jurassic World was launched. With the promise of more teeth, audiences flooded to the theaters to catch the fourth installment of their favorite movie franchise.
And like me, their reactions were mixed.

I love Jurassic Park, I really do, but nothing was ever as good as the first one. I had some high hopes that maybe Jurassic World would bring back some of the questions Jurassic Park asked: Can mankind control chaos? What were the rights of man? The emotional adventure we took as the characters banded together against what they couldn’t understand can never be replaced.
And yet, with Jurassic World, I felt like I was watching a chase film. Would I watch it again? Probably. A million times more than I’ve already seen it, but not for the reason I still watch the original. There is some return to the question of human’s rights whenever character Owen Brady, played by Chris Pratt, brings up that the Velociraptors aren’t weapons, and especially when he is enraged over the conditions Indonomus-Rex is being kept in. He’s the only return to the classic that we see.

The family dynamic of Claire’s nephews being caught up in all this trauma and her realization that family should come before work is touching, in the way we’ve seen it a million times. It’s like reading your favorite book for the fourth or fifth time. You still love it, because you know it, but … you know it. It’s something that’s been done before, something you’ve felt before, and something you could see coming.

Jurassic Park has always had a strong female lead. We’ve had Ellie Sattler, Sarah Harding and Amanda Kirby. Claire Dearing, the latest female lead in this film, fits the mold. Originally, I didn’t like her – much like I didn’t like Amanda Kirby. I found her annoying, and her concern with the park’s revenues rather than the animals inside of it prompted some eye rolling. This lasted until she bullied her way into going out with Owen to find her nephews after they went missing.

Other than a rather random kiss with Owen that I felt didn’t have enough feeling behind it or the back story necessary to fuel an actual interest in each other, Claire is kept in a positive light. Once it finally dawns on her that the dinosaurs aren’t a source of income, they’re living creatures, her character molds into a force of nature not to be messed with, high heels and all.
Jurassic World is on a par with the second and third installments – but it still doesn’t feel like the original. I don’t think anything ever will.