Jurassic World (2015)

DYNO-MITE

Ya I went there with that title. And you know what, I'll own up, I've been wanting to use that title for years... But I mean... when oh when would I ever get the chance... Sigh... tears, sadness. And then - Boom! The island of carnivorous dinosauri-ous mayhem reopened... and well... life is good.

So look, before I go balls deep in the Jurassic Jungles of 2015... I wanna go heart to heart with you out there. You fans, you bloggers, and well, all the weirdly shaped punks in-between. There are gunna be people out there that say things like "Nothing will ever beat the first film" ... "That Magic the original inspires just can't quite be duplicated" and blah blah. Look. I get the desire to protect the originals... Lord Knows I swore all kinds of R rated (the R is for Rage) when the crow reboot news dropped... but at some point isn't it okay to think maybe a 12 year old kid in a crowed theatre with his/her 3D glasses on might love the hell out of a giant ass Dino adventure as much as you - the first generation did? We gotta stop being so protective....

I'm gunna say this... I am gunna step up and say it... maybe not in all respects is it a better film that JURASSIC PARK but it does come close, and surprisingly in a more than a few areas, surpasses it.

Your story is... Twenty years later (ignoring the apparent city rampage of 2) the island has been reopened as a huge amusement park... indeed the very dream of the owner of the would be Jurassic Park of the original. So as people are now all "Ho-hum" with dinosaurs the park is creating a super hybrid, a test tube dino to scare up new interest. Chris Pratt stars as Owen, the man who has raised raptors and become all dino-knowledgy. He along with the park co-ordinator Claire (played by the always dashingly hot Bryce Dallas Howard), will have to handle another outbreak of dino-chaos and try to find her missing Nephews (who of course having come to visit due get caught up in the destruction).

So ah... they'll probably just taking a nap right? Ya. Sleepy dinos.

One thing I loved about this sequel was the love of the original. So many clever and subtle nods to the original. Heck they even went and included the park's central building in a major scene. But all kinds of things, the soundtrack creeping in... the Hologram of the Dinosaur with the neck popping thing facing the raptor... The field of Brontosaur that the children drive through... as such to me this sequel felt very organic. It felt like a continuation of the original (assuming you ignore The Lost world, and Jurassic Park 3).

The first film had a lot going for it... not the least of which was the all important - IT WAS THE FIRST. But it was not without it's flaws. This film keeps stride with the original in acting, directing, and score, I think you can argue that the subplot in the original with the stealing of DNA is more enjoyable that the military angle... but that's minor right. And including another set of siblings was a nice call... the romance story here is so obvious as they are so attractive that you know they are gunna end up together but still... Chris Pratt is proving film after film that his charisma has some seriously legs... I'm okay with this. Chris Pratt is the new Harrison Ford.

Boom.

And yes that is me endorsing the news that he may in fact inherit the Indiana Jones hat and whip.

Now to where this film really blows anything before it away... the action. Oh man the action. I went in knowing the effects would be amazing but the director and his team of CGI maestros have really managed to impress here. You will almost want to stand and cheer at some points... In fact if one of the main differences here would be that unlike the original they got for it rather than the slow build... I don't think thats such a bad thing.

Your best attack, is to go for the tongue... Right in the tongue, that'll stop it.

This is a summer movie for the masses. A film designed to make you smile, cheer, jump, and chew popcorn at a dangerous rate.. and it does. The finale is one of the best action scenes of the last few years, period. The effects dazzle. If you are sitting next to someone that says something like "Blah, another film just over stuffed with CGI..." punch them. Right in the face and yell - "ITS 2015 BITCH!" Or something like that. Listen this is the age of computer effects, and I have no problem with that, when they are done right, no problem at all.

Now to one glowing horrible moment that I have no doubt will parodied and mocked for years to come... At one point a giant dinosaur is chasing our attractive heroine to be, and she manages to out run the beast, however quickly, in high heels. The fact that the camera slows down and shows us these heels in all there fashion-runway-nowayshapeorform-outrun-a-dino-in-ness just amplifies the moment.

I can only think that someone somewhere went - Hey, Tim, ya, I was thinking, this movie is pretty awesome right, why, ah, why don't we give something to really bitch about... Ya, or we could just have her out run the thing in heels. Ya I know right, and then slowly pan to the heels to, so we really rub it in. They'll be so busy bitching about the heels no one will question things like what kind of amusement park would let kids pilot a gyro ball that costs millions through a field of multi ton animals... or how no one noticed any of the Indominus Rex's powers in all the years it took to grow to full size... or why exactly its almost as smart as a human... Ya... lets have em focus on the heels. 

Ha. Those guys I tell ya.

Look, as you can guess there are some silly plot points, but really, you just sat through an amazingly fun film that your kids, or the kid in you, loved, and isn't that what film is about? Not being a grumpy adult for 2 plus hours and feeling like you got your $ worth. And you did. U did.

Yes they set the sequel up and considering the film made over half a BILLION! dollars in its first week of release, I'm sure we will see many more trips to the perilous world of the Jurassic.

Movie Scale 3.5 out of 5 stars
Action movie scale 4 out of 5 stars

One line review: A huge and hugely fun return to the island!

-Chuck Boonsweet