Have we learned nothing in the last two decades?
Twenty-two years after the events of Jurassic Park, the Patel Corporation reopens Isla Nublar as a fully functioning dinosaur theme park, Jurassic World, as originally envisioned by John Hammond (Richard Attenborough). In the aptly titled reboot Jurassic World, in theaters this Friday, Chris Pratt plays Owen Grady, a member of the park's on-site staff who conducts behavioral research on Velociraptors.
Jurassic World's attendance rates have been declining over time. To attract new visitors, the genetic engineers at Hammond Creation Lab develop a new attraction: a hybrid dinosaur called Indominus Rex. Predictably, their plan backfires. Big time.
The film's cast also includes Bryce Dallas Howard as park operations manager Claire Dearing; Vincent D'Onofrio as Vic Hoskins, InGen's head of security operations; B.D. Wong as chief geneticist Dr. Henry Wu; and Nick Robinson and Ty Simpkins as Claire's nephews, Zach Mitchell and Gray Mitchell, respectively.
Judy Greer, Jake Johnson and Omar Sy also star in the PG-13 movie.
The film, directed by Colin Trevorrow, is the Jurassic Park film franchise's first installment in 14 years. Here's what critics are saying about Jurassic World:
• Entertainment Weekly's Chris Nashawaty writes, "While the new Jurassic World pales next to the awe-inspiring spectacle of the original, it's easily the franchise's most thrilling sequel yet." He argues that the film "doesn't have much interest in giving these characters third—or even second—dimensions," noting that D'Onofrio's character "starts off and winds up as such a cartoon of gung ho military villainy he might as well be played by R. Lee Ermey.)" However, Trevorrow "doesn't seem bothered by any of this. Like the theme park's mad scientists trying to rev up the scare factor of their attractions, he knows exactly how to get butts into the multiplex: by throwing as many CGI dinosaurs gone wild onto the screen as he possibly can in 124 minutes. It's a distraction game. But it works. Normally I'd grouse about that kind of bread-and-circuses cynicism. But it's what makes Jurassic World such breathless summer entertainment."
• "Intensely self-conscious of its status as a cultural commodity even as it devotedly follows the requisite playbook for mass-audience blockbuster fare, Jurassic World can reasonably lay claim to the number two position among the four series entries, as it goes down quite a bit easier than the previous two sequels. The 14-year layoff since the last one may well have helped, in that the new film's perspective on antiseptic, theme park-style tourism and relentless commercialization, while hardly radical, plainly announces its makers' sense of humor about their own project's multi-faceted mercantile motives," The Hollywood Reporter's Todd McCarthy writes. He praises the screenwriters for "pretending" that The Lost World: Jurassic Park and Jurassic Park III "never existed" and that "the world depicted here descends directly from [Steven Spielberg]'s 1993 adaptation of Michael Crichton's novel." McCarthy adds, "Despite the story's formulaic structure and the predictable nature of its cautionary stance on playing God, the old-fashioned Saturday matinee-like pleasures stemming from resourceful derring-do in the face of mighty odds retain an appeal if done reasonably well, which is the case here."
• "From a nostalgic perspective, Jurassic World...functions as a pleasing metaphor for the inevitable onslaught of change. Here is a film that probably, from a purist's point of view, shouldn't have been made at all: a fourth film in a series that could never improve upon its wonderful beginnings, 1993's spellbinding Jurassic Park," Vanity Fair's Richard Lawson writes. And yet, the fourth installment "is not some brash upstart, tromping all over its ancestors with a witless, youthful swagger. Instead, Jurassic World is, for the most part, a carefully, amusingly reverent nod to what's come before it." Though it "takes its mandate to entertain seriously," he dislikes that it "marginalizes its women," as Lawson thinks it "sours our enjoyment of a movie that is otherwise nimble and compelling." But, in spite of its issues, "Jurassic World often feels like a long-time fan's loving homage."
• Variety's Scott Foundas writes that Spielberg and Universal Pictures "spared few expenses in crafting a bigger, faster, noisier dinosaur opus, designed to reclaim their place at the top of the blockbuster food chain. What they've engineered is an undeniably vigorous assault of jaw-chomping jolts and Spielbergian family bonding that nevertheless captures only a fraction of the original film's overflowing awe and wonderment." Jurassic World, he writes, is "a self-aware commentary on the difficulties of sustaining a popular franchise in an age when spectacular 'event' movies are the rule more than the exception." While he finds Pratt "effortlessly engaging" onscreen, he argues that Howard's character "is like a third-generation Xerox of the high-strung damsels-in-distress played by Kathleen Turner in Romancing the Stone and Kate Capshaw in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom." What the movie lacks in character development, the critic writes, it "more than made up for in ingenious booby traps and hairsbreadth escapes, several of which now rank among the iconic moments in modern action-fantasy cinema."
• The Chicago Tribune's Michael Phillips writes that the movie gets "bailed out by a few good jolts, but on a "basic level," it "futzes a couple of key attacks. When the flying residents of the aviary bust out, the threat level is initially unclear. Then, in a chaotically staged sequence, park visitors run screaming and the bodies start falling and the whole thing is a bit of a blur. The movie recovers with a satisfying series of comeuppances in the climax, involving the park's largest (and presumably angriest) attractions. These will likely be enough for those who aren't going into Jurassic World expecting the world. I wasn't expecting the world, but I wouldn't have minded sharper jokes and grander action scenes."
• "The lesson of the original Jurassic Park was that man shouldn't attempt to tamper with nature. The lesson of The Lost World: Jurassic Park, Jurassic Park III and now Jurassic World is that filmmakers apparently shouldn't attempt to tamper with Jurassic Park," The Wrap's Alonso Duralde argues. He's bothered by minor moments, like watching Claire outrun a deadly Tyrannosaurus Rex in high heels, as well as larger theme, like how the film simultaneously makes jokes about corporate sponsorship "when it prominently displays signage for Samsung, Starbucks, Margaritaville and Brookstone." He thinks the screenplay "mummifies" Pratt to the point where he is "so utterly flat and humorless and generic that ten other square-jawed leading men could step in to take over the third-rate Romancing the Stone love-hate relationship that man's-man Owen has with buttoned-up control queen Claire." Overall, Jurassic World "never works all that hard to wow us, either with groundbreaking effects or with a story that remotely holds our attention," he writes, adding that this "iteration feels shabby and unexciting."
• Us Weekly's Mara Reinstein calls the film "dino-mite," but notes a few problems. "The rarely seen villain constantly outsmarts its victims. Innocents get ripped apart. Heroes emerge. Chief among them is Pratt's Dino Whisperer, who has a special way of communicating with the Velociraptors. It's up to him to not only save the thousands at the park, but also rescue its uptight operating manager and his ex, Claire. Plus, wouldn't you know it, Claire's two generically cute and slightly annoying moppet nephews are also visiting that day. Problem is, the underdeveloped human characters can't quite carry the dramatic load. The fallout is steep, as Pratt has better chemistry with the raptors than he does with Howard. And why wouldn't he? At times, she's more cold-blooded than the dreaded T. rex." However, the movie critic also calls attention to the fact that executive producer Spielberg's fingerprints "are all over" the movie, "from the imaginative set pieces to the accessible-but-not-dumbed-down narrative to the warmth at its core."
(E! and Universal Pictures are both members of the NBCUniversal family.)