It's been over 20 years since we first set foot on Isla Nublar, and many of us still have very fond memories of the original Jurassic Pa...
It's been over 20 years since we first set foot on Isla Nublar, and many of us still have very fond memories of the original Jurassic Park. It was one of those rare blockbusters that captured perfectly the wonderment and magic of cinema, as well as representing a huge leap forward in technology with it's CGI dinosaurs.
Now, two decades on and a pair of sequels that failed to live up to the spark of the original, and we're setting foot on the island once again, with an entire cast of new characters and one or two old favourites. Jurassic World is a state-of-the-art theme park, one that replaced John Hammond's doomed attraction, that allows it's visitors to interact with dinosaurs ranging from the small and harmless to the huge and terrifying. The park has been open to the public for a number of years and public interest is starting to wane.
Bryce Dallas Howard plays Claire, an insecure and emotionally detached young woman whose job it is to curate and run the centre. Under pressure to meet rising operational costs and get attendance figures back up, she and her chief geneticist Dr Henry Wu (BD Wong reprising his role from the original movie) decide to unveil a new dinosaur, bred with DNA from a few different species spliced together, to create the ultimate predator, Indominus Rex. Naturally, it isn't long before the vicious creature is loose and roaming the park.
Thankfully for Claire - and us - help is at hand in the form of the charismatic Owen Grady (Chris Pratt), a former soldier now tasked with animal control and who spends his time learning the behaviour and integrating himself within a close knit hunting pack of raptors.
Pratt has that easy and natural charm that cinema's most loveable rogues have and he fits into the movie so well that it's impossible to imagine anyone else in the role. Some of the other characters don't fare so well, with Claire coming across as one dimensional and her nephews not much better. Vincent D'Onofrio pops up too as an InGen employee with some motivation to want the dino rampage to continue across the park in one of the plot's sillier strands, and for his part he hams it up gleefully when given the chance.
Thankfully though, you'll be glad to know that apart from some character progression and side story quibbles, the movie is a triumph and the stars of the show are the dinos. Jurassic World isn't shy at showing it's big bad carnivore quite early on, but the film is better for it. Rather than being some unseen menace slowly stalking it's way through the island, Indominus Rex rampages around leaving a trail of devastation and death in it's wake.
Mixing animatronic with CGI, director Colin Trevorrow has crafted some amazing looking creatures for the film, and he fully embraces showing them off. There are plenty of knowing nods to the original movie and more than a few crowd pleasing moments that are sure to delight. The set-pieces are stunning to behold, especially in big, eye-popping 3D, and the film whips along at a breakneck pace. Zipping from one frantic and frenetic action scene to the next, once the story kicks up a gear in the second act it only really pauses every so often to leave you catch your breath.
The movie is a fond return to a childhood favourite franchise. Brimming with some rip-roaring action, it is thrilling, intense and ferociously good fun. Jurassic World is a summer blockbuster that doesn't take itself too seriously but still packs plenty of bite.
Now, two decades on and a pair of sequels that failed to live up to the spark of the original, and we're setting foot on the island once again, with an entire cast of new characters and one or two old favourites. Jurassic World is a state-of-the-art theme park, one that replaced John Hammond's doomed attraction, that allows it's visitors to interact with dinosaurs ranging from the small and harmless to the huge and terrifying. The park has been open to the public for a number of years and public interest is starting to wane.
Bryce Dallas Howard plays Claire, an insecure and emotionally detached young woman whose job it is to curate and run the centre. Under pressure to meet rising operational costs and get attendance figures back up, she and her chief geneticist Dr Henry Wu (BD Wong reprising his role from the original movie) decide to unveil a new dinosaur, bred with DNA from a few different species spliced together, to create the ultimate predator, Indominus Rex. Naturally, it isn't long before the vicious creature is loose and roaming the park.
Thankfully for Claire - and us - help is at hand in the form of the charismatic Owen Grady (Chris Pratt), a former soldier now tasked with animal control and who spends his time learning the behaviour and integrating himself within a close knit hunting pack of raptors.
Pratt has that easy and natural charm that cinema's most loveable rogues have and he fits into the movie so well that it's impossible to imagine anyone else in the role. Some of the other characters don't fare so well, with Claire coming across as one dimensional and her nephews not much better. Vincent D'Onofrio pops up too as an InGen employee with some motivation to want the dino rampage to continue across the park in one of the plot's sillier strands, and for his part he hams it up gleefully when given the chance.
Thankfully though, you'll be glad to know that apart from some character progression and side story quibbles, the movie is a triumph and the stars of the show are the dinos. Jurassic World isn't shy at showing it's big bad carnivore quite early on, but the film is better for it. Rather than being some unseen menace slowly stalking it's way through the island, Indominus Rex rampages around leaving a trail of devastation and death in it's wake.
Mixing animatronic with CGI, director Colin Trevorrow has crafted some amazing looking creatures for the film, and he fully embraces showing them off. There are plenty of knowing nods to the original movie and more than a few crowd pleasing moments that are sure to delight. The set-pieces are stunning to behold, especially in big, eye-popping 3D, and the film whips along at a breakneck pace. Zipping from one frantic and frenetic action scene to the next, once the story kicks up a gear in the second act it only really pauses every so often to leave you catch your breath.
The movie is a fond return to a childhood favourite franchise. Brimming with some rip-roaring action, it is thrilling, intense and ferociously good fun. Jurassic World is a summer blockbuster that doesn't take itself too seriously but still packs plenty of bite.
