Jurassic World (2015)

“That thing out there…that’s no dinosaur.”

More so than any film over the last twenty years, I was both salivating and stressing over the release of Jurassic World. As a loyal fan of the franchise (my groom’s cake was a Velociraptor bursting through the logo—though, I made sure to remind everyone that it was probably an overly “reptilian” depiction of a larger dromaeosaurid like

Deinonychus or Utahraptor), there was, without any shadow of a doubt, an unmatched level of excitement regarding the fact that we could now go back to Isla Nublar and, quite possibly, right some of the storytelling wrongs of the second and third installments. However, as a loyal fan of Dinosauria, dread permeated my very being as renderings of the park’s inhabitants started to leak. It was clear that continuity was paramount over the advancements in paleontology since the first film graced the screen back in 1993. It was an internal struggle—the time-honored meeting of the irresistible force and the immovable object; do I focus on the nostalgia and the increased public awareness for all things Mesozoic that are sure to offspring of this gigantic blockbuster? Or do I hunker down in annoyance and detestation on the missed opportunities to showcase more accurate depictions of our prehistoric idols? It’s the age-old question—what is more important, that people care about Velociraptor or that they know that they were turkey-sized and feathered? The week leading into the grand premier of Jurassic World only added fuel to the fire that was my predicament. Paleontologists and amateur dinosaur experts lit up the news cycle and social networks complaining about everything from the inability of pterosaurs like Pteranodon and Dimorphodon to pick up something as heavy as a human with it’s paper-thin bones and lizard-like claws (remember, pterosaurs aren’t dinosaurs and belong to the same line as lizards and snakes—so they don’t posses the bird-like talons of some theropod dinosaurs) to the size of the aquatic scene-stealing Mosasaurus. Sure, some thought leaders in the field defended it—claiming that it never claimed to be a documentary—but the general feeling was that of disappointment over a missed opportunity.

However, less than halfway through the film, returning genetics guru, Dr. Henry Wu (B.D. Wong) effectively squashed the internal struggle brewing inside of me. In a passionate speech to the park’s new owner, billionaire Simon Masrani (Irrfan Khan), Wu decreed that the dinosaurs in the park are not—and have never been—accurate depictions of what occurred in the natural world. From the onset of John Hammond’s creation, DNA gaps had to be filled—incomplete sequences bred “monsters”, not dinosaurs. The philosophical debate regarding whether or not the creators should have used their platform to promote the progress made in paleobiology still might exist—but the “why” was clearly answered.

After stewing for hours over an opening line for the actual review of the film (outside of my personal diatribe above), I came up with a real game-changer—”the film was entertaining”. Move over Leonard Maltin. But the thing is, it was just that—entertaining. Nothing more, nothing less. Unlike Jurassic Park, it failed to produce the feeling that real creative magic was being realized in front of our very eyes. However, World did generate an aura of being something bigger and more important than the previous sequels. It possessed a solid enough—albeit formulaic and predictable—plot to support its real stars, the masters of the Mesozoic. From the early inclusion of John Williams’ iconic score to the closing scene, I was engaged, never bored, and pleasantly surprised. That is what we ask of the standard fare summer blockbuster, after all.

The Humans—yes, there are some in the movie.

The most noticeable disparity between the original and this installment is categorically the quality of the central characters. In Jurassic Park, veteran actor Sam Neill gave moviegoers a believable paleontologist, Dr. Alan Grant, with no military background or, for that matter, really any backstory tidbits that would leave us to believe that he was even a person with an active lifestyle. He wasn’t John Wayne or Rambo; Dr. Alan Grant was simply a scientist that loved dinosaurs—he was a “digger”. His protagonist counterpart, Owen Grady, played by one of the most prominent figures in Hollywood, Chris Pratt, is—by comparison—a recycled cliché action star. He’s a “Navy man”—a bland description that appears to give the writers an out to explain his heroic deeds—but, outside of that, he is just a bit…ordinary. Throughout the course of events, he never really does anything that we didn’t expect him to do. I understand the argument that you don’t want to over-emphasize the main human characters as to not take away screen time from their prehistoric and more commercially-sound co-stars, but Grady’s character and Pratt’s performance seem to just blend in to the story like some of the “tier B” herbivores in the film.

