Jurassic World

 

*May Contain Spoilers*

 

June 17, 2015

 

Remember when you saw Jurassic Park more than 20 years ago, and you sat at the end of your seat, convinced that dinosaurs were real? That is exactly how you’ll feel in this fourth installment, Jurassic World. Not only is the plot great, the cast is phenomenal, including the underrated Jake Johnson (of New Girl fame), as a tech-savvy park operator. But the star of the film, is not only the giant hybrid dinosaur, but the one and only Star Lord himself, Chris Pratt. This man is on fire and he can really do no wrong right now. He brings a great mix of humor and seriousness to Jurassic World that it needs to keep the plot moving along.

 

So, it’s 22 years later, after the deadly Jurassic Park incident. InGen has opened a fully functional dino-theme park, on Isla Nublar titled Jurassic World. You know sort of like Disney World, except instead of fun characters, park-goers get to mingle with real, live dinosaurs of all shapes and sizes. In order to keep people flocking to the park, lab technicians are tasked with making bigger and better creatures, at whatever cost. Dr. Henry Wu (B.D. Wong), the park’s chief geneticist, creates hybrid dinosaurs in order to achieve this goal, which includes the Indominus rex, that is made up of DNA from various predatory dinosaurs