Greetings,
Hey, remember in Jaws 3-D when a shark snuck into Sea World and created havoc amongst the visitors and employees? Well, what kind of movie would we have if said employees let the dangerous animals into the park to be really close to the people? Jurassic World, everyone.
Okay, I know I'm a little late to the party in reviewing this, but I had to wait before seeing it because of reasons. So, since that happened, I got the opportunity to hear about what some other reviewers were saying. Quite a mixed bag of opinions, but pretty much everyone agrees that, of all for Jurassic movies, this is the second best. The best, of course, being the first. And I have to say, I certainly agree.
Jurassic World basically answered that lingering question that I, and probably a lot of people, had after seeing Jurassic Park. That question is "Wow, what would have happened if this intended park had actually been able to open?" It seems that, for better or worse, we got our answer. It also seems that this is more of a straight sequel to the first movie, not really acknowledging The Lost World or Jurassic Park 3. That's fine with me. I mean, this movie really does pay a lot of homage to Jurassic Park. There are several callbacks to it in some subtle and not so subtle ways. The thing is, they did that kind of thing in the other two sequels as well, but I think it works better here. Maybe because of the 22 year gap we have, which makes all those things more nostalgic. I liked that aspect.
Okay, basic plot. In the midst of some family turmoil, two young boys Zach and Gray, played by Nick Robinson and Ty Simpkins, are sent off by their parents, played by Judy Greer and Andy Buckley, to visit their Aunt Claire, played by Bryce Dallas Howard, who is the operation's manager at Jurassic World. And breathe. That would be one story line. The other revolves around Owen Grady, played by Chris Pratt, who is a Velociraptor trainer. Oh, yeah, you heard me right on that one. I really liked this character. In fact, despite what I'm going to tell you later about the reason I went to see this movie, I'd say that Owen Grady ended up being my most favorite person in this thing. That's a feat, because he would have been easy to screw up as a character. You'd think he would be nothing but the token tough guy, but he was more than that. And he was also more than the "raptor whisperer". In fact, he didn't seem to be trying to CONTROL them at all. The reason why he has a rapport with the dinosaurs is because he respects their power and does not see them merely as a commodity. He will have much to do with expressing the "message" of this movie, but with less "uh"s as it was in our Goldblum-y past.
Besides those guys, we've got some more characters. Yay. There's a guy who also works with the raptors names Barry, played by Omar Sy. I don't think I've ever seen him in anything, but I like him. Irrfan Khan plays Simon Masrani, the CEO of Jurassic World, who I think is kind of like the John Hammond of the cast, struggling with what exactly is the right thing to do in some treacherous situations. We've got Jake Johnson and Lauren Lapkus as Lowery and Vivian, two workers in the control room who serve as some pretty decent comic relief. B.D. Wong shows up again as Dr. Wu, in a substantially bigger role, because...first movie? But let's get the reason why I really wanted to see this - Vincent D'Onofrio! He plays Vic Hoskins, a security guy who I didn't figure out was that until a while in. But is he only a security guy? Hmmm... Look, no spoilers here, but his role becomes obvious, in some capacity, after about two minutes. The good news is that it does build each time he's there, and he will make you think about some things.
So, all in all, pretty strong cast, I'd say. But I'd like to address some other things.
First, when the trailer came out and we started to get some more info about the film, one of my favorite internet reviewers, Confused Matthew, did a video about it, and it turned out we had a lot of the same hopes and concerns. So, I'll talk about that a bit. One thing that could have been a pro or a con was this huge bunch of people that were obviously going to be in this. It could have been a downside because when I think "cast of thousands" I think Roland Emerich and...yeah. But it worked here. Mostly because they wisely split up the time where we mostly were with smaller groups of main characters. So, we could keep track and get invested in fewer people, but we were, every so often, reminded that there were thousands of people in danger. Good job. Another great thing was the "down time" of everyone just enjoying the wonder of these long thought extinct creatures. Just like Movie #1. A not so great thing was the ethical questions raised by said Movie #1 being changed to a question where the answer is probably going to be a collective "No. That's a bad idea". I speak of the questions about us bringing back dinosaurs period versus making hybrids of animals we can barely understand. However, as things progressed, I could see that they were trying to raise a different ethical question concerning what those dinosaurs can be used for, which was a good replacement for what came before. And finally, CGI. Less is more, people. LESS IS MORE!
Also, whoever was trying to say this movie is sexist is an idiot. Oh, no! Claire is an organized Type-A person and Owen is a bit more carefree. Clearly, that means whoever made this film hates women. WHAT! It's called having different characters with different personalities who work off each other so we won't be bored. Remember THAT thing that used to happen in movies? If you ask me, having her start out this way made it so she had a better arc and more development than any other character. And sorry that she's wearing heels, another thing that a certain group was apparently up in arms about, but what did you expect? Claire basically had a job that was akin to working in an office, and she did not know she would be trudging through the jungle, running for her life. If she had known, I'm sure she would have dressed appropriately. Just relax and be concerned about things that actually matter in the world. Alright, I'm done with this nonsense. Let's go back to happy thoughts.
Okay, that was a lot writing from me. I will finish by highly recommending that you see this. In the theater if you can. If you're like me who got to see Jurassic Park on the big screen, it will bring back some great memories. If not, see it anyway, because this is the sequel that we have been waiting for and the one that I think Jurassic Park really deserved.
Love and full moons,
Becky the Writer