Equally as one-dimensional is the heroine of our epic tale, the operations manager of the theme park, Claire Dearing, played by Bryce Dallas Howard. It was apparent from her first scenes that she was the business-first, family-second female that would likely end up experiencing an epiphany—probably due to a major dinosaur-related tragedy—and would realize that family and life outside of her job really does matter. The uptight Dearing and the rugged Grady are, not surprisingly, matched in what the movie wants you to believe is a plausible love affair. There is no tension nor chemistry—it’s just flat.

Simon Masrani, the owner of Jurassic World, was a big miss in my opinion. At first, he is built as this Hammond-esque figure—“sparing no expense” for the sake of wonderment and enjoyment. He tells a badgering Dearing that he doesn’t care about “profits”—but yet many of his actions are to protect a rampaging asset because of its “worth”. Are the filmmakers trying to convey this multi-faceted, complex figure that is part-corrupt industrialist and part-philanthropist? If they were, they failed to get below the surface of the character. This sloppy disjointedness doesn’t detract from the film as a whole but I can’t help to think that the character could become even more fully realized and dynamic with additional tooling from skilled script craftsmen.

Since this a Jurassic Park film, you need to have kids. Dearing’s visiting nephews—Zach (Nick Robinson) and Gray Mitchell (Ty Simpkins)—fill the roles, however, their significance to the film is dwarfed by the importance of the previous adolescent heroes and heroines. They act more as a plot device for Howard’s character to reach her inevitable personal awakening than as standalone entities. Tim and Lex, they are not.

The rest of the roster falls somewhat in line with the leads—with the notable exception of InGen Security Chief, Vic Hoskins (Vincent D’Onofrio). D’Onofrio’s admirable attempt at providing us a truly hate-worthy villain helps pace some of the human-focused subplots of the film. His unfounded self-assuredness—played up by the talented D’Onofrio—instantly aggravates you; the way in which he carries his burly frame with said self-assuredness drives that aggravation into pure rage. It’s unfortunate that that character is trapped in a meandering and overly done “let’s use this cool new toy as a weapon” subplot.

I think it’s worth mentioning the performance of Jake Johnson as control room employee, Lowery Cruthers. I wouldn’t place Cruthers in the same echelon as Dr. Ian Malcolm but it was a welcomed comic addition that provided some tension-breaking awkward moments.

The Plot—yes, the movie has one.

Many reviewers have discredited the entire plot as being “too simple” to challenge the imagination. I don’t disagree—however, the pre-text of having to create even bigger, badder, and “teethier” beasts because the world has become bored with run of the mill dinosaurs I felt was quite superb. The unfurling of that idea left a bit to be desired but that was more driven by predictability than execution. In the forefront, you have the movement towards the corporatizing the park—and overcoming the public’s disinterest in plain ol’ dinos. This allows Simon Masrani and his team of geneticists to splice genes until their little hearts are content—and create a super-beast that will terrify children and parents alike, Indominus Rex – sponsored by Verizon. Not even Masrani himself knows the recipe to create Indominus soup—only InGen veteran dino-creator, Dr. Wu. Dearing, meanwhile, is trying to prepare for the grand unveiling of the new predator to the world—however, she is burdened by the arrival of her nephews from stateside. As a neurotic executive would do, she passes them off to her assistant, Zara. Bad idea. While they are off exploring the park and watching an oversized Mosasaurus eat a shark, Dearing requests Velociraptor trainer Grady’s presence so that he can inspect the Indominus enclosure. Grady is immediately floored by the lack of discipline and restraint of the park’s leaders. He explains that you can’t keep an animal in isolation for years and expect good things to happen; even his Velociraptors learn social skills by being placed with their siblings. Dearing doesn’t seem to care. During the examination, the unthinkable happens—ok, the very unsurprising happens—Indominus Rex escapes (and eats some park employees). Let the carnage begin.

