Review: “Jurassic World” is a Tricera-Flop

The fourth Jurassic Park installment, “Jurassic World,” provides plenty of action and suspense for audiences, but it does not live up to its predecessors and should not be compared.

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Morgan Nimmons, Contributing Writer

SPOILER ALERT: The article below contains information about the movie, “Jurassic World,” that those who have not seen it may not want revealed.

RATING: 3 stars out of 5

The fourth installment of the “Jurassic Park” franchise, starring Bryce Dallas Howard and Chris Pratt, “Jurassic World,” made record breaking box office numbers with $208.8 million during its opening weekend, surpassing the record set by the superhero action flick, the “Avengers,” which made $207.4 million. But while “Jurassic World” may have won over the box office and the world, it did not win me.

The movie showcases a theme park where visitors get the opportunity to interact with real dinosaurs. But in an attempt to increase declining park sales, geneticists create a hybrid dinosaur, the Indominus Rex, constructed from the DNA of several other dinosaurs and modern day animals. As one would predict, the Indominus is a dangerous and intelligent predator that outsmarts the park’s staff and escapes into the general population of the park and causes an insurmountable amount of chaos and damage.

Fans of the “Jurassic Park” franchise were probably anticipating the sequel to live up to the legacy of its sister films. However, the film had a highly predictable plotline and there were several moments of obvious CGI.

Hoskins, the “bad guy” played by Vincent D’Onofrio, the leader of a private security force, wanted to use the park’s Velociraptors for military operations (I sure didn’t see that one coming… note the sarcasm) and was secretly working together with geneticist Dr. Henry Wu, in a plot to use the Indominus Rex as a way to cause an incident in the park in order to have his way and use the raptors.

The characters were pretty generic. Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard), the senior assets manager of the park, comes off as a prudish and dainty conservative woman who butts heads with Owen (Chris Pratt), a Velociraptor trainer who is the outdoorsy, rough around the edges type. Of course the pair – who appear to already have a past – fall for each other which emphasizes the cliché that “opposites attract.”

For those who remember the first film in 1993, they might be slightly disappointed to see that none of their favorite characters appeared in this latest cinema other than Dr. Henry Wu, who appeared briefly in the first “Jurassic Park.” In fact, his appearance in the first “Jurassic Park” was so brief that I had to Google who he was in order to jog my memory.

Also, there were moments when one could clearly tell that the dinosaurs were animated, which was disappointing since I would have thought the effects would be more believable seeing that we have come along way – or so I had thought – since the franchise’s first establishment.

On the bright side, there were a few minor references to earlier films such as Claire’s nephews finding the old ‘93 Jeeps used in the first “Jurassic Park.” Also, the theme park itself is at Isla Nublar where the first “Jurassic Park” took place and our favorite, terrifying and ferocious T-Rex is released to challenge the Indominus in a dino showdown, which provided nostalgia and possibly a little trauma for those who remember the first “Jurassic Park.”

Those who were anticipating a grim dinosaur blood-bath will be let down though when they see little to no gruesome carnage. Part of the problem with “Jurassic World” could have been the fact that it was not directed by the original director, Steven Spielberg, but by Colin Trevorrow who doesn’t have an extensive film history.

In the end, audiences are left with several questions: “Will Jurassic World reopen?,” “What about the T-Rex?,” and lastly “Why does Hollywood insist on ruining franchises with sequels?”

“Jurassic World” provides a fun and suspenseful thrill for moviegoers but you’re left with that empty feeling wondering, is there more?