Movie Review: JURASSIC WORLD

Director:  Colin Trevorrow
Writers: Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver
Stars: Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Irrfan Khan, Vincent D'Onofrio
Strengths: Action and special effects
Weakness: Very predictable story
Runtime: 124 minutes
Rating: 3/5

Plot: Twenty-two years after the events of Jurassic Park, Isla Nublar now features a fully functioning dinosaur theme park, Jurassic World, as originally envisioned by John Hammond. After 10 years of operation and visitor rates declining, in order to fulfill a corporate mandate, a new attraction is created to re-spark visitor's interest, which backfires horribly.

Review:  John Hammond's dream for a "Jurassic Park" becomes a reality in Jurassic World. The film takes place 22 years after the original and Jurassic World is fully operational but the mystic of dinosaurs has worn off and the resort needs a new attraction to bring in new customers. So they create a new dinosaur called the Indominus Rex, a leaner, meaner animal that is made to bring in and wow the crowds. But, like every Jurassic Park film in the series, things don't go off as planed and all hell breaks loose in its aftermath. Pratt's character and performance is really the only bright spot of the new cast of characters but he lacks the cool sarcastic wit and intelligence of Jeff Goldblum's Ian Malcolm. Pratt however brings his own warm, comic sensibility that does make him endearing in his own right but unlike Goldblum and Neill who brought dramatic tension to the films, Pratt gets overshadowed by the dinosaurs once the bloody carnage begins. The dinosaur effects in this film are probably the best in the series so far. Jurassic World is a fine addition to the Jurassic Park series. While it's pretty predicable and not as tension filled as the first two films of the series, it's a vast improvement over the disappointing third film. There are some pockets of excitement to be had and the climax really does deliver the goods but this is all this film is about. It's really a monster movie, not a Jurassic Park film and while Chris Pratt gives us the only character in the film to root for, not even he can cover up the film's huge mistakes in story, logic and characterization. If there should be a fifth film, they need to go beyond the new monster of the week and come up with a better script to justify this continuation of the series.

Reviewed by Mohammad Haque