Before we review a film like Jurassic World, we need to state one basic rule. We will try not to compare it too much to our memories of the original. Jurassic Park is one of my favourite childhood films, and thus is etched into my mind as a masterpiece that no other dino flick can reach, therefore any sequel would not be up to par. Also, it's worth noting that before going in, I had already seen/heard lots of thoughts and opinions (it's near impossible not to tbh when you have the current action hero Chris Pratt starring, and listen to the Nerdist podcasts).
So, let's get into this, I am not sure we need a synopsis for this film, so I will keep this brief. In the previous film(s) dinosaurs had been brought back from extinction, and they ate some people. In this film, corporate sponsors decided to try it all again, but people are bored of dinos now, so they create a new one. This leads towards, yup, dinosaurs eating people.
Do you need to have watched the previous film(s)? No, not really, although you should anyway. There are a few scenes where the characters don't explain where they are, but if you have seen the first film, you will know and recognise the vehicles/equipment, but if you don't know, nothing is really lost.
My main concerns going into this film though, were not about the plot or dinos, but around whether I would actually connect with any of the characters, the kids looked annoying, as did the Clare character, also, I didn't just want another Star Lord character from Pratt. That being my main concern, this was actually pushed back after the first quarter of the film, once some actual peril was inserted into the plot, Clare quickly opened up to be a proper character, and the kids were less screamy than I thought they were going to be (my scream limit was at the brink in the first film, I must say). As for Pratt, he brought some light humour, but not the loose cannon style we have seen before from him, he was knowledgeable and serious, with a light tongue-in-cheek style which worked nicely.
The other concern was from the trailers, in that Pratts character seemingly communicates with the raptors. Now we all saw Indy IV with Mutt speaking to his monkey army (sorry to all those that were trying to forget that nonsense), and I was really fearful this would again be the case. Well, set your minds at ease, it's portrayed in a much more realistic way, where he is merely slowing the raptors down and feeding them. This gives the illusion of control, which is a central point of the Jurassic films.
The last point, which you may have read a lot on is the marketing in-film with a lot of product placements. I will keep this brief, it is there, and there are parts of the plot which use this in a really nice way. I did not feel it over the top in a Waynes World style as others have implied, and am often suprised I don't see more of this on TV (especially as ad breaks are dying out)
So, with those pre-concerns out of the way, what did I think of the film? Well as a film, it was really good. We got the action and poor-judgements we expect in this sort of film. There is also some family turmoil (with the kids and their parents) which thankfully is not suddenly resolved because of this disaster (that would have close to ruined the film for me if they had).
Sadly there was one thing missing in my opinion, but if you think about it, it makes sense based on the plot points and story (bigger, scarier). There are no small dinos, even the petting dinos are baby ones of larger dinos. One of the few things I liked about JP2 was the small dinos which stalked and nibbled people to death, they were proper scary. This is maybe the point which carries my only real negative opinion of the film, there was no fear factor. The big dinos, whilst amazing to look at, and are dangerous, aren't scary enough. Yes they added some extra stealth features, but still, in JP1 we had the stealthy raptors, and in JP2 we had the micro-dinos. The third film did not have the dinos, but it was a different type of movie IMHO than the other films (note, I did enjoy JP3). But JP4, the closest I got to good scary dinos was from the birdcage, so wish those had stealthed a little more like in 'the birds'.
Finally, for better or for worse, the ending involves something that reminded me of some kind of dinobot teamup, I quickly got over that, but it was still there, and a little less realistic because of it.
Overall this was a really good/fun film, which I certainly enjoyed. That said, the fear factor (mini dinos/ flying dinos) really was the missing element for me. I don't want to be in a cinema of crying children, but having the silhouetted mini dinos in a long creeper scene would have been great.
It definitely deserves to sit in the Jurassic Park series though, and is probably a good 2nd in my list of JP films (although I do wonder what those that weren't born to JP1 in the cinema think of that ordering).
