Imagine what a film with the word “Jurassic” in the title might be like, and that’s “Jurassic World.”
“Jurassic Park” – four movies and 22 years ago – is a genre classic.
It is so old that it used robots and models for close-ups, but it also was a pioneer in the digital imaging common today.
So common that “Jurassic World” feels like nothing special. The first film had terrifically staged bursts of terror by Steven Spielberg, who also gave us “Jaws.”
The creatures, I wrote were so vivid “you can smell the stench of their last meal.”
“Jurassic World” is by Colin Trevvorow, making his second feature film after the sci fi indie “Safety Not Guaranteed.” It goes through the action movie motions without creating suspense, the human characters are as generic as the creatures and the digital effects are so solid as to be taken for granted.
When its massive dinosaur is just inches away from someone’s face, all you smell is popcorn. In 3D!
Surprisingly David Koepp, a Pewaukee native, who co-wrote the screenplay for with Michael Crichton, who wrote the book, does not get a writer credit here but should, since it tells the same story.
A genetically modified dinosaur gets loose in an island theme park; two lost kids are trapped and stalked by it; and Bryce Dallas Howard Howard and the great American big brother Chris Pratt, try to destroy the marauding beast. She’s in marketing and wears heels in the jungle, he’s the Clyde Beatty of the velociraptor, having tamed and trained a quartet of the lightning fast and razor toothed critters.
Vincent D’Onfrio is a crass belt-over-his belly contractor who wants to weaponize Pratt’s velociraptors.
The beast on the loose was cooked up in a lab where it was given the rogue characteristics that make it hard to stop. The result is a variation of last year’s “Godzilla,” but smaller and wrecking havoc in a confined space with a “Westworld” like control center.
Despite that scenes of people being eaten are now PG-13 rating territory – aka “fantasy violence” – “Jurassic World” is essentially a big noisy kids movie with dinosaur sized mass box office appeal.
Ironically, the film has the same bigger is better mentality it warns against.
“More teeth,” developers are told by park managers who need a new attraction every year.
The same can be said for blockbuster season, where more teeth” means more of the same.
** 1/2 Two and one half stars
With Chris Pratt, Byrce Dallas Howard, Irrfan Khan, Vincent D’Onofrio, Ty Simpkins, Nick Robinson, Jake Johnson, BD Wong, Judy Greer. Written by Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver, Colin Trevorrow, Derek Connolly. Directed by Colin Trevorrow. Rated PG-13; intense, science fiction violence. Approximate running time: 124 minutes.
Tags: Bryce Dallas Howard, Chris Pratt, Colin Trevorrow, David Koepp, Jurassic Park, Jurassic World, Steven Spielberg Posted by