“A mystifying and nostalgic adventure into a familiar
world.”
After fourteen years, the most popular dinosaur movie
franchise is back with its fourth instalment under the creative direction of
Colin Trevorrow. Jurassic World has
created much stir as the 14-year-long wait solicited much excitement and
anticipation. True to its title, the movie once again descends into the
dinosaur world which hit the globe in the 90s.
Jurassic World
seems to take on the events after Jurassic
Park (1993), Spielberg’s adaptation of Michael Crichton’s best-selling
novel. It gives the impression that The
Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997) and Jurassic
Park III (2001) never existed which is absolutely fine since the former has
lost the charm of the first movie and the latter is a total disaster. The
present movie takes us once again to the island of Isla Nublar where the famous
park is situated. All sorts of genetically-engineered dinosaurs are bred and
raised in the island. The park has been open to the public for twenty years, providing
immense tourism and commercialization in the region. It is under the ownership
of billionaire Simon Masrami (Irrfan Khan) and as to how, we are not told (must
have been confidential). Every year, the staffs keep building better and bigger
dinosaurs, possibly wilder and with more teeth. Currently, its star attraction
is a colossal croc-like sea creature which shallows its prey in one gulp.
Two brothers are invited to the island by their aunt Claire
Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard) who happens to be the park’s manager. Older
brother Zach Mitchell (Nick Robinson) is a teenage head-turner while his
younger brother Gray (Ty Simpkins) is relentlessly curious who is at the same
time anxious about their parent’s imminent divorce. Aunt Claire, who is stiff
in her immaculate business outfit and weird hairdo, is quite busy running the
park that she misses her schedule with her nephews.
Claire’s fling is Navy guy Owen Grady (Chris Pratt) who is
some sort of gentle-hearted dinosaur whisperer. He expertly trains the
Velociraptors and in one sequence, he is seen practicing with the raptors which
he has individually named. Owen is under the watchful eyes of Vic Hoskins who
secretly harbours a project of militarizing the trained new breed of dinosaurs.
While the tourists are having the time of their life
exploring and enjoying the theme park’s offerings, the management keeps their
newest creation – Indominus rex –
behind huge walls, away from all forms of life since its birth. But when Owen
is tasked to train the new monster, a misfortune happens and the I.rex escapes its cage. All hell breaks
loose and the monster is on its killing rampage, targeting both humans and
dinosaurs.
The moment that Jurassic
World started, there’s that nostalgic vibe which transports us back to 1993
when the park first opened. The first film was directed by Steven Spielberg and
Trevorrow uses similar style in the current film. It is not horribly scary but
it is still suspenseful and tense. It is savage but it spares us excessive
blood and gore. Spray of blood on the wall, people swallowed whole but head
first, and blurred images with creepy sound effects are familiar elements in
the first movie which also reasonably work in Jurassic World.
Trevorrow is very playful as he effectively mixes Spielbergian
style with classic and newer approaches in movie-making. The Claire and Owen
romance brings back that oldies macho adventure feel where the rough and brave
hero constantly rescues the little frail damsel in distress. The attack of the pterodactyls
where humans are picked and played with is reminiscent of those classic
man-versus-animals movies. In another sequence, Trevorrow employs the shaky cam
technique where the armies transmit helmet-cam feeds as they battle out with
the beasts. Of course, CGI has been utilized in the film but Trevorrow made it
look minimal and insignificant so that the dinosaurs appear real and do not
possess that compute graphic texture. It takes bold risk and skilful mastery to
produce such brilliant combination which paid off in the end.
Another good thing about the movie is its final sequence
where it’s the dinosaurs which kill the unruly predator. The film is homage to
dinosaurs so it is just proper that they are the ultimate heroes. Though
cheesy, that moment where a raptor communicates with the humans and takes a
bold charge against the towering I.rex is
affecting. So in the final battle of new monster versus raptors-T-rex-croc
combo, it’s the ace team that saves the day.
On the downside, Jurassic
World follows the usual man-against-nature formula and hence, it is very
predictable in nature. From the beginning, we know who will die and be eaten by
the dinos, who will survive, and who will make certain sacrifices. Its plot is
very shallow and characterization is thin. Claire is very distracting. She
looks like an American red-haired Dora the Explorer. She could have sung the
show’s jingle while “flying over hills, jumping over terrains, and running
through the forests” in her heels. And Chris Pratt is not helping. It seems he
has been uprooted from the universe of the Guardians
of the Galaxy and then planted in the dinosaur world. His characters from
both films are similar.
But what the hell, we did
not watch Jurassic World for its
story and the acting. We are not after the drama. We watch it to see the
dinosaurs again and relish the new experiences the park has to offer. It is not
disappointing as so much is to wonder and behold in this jaw-clenching and
heart-pumping action adventure film.
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