Of course, armed containment squads can’t bring down the beast because it can—guess what—camouflage itself like certain species of cuttlefish. As the I-Rex marches towards the main park area, Zach and Gray decide to go joyriding in Dino-ville. Before you can say “Robert Muldoon”, they are in the middle of a full-on stampede and, subsequently, an Indominus Rex–Ankylosaurus battle. In her first dino-on-dino battle, Indominus easily dispatches of the armored club-tailed “dino-tank”—personally, I was hoping for a bit better showing by “Ankie”. She then turns her attention to the kids—but they escape by hurling themselves off of a cliff into a river. They quickly forget about the fifty foot stalker on their tail and relish in a true bonding moment of personal growth. Grady and Dearing follow after but are abruptly stunned by the wake of deceased Apatosauruses left by Indominus. Grady realizes that Indominus is not eating her victims…she’s hunting for sport. Zach and Gray manage to stumble upon the remains of the dilapidated visitor’s center from the original park—and we are presented with some tasteful homages to Jurassic Park including the infamous night vision goggles, the dinosaur mural in the dining area (featured in the “Tim eating ice cream” scene), and remnants of the “When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth” banner that hung from the rafters. They hotwire one of the old jeeps and hit the road. Once again, Owen and Claire are late to the party. Their search through the ruins is interrupted by our chief villain, Indominus Rex. The monster loses interest due mostly to the fact that she is blindsided by a helicopter with some really big guns. Masrani, himself, is piloting—and they drive Indominus towards the Jurassic World Aviary. The giant theropod hybrid crashes into the domed structure freeing the Pteranodons and Dimrophodons. During their escape, the helicopter is destroyed and Masrani is sent to his death. In other bad news, a Hitchock-esque plot development is unraveling—and a flock of pterosaurs head to the main area of the park to harass everyone. All of the main characters find themselves back at the “Main Street” area of Jurassic World and they reunite—but not before Zara is picked up by a Pteranodon and dropped into the Mosasaurus’ lagoon home—which leads to both underappreciated assistant and pain-in-the-ass flying reptile getting eaten by the behemoth squamate.

As the chaos continues, InGen Security representative, Vic Hoskins, leverages the incident to force an immediate field test of the “weaponized” Velociraptors that Grady has been training. Grady reluctantly agrees and they set off to track and kill Indominus Rex. In a fairly decent plot twist, the unfortunate InGen soldiers discover that Indominus Rex is part Velociraptor—and she communicates with them, declaring herself as the new “alpha”. The raptors turn on the soldiers and only Grady and few others survive. Hoskins, realizing that the raptor troop experiment wasn’t working gets Dr. Wu and the valuable embryos off the island. Protect the investment.

Grady, Dearing, and the Mitchell boys return to the control center and see Hoskins packing up the remaining dinosaur embryos. He alerts them that he plans to use Indominus as a military weapon now because she is doing a pretty damn good job of killing lots of things. Hoskins, however, doesn’t live to see his dream because the overweight blowhard is quickly cut down by a Velociraptor. The three remaining raptors, under the direction of their new alpha, encircle our four main characters—eerily similar to the final scene in the 1993 version. Owen manages to re-establish his connection with “Blue” (the beta raptor) and the fleet-footed theropods turn on Indominus Rex. During the scuffle, Claire realizes that they need more “teeth” and she runs to Paddock #9 and demands Lowery to open the enclosure door. Equipped with a flare, she does her best Dr. Alan Grant and lures out the female Tyrannosaurus Rex. Indominus easily kills two of the raptors and severely injures “Blue”. After breaking through a staged skeleton of a Spinosaurus (a nice “apology” for the much maligned Spinosaurus vs. T-Rex battle in Jurassic Park III), the Tyrannosaurus arrives and attacks the larger predator—but, the more advanced killing machine, eventually takes the upper hand. Before the final death blow can be delivered, “Blue” appears from nowhere and engages Indominus again. The pesky dromaeosaurid and the revitalized “Rexy” start to win the battle against the genetic horror. The classic tag team backs Indominus to the edge of the street and she is unexpectedly finished off by the gargantuan Mosasaurus, leaping out of its lagoon home.