My wifes review Me: Did you like the film? Wife: yes, it was all raaaaargh and stuff
Review by Dan DukeBlockedParent2015-07-13T07:48:49Z
Before we review a film like Jurassic World, we need to state one basic rule. We will try not to compare it too much to our memories of the original. Jurassic Park is one of my favourite childhood films, and thus is etched into my mind as a masterpiece that no other dino flick can reach, therefore any sequel would not be up to par. Also, it's worth noting that before going in, I had already seen/heard lots of thoughts and opinions (it's near impossible not to tbh when you have the current action hero Chris Pratt starring, and listen to the Nerdist podcasts).
So, let's get into this, I am not sure we need a synopsis for this film, so I will keep this brief. In the previous film(s) dinosaurs had been brought back from extinction, and they ate some people. In this film, corporate sponsors decided to try it all again, but people are bored of dinos now, so they create a new one. This leads towards, yup, dinosaurs eating people.
Do you need to have watched the previous film(s)? No, not really, although you should anyway. There are a few scenes where the characters don't explain where they are, but if you have seen the first film, you will know and recognise the vehicles/equipment, but if you don't know, nothing is really lost.
My main concerns going into this film though, were not about the plot or dinos, but around whether I would actually connect with any of the characters, the kids looked annoying, as did the Clare character, also, I didn't just want another Star Lord character from Pratt. That being my main concern, this was actually pushed back after the first quarter of the film, once some actual peril was inserted into the plot, Clare quickly opened up to be a proper character, and the kids were less screamy than I thought they were going to be (my scream limit was at the brink in the first film, I must say). As for Pratt, he brought some light humour, but not the loose cannon style we have seen before from him, he was knowledgeable and serious, with a light tongue-in-cheek style which worked nicely.
The other concern was from the trailers, in that Pratts character seemingly communicates with the raptors. Now we all saw Indy IV with Mutt speaking to his monkey army (sorry to all those that were trying to forget that nonsense), and I was really fearful this would again be the case. Well, set your minds at ease, it's portrayed in a much more realistic way, where he is merely slowing the raptors down and feeding them. This gives the illusion of control, which is a central point of the Jurassic films.
The last point, which you may have read a lot on is the marketing in-film with a lot of product placements. I will keep this brief, it is there, and there are parts of the plot which use this in a really nice way. I did not feel it over the top in a Waynes World style as others have implied, and am often suprised I don't see more of this on TV (especially as ad breaks are dying out)
So, with those pre-concerns out of the way, what did I think of the film? Well as a film, it was really good. We got the action and poor-judgements we expect in this sort of film. There is also some family turmoil (with the kids and their parents) which thankfully is not suddenly resolved because of this disaster (that would have close to ruined the film for me if they had).
Sadly there was one thing missing in my opinion, but if you think about it, it makes sense based on the plot points and story (bigger, scarier). There are no small dinos, even the petting dinos are baby ones of larger dinos. One of the few things I liked about JP2 was the small dinos which stalked and nibbled people to death, they were proper scary. This is maybe the point which carries my only real negative opinion of the film, there was no fear factor. The big dinos, whilst amazing to look at, and are dangerous, aren't scary enough. Yes they added some extra stealth features, but still, in JP1 we had the stealthy raptors, and in JP2 we had the micro-dinos. The third film did not have the dinos, but it was a different type of movie IMHO than the other films (note, I did enjoy JP3). But JP4, the closest I got to good scary dinos was from the birdcage, so wish those had stealthed a little more like in 'the birds'.
Finally, for better or for worse, the ending involves something that reminded me of some kind of dinobot teamup, I quickly got over that, but it was still there, and a little less realistic because of it.
Overall this was a really good/fun film, which I certainly enjoyed. That said, the fear factor (mini dinos/ flying dinos) really was the missing element for me. I don't want to be in a cinema of crying children, but having the silhouetted mini dinos in a long creeper scene would have been great.
It definitely deserves to sit in the Jurassic Park series though, and is probably a good 2nd in my list of JP films (although I do wonder what those that weren't born to JP1 in the cinema think of that ordering).
My wifes review
Me: Did you like the film?
Wife: yes, it was all raaaaargh and stuff