I've been waiting for Jurassic World to come out for so long that it is barely worth linking to the obligatory yearly posts pining for it.
Let me put you in the picture... I was 9 years old when the hype around the imminent release of Jurassic Park (the movie) began. By the time I went to see it I had already devoured Michael Crichton's book (total 9 year old bookworm) and collected the entire Jurassic Park card collection. Sticker books, quilt covers, toys and comics were soon littering my room all covered in the red and black logo. I LOVED Jurassic Park.
So I went into Jurassic World with overly high expectations. They were not met. This movie seemed to lack a heart and, worse, at times lacked any sort of danger to the characters that might make it a little more thrilling.
Was it a bad movie? Hell no. Beautifully shot, with Chris Pratt putting in a sterling (and hunky) performance as Owen the raptor keeper, it was pretty epic. There were thrills, there were dinosaurs and there were nods to the original (especially awesome one near the end involving a red flare!).
But the negatives were there a plenty. A very thin storyline. A disjointed "In peril, not in peril, in peril, not in peril" approach to our main characters meant you didn't really feel they were in much danger (though this approach did work pretty well in Jurassic Park III I admit). The character of Henry Wu was way over-used considering how bland he was. The villain was so "villain by numbers" that when he inevitably died it was a bit "Meh". The kids "journey" to "brotherly love" was laid on way too thick.
There were some excellent moments though. When the velociraptors head off with Owen to hunt the I. Rex. When they suddenly and unexpectantly turn against him. When the T-Rex (somewhat inevitably, I actually assumed this was how things would play out) arrives on the scene and saves the day (a totally fan-wank moment to "correct" the supposed wrong of Spinosaurus besting T-Rex in JPIII). But it was still an excellent scene.
So a mixed bag. A good movie. Obviously it was never going to capture the magic of Jurassic Park but I'd argue Jurassic Park III was also superior to Jurassic World. I did get myself a Jurassic World cup so all was not lost (and Lego Jurassic World is AMAZING)!!!
Given there were only about 10 people in the entire cinema, I'm concerned there may not be a sequel... but let's hope there is a second chance!!
