Jurassic World. Rated M (violence). 124 minutes. Directed by Colin Trevorrow. Screenplay by Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver, Colin Trevorrow and Derek Connolly.
If there is one revelation from the experience of Jurassic World, it is how wonderful the first film, Jurassic Park (1993), was. Somewhat impolitely ignoring the series’ two less-successful sequels – 1997’s The Lost World: Jurassic Park and 2001’s Jurassic Park III – Jurassic World begins with a fully-functional theme park to which visitors now flock in their tens of thousands.
The park is run by the fastidious Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard), who finds herself having to look after her nephews Zach (Nick Robinson) and Gray (Ty Simpkins) while their mother (Claire’s sister) begins divorce proceedings. When Claire is not busy meeting with the park’s owner Simon (Irrfan Khan), she is negotiating with Velociraptor trainer Owen (Chris Pratt), who Masrani wants to work more closely with the park’s newest creation, the Indominus rex. But when the fearsome and intelligent Indominus escapes from her enclosure, pandemonium reigns supreme.
Trevorrow, with one other feature film directorial credit (2012’s Safety Not Guaranteed) to his name, might have been a peculiar choice to helm this enormous undertaking, but he does a fine job steering the hectic action sequences to their moderately satisfying conclusions. The major problem is the screenplay, which apart from countless references to the vastly superior original (and several reverential nods to Jaws and King Kong), fails to establish a unique world or vision of its own.
There is no denying the overall effectiveness of the thrilling action set pieces and visual effects, and nor can you fault the spirited performances from the hard-working cast. But as Claire, in super salesperson mode, says early on: “No one’s impressed by dinosaurs anymore”. Unfortunately, by the time Jurassic World finally fades from view, it’s almost impossible not to agree.
This review was commissioned by the West Australian Newspaper Group.
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