“Rexy” and “Blue” return back to the wilderness of Isla Nublar. Zach and Gray return to their parents. Owen and Claire smooch. And we close on a scene in which the Tyrannosaurus surveys the destroyed park and ends the film with its iconic roar.

Dinosaurs, Pterosaurs, and Mosasaurs—oh my!

First and foremost, the main attraction of the film might well have been the park itself. It is beautifully realized—the look, feel, and functionality bring a quality of realism to something so fantastic. Gyrospheres rolling alongside giant herbivore herds. Submerging grandstands that give you a peek under the water at a Mosasaurus. An “in-log” view of a Tyrannosaurus feeding. And a Starbucks. In addition, the subtle nods to the franchise are elegant—a John Hammond statue, the return of fan-favorite “Mr. DNA”, a Dilophosaurus hologram, and even the use of a goat as T-Rex bait.

The dinosaurs themselves don’t play second fiddle to anyone or anything. The likenesses of the Tyrannosaurus and Velociraptors have been discussed ad nauseum—they look and move and act like their movie predecessors for continuity’s sake. The Indominus Rex, though entirely fictional, does a nice job of balancing the feel of a “dinosaur” and a “movie monster”. Her special attributes—camouflage (from cuttlefish DNA), hiding from thermal detection (from tree frog DNA), and hunting by body warmth instead of vision (from snake DNA)—aren’t major focus points and are more one-time hits to add credibility to her status as a supreme killing machine.

The hosts of gentle giants like Apatosaurus (with correct nostril placement), Triceratops,Stegosaurus, Ankylosaurus, and Parasaurolophus are all sights to see. It’s a shame that the carnivores get the better parts. I really hope that we eventually get to see the Triceratops versus Tyrannosaurus showdown that we all want to see; I, for one, will be rooting for the world’s favorite three-horned ceratopsian. As a huge fan of Pachycephalosaurus, I was selfishly hoping to see a few “bone heads” engaging in some cranial ramming—but a mere mention of their unique behavior was all that was provided. Stealing the show for some viewers was the creative touch of including a “petting zoo” at the park, complete with Triceratops rides and kids hugging infant sauropods! I appreciated the fact that they placed the horns on the “Trike” correctly—slightly curving backwards. They actually changed and straightened out as the dinosaur reached maturity.

Much has been made about the non-dinosaurs involed in the film—the flying pterosaurs and the whale-sized Mosasaurus. The idea to include two species of pterosaurs was a solid one—the gremlin-y Dimorphodon is a great balance to the traditional Pteranodon. The choice to de-teeth the Pteranodon was equally as intelligent considering the backlash from Jurassic Park III. The Mosasaurus could very well be the new star of the franchise if not for the water-bound limitations. Its appearance was the closest thing—from an awe-factor standpoint—to the original screen appearance of the Brachiosaurus in the 1993 film. The Mosasaurus is portrayed much larger than it actually was—though they did grow to be 50-60 feet in length. Also, the part about it being a cannibal—that’s likely true.

At the end of the day, the dinosaurs in the film might not have captured my imagination as they did twenty-two years ago—some of that due to the saturation of special effects-driven entertainment—but they commanded presence on screen. And—I am pretty sure that there were kids sitting in audiences across the globe this weekend that marveled at seeing a “dinosaur” for the first time—not too dissimilar from my experience back in 1993.

Article Extinction Event

Jurassic World has firmly cemented itself as the second best film in the franchise—and that’s not a bad place to be. The action was great. The dinosaurs were fun. Direct Colin Trevorrow was respectful to the legacy of Jurassic Park. What it lacked in multi-dimensional plot and characters, it made up for in entertainment—and fun. At the end of the day, that’s good enough for my fifteen dollars and me. I was glad to venture back to that small island off the coast of Costa Rica—for millions of Mesozoic lovers like myself, it’s our sanctuary. Just as John Hammond and Dr. Alan Grant moved me more than two decades ago, Jurassic World is sure to inspire legions of new dinosaur enthusiasts—and Isla Nublar will live on.

For this review, we “spared no expense”.

The Super Official “Of A Mesozoic Mind” Rating (out of a possible 5 Public Domain Triceratops Heads)