A movie review by Father
Scott Archer
June 12, 2015
It took twenty-three years
to produce a worthy successor to the original Jurassic Park and put those two unfortunate and forgettable sequels
behind us. Executive producer Steven Spielberg and director Colin Trevorrow
have done it in Jurassic World. The
towering wonder and majesty of Jurassic
World is certain to thrill audiences that know why they are going to a move
like this.
The original Jurassic Park showed us something we had
never seen before, and this movie takes us to a place that is familiar in
setting and plot. In Jurassic World, however,
we are given wonderful characters and captivating cinematography that make the
movie more than simply people getting chased and eaten by prehistoric beasts or
worse, resorting to preaching an agenda to the audience. This movie is about
people involved in a crisis situation, how they react, and how it changes them.
It is not so much about dinosaurs as it is about the human capacity to rise
above a situation and triumph.
There is something
formulaic about this movie, but it is done so well it does not feel so. Owen
Grady, played by Chris Pratt, is the likable and tough handler of the Velociraptors. While the hybrid
dinosaur, Indominus rex, is a very
formidable creature, you have a sense that Owen is even more so. With subtle
wit and charm, he gives a sense of security as everything is falling apart. He
plays very well off Bryce Dallas Howard’s cold and business-minded Claire
Dearing, who rises to the occasion as she is forced to shed her corporate
persona. Added to this are Claire's nephews, Zack Mitchell
(Nick Robinson) and Gray Mitchell (Ty Simpkins), who are stranded out in the
park with a ravenous hybrid on the loose.
This movie was a delight
to watch because it successfully brings new life into a familiar story. It
transports us to a place familiar to most of the audience, yet without making
it seem like we were given the same story. Jurassic
World succeeds because it brings us wonder, awe-inspiring cinematography,
thrilling danger, a likable hero, and fills us with the child-like joy of being
transported to the world where John Hammond, so many years ago, uttered those
immortal words, “Welcome to Jurassic Park!”
