Jurassic World (2015) AKA Hey, Let’s Revisit My Childhood Only with Less Magic and Wonder and With More CGI and Starlord

As a child I was a huge dinosaur fanatic. I watched The Land Before Time over and over again and I had a whole herd of dinosaur toys. Speaking of Littlefoot, I think I’ll be revisiting him soon for the Childhood Films Blogathon put on by Let’s Go to the Movies. I watched Jurassic Park, of course, but I was only 2 years old when it originally came out. So it was never a big favorite of mine, I think it was just too scary for me. But anyways, while that particular movie wasn’t huge to me, dinosaurs were and it has carried over a bit into adulthood (my favorite animals are alligators, the modern dinosaur).
So going into Jurassic World I wasn’t actually all that excited. I was really surprised by its huge opening weekend. I wanted to see some dinosaurs and the Pratt, I didn’t have huge expectations. Which was probably a good thing because I was able to enjoy the movie while watching it. But afterward, when I wasn’t looking at the gorgeous dinosaurs anymore, I found the movie to be underwhelming.

The most interesting relationship right here.

My biggest problem with the movie is its characters. You know there’s a problem with a movie when the velociraptor, Blue, is the most dynamic character with the best story arc. Seriously. He is the only one who has to make an interesting choice (mlbradford’s post helped me come to this conclusion). Everyone else is so predictable. The two boys are funny, but otherwise bland, but that’s kind of to be expected. The Pratt is pretty interesting, but we don’t learn all that much about him. Like, how the heck do you become a raptor whisperer and where can I sign up? And of course, as is typical with blockbuster films, the weakest, most disappointing character is Claire as played by Bryce Dallas Howard. I didn’t mind her being a shrew character to start with it’s just that… the film goes nowhere with it. She’s a total bitch who doesn’t care about her nephews until the Indominus Rex is on the loose. Then suddenly she cares (probably only because she doesn’t want to take the blame if they get killed) and she’s also weeping over a dead brontosaur. She goes from point A to C with no in between. And same goes for her relationship with Owen (The Pratt). They’re complete opposites who suddenly make out at the end. WTF?!?!?! But shout out to BD Wong for being awesome as always! Seriously, the guy hardly does anything, but he’s still one of my favorite parts.

BD Wong wins everything.

The plot of Jurassic World is quite predictable, the characters are relatively boring. But the action sequences are genuinely exciting. The final fight was great, definitely my favorite moment of the film. I loved seeing the gorgeously rendered dinosaurs, even if the CGI seems to take away some of their magic. Jurassic World is a fun movie, it’s just not as intelligent as it wants to be. I like some of the themes it explores (what constitutes a weapon, ownership, playing God, animals and their capacity for feeling, etc), but it doesn’t explore any of them at great depth. I give Jurassic World 7/10  6/10(-1 point for the RIDICULOUS AMOUNT of product placements. SERIOUSLY. ENOUGH. I GET IT.) velociraptors simply because I love a good dinosaur fight and I wish I could look as cool as Chris Pratt riding a motorcycle in a herd of raptors. And the answer is yes, I would still go to Jurassic Park in real life, a little Indominus Rex doesn’t scare me!