Lights, Camera, Action! | Jurassic World (Movie Review)

Jurassic World (UK Rating: 12A)

The setting is still Isla Nublar, but 20 years after the events at Jurassic Park. It's now a massive dinosaur theme park, run by a corporate company. With the driven Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard) in charge, they have to continually come up with new ideas to attract investment and visitors. The latest idea is a new species, developed in a test tube. Indominus Rex is reaching maturity but has only ever lived in captivity, so nobody knows what it's capable of. Until it escapes, that is…

The simple fact is that Jurassic World can't deliver something as ground breaking as the original, so it does the next best thing - create a bigger and more bloodthirsty dinosaur. Strictly speaking, there's a second one, the Mosasaurus, which lives in the massive pool at the centre of the park but, because it only appears in a handful of scenes, it's easy to forget. What the film also does is to follow in the steps of Jurassic Park and deliver a cracking adventure yarn, complete with jump-in-the-air moments, excitement, action, dinosaurs by the dozen and a few laughs along the way, and it does it rather well.

The absence of any real innovation, though, means it's essentially a conventional movie - surprisingly old fashioned, even, sticking like glue to all action adventure tropes. There's the romance between Claire and Owen (Chris Pratt), a consultant and raptor expert, which is superfluous and has little or no spark. There's the villainous Hoskins (Vincent D'Onofrio), who is obviously going to get his just desserts, and it's pretty obvious how that's going to happen. Finally, there's the oldie but goodie, giving the audience tantalising glimpses of the Indominous Rex but putting off the full "reveal" for as long as possible. Needless to say, it's all wrapped up tidily at the end, but not so tight that a sequel is out of the question. It's all familiar territory and, as such, very safe.

Needless to say, the dinosaurs themselves are pretty impressive, although they are at their most convincing when seen close up. Once nearer, their eyes have the spark of life, their scaly skin is almost touchable, and they do seem to come alive. The flying species are especially good when they are inadvertently released from what's benignly called the 'aviary,' terrifying the visitors and playing an airborne version of "catch" with Claire's unfortunate P.A.

The film also appears to be a two-hour audition by Chris Pratt for the role of Indiana Jones. He looks the part, for sure, with his rifle slung across his back and riding his motorbike among the raptors. All he's missing is the hat. The film doesn't show him at his best, however, because he's lacking the self-deprecating humour of Guardians of the Galaxy that made him so appealing. It's all been stripped away and, without it, he has little more to do than just be a hero. That's not to say there aren't any laughs, as there are plenty, but they have all been given to Lowery (Jake Johnson), a dinosaur nerd working in the park's control room. He milks them for all they are worth and he's the perfect diversion from all the destruction going on around him.

8/10

Great - Silver Award

It may have a conventional style, but Jurassic World has no illusions about itself. It's a sequel, knows it, and makes the most of it, making for an exciting and satisfying couple of hours. True, there's nothing really new here, but when the familiar is this well made and entertaining, who cares?