Year: 2015
Genre: Summer Blockbuster
'Corporate felt genetic modification would up the 'wow' factor'
It's a somewhat sobering thought when you consider the original Jurassic Park was released over twenty years ago back in the early 1990's. Computer generated imagery was relatively new at the time and had only really been seen in the the 'Terminator' sequel a couple of years previous. By putting dinosaurs on the big screen, Spielberg became the first on record to effectively utilise it to place photo realistic CG creatures in front of nineties cinema audiences.
The original spawned two sequels that were both instantly forgettable and hugely inferior to their predecessor. In 2002, a fourth instalment of the franchise was announced that was originally slated for a 2005 release. Ten years later, several re writes of the script, multiple changes in the production team, and 'Jurassic World' is released to cinema audiences.
The majority of you will already be familiar with the plot. Richard Attenborough's vision in the original for an all singing, all dancing real life dinosaur theme park has been in business for several years, but business is flagging. The share holders decide that it needs a new star attraction to boost revenue, and create a genetically modified 'super' dinosaur. As luck would have it, the imaginatively titled 'Indominus Rex' escapes, and operations manager Bryce Dallas Howard is instructed to use the skills and experience of velociraptor trainer Chris Pratt to take it down and kill it.
So how does the movie compare to the now iconic original?
There's been a lot of water under the bridge since early nineties cinema. Audiences are familiar to computer generated imagery, almost to the point of saturation. It's no longer the spectacle it was back when the original was released, and herein lies the problem. How do you meet modern audience expectations when the original broke the mould, and set an almost unsurpassable 'wow factor'.
The answer is ultimately, you can't. All that director Colin Trevorrow could do (and has done) is make everything bigger, louder, faster, and just crank up the spectacle as far as modern CGI techniques allow him to. There's giant crocodile-like Mosasaur in an unbelievably deep man made aquatic feature. There's a huge pterodactyl cage. The Indominus Rex is bigger (and louder) than the centre piece T-Rex of the original. This time round, instead of a relatively small cast and in enclosed set pieces, the whole of Isla Nublar is open to thousands of swarming crowds. Everything about 'Jurassic World' is more, more, more.
Sadly, this extra style does not equate to extra substance. The CGI and animatronics honestly haven't really changed much since the 1993 original. The dinosaurs don't look 20 years more convincing than they did in 'Park' mainly because they already looked fairly good to begin. That's not to say they look fake, they just don't look any more real than they did before. The two leads do a relatively good job with the scripts that they are given; in particular Chris Pratt, who is rapidly becoming the new Harrison Ford. I was glad to see Dallas Howard's overly confident operations manager gain a bit of humanity in the latter half of the movie, and the chemistry between them is believable (but only just).
One thing to note. This is a LOT grizzlier than any of it's three prequels. In line with Trevorrow's philosophy that more is better, the body count has been stepped up ten fold. There was a couple next to me who's noticeably agitated child was clearly scared during the films darker moments. It just about scrapes it's 12A certificate. Cara wanted made me delay publishing this review until she could write a footnote.
As far as spectacle goes, it does the job. Substance wise, it could have been better.
3.5 stars.
Footnote.
So how does the movie compare to the now iconic original?
There's been a lot of water under the bridge since early nineties cinema. Audiences are familiar to computer generated imagery, almost to the point of saturation. It's no longer the spectacle it was back when the original was released, and herein lies the problem. How do you meet modern audience expectations when the original broke the mould, and set an almost unsurpassable 'wow factor'.
The answer is ultimately, you can't. All that director Colin Trevorrow could do (and has done) is make everything bigger, louder, faster, and just crank up the spectacle as far as modern CGI techniques allow him to. There's giant crocodile-like Mosasaur in an unbelievably deep man made aquatic feature. There's a huge pterodactyl cage. The Indominus Rex is bigger (and louder) than the centre piece T-Rex of the original. This time round, instead of a relatively small cast and in enclosed set pieces, the whole of Isla Nublar is open to thousands of swarming crowds. Everything about 'Jurassic World' is more, more, more.
Sadly, this extra style does not equate to extra substance. The CGI and animatronics honestly haven't really changed much since the 1993 original. The dinosaurs don't look 20 years more convincing than they did in 'Park' mainly because they already looked fairly good to begin. That's not to say they look fake, they just don't look any more real than they did before. The two leads do a relatively good job with the scripts that they are given; in particular Chris Pratt, who is rapidly becoming the new Harrison Ford. I was glad to see Dallas Howard's overly confident operations manager gain a bit of humanity in the latter half of the movie, and the chemistry between them is believable (but only just).
One thing to note. This is a LOT grizzlier than any of it's three prequels. In line with Trevorrow's philosophy that more is better, the body count has been stepped up ten fold. There was a couple next to me who's noticeably agitated child was clearly scared during the films darker moments. It just about scrapes it's 12A certificate. Cara wanted made me delay publishing this review until she could write a footnote.
As far as spectacle goes, it does the job. Substance wise, it could have been better.
3.5 stars.
Footnote.
Before i go any further, I should point out that I refuse to watch anything which makes me scared or overly upset. I am the wimpiest person on the planet. When I was a youngster, Scooby Doo Seaweed Monsters, and the 'Poirot' theme tune scared me. The opening credits of 'Tales of the unexpected' were petrifying. You get the general idea. Fast forward to my thirties and not much has changed in that respect.
I thought it would be just like the Jurassic Park series - a family film about a few dinosaurs escaping their pens. But no. No, no, no, no, no. The aim of the new theme park is to 'scare and shock' and that is exactly what the film set out to do too. And, with a viewer as wimpy as me, it succeeded. It's like Jurassic Park has grown up. Although not particularly gory, the film contained roughly a zillion deaths. It was relentless. The fear of being caught and killed was ever-present and I found it distressing. It was loud and fast and without escape. People were dropping like flies so much that at times it felt like a disaster movie. It wasn't a bad or rubbish film, I didn't hate it; it's just a bit strong for sensitive souls who like films about pretty flowers, unicorn glitter and rainbow dust.
Mark pointed out that because I refuse to watch anything remotely scary, I have no tolerance level for it. (Like a teetotal person getting drunk on one drink.) Never a truer word said.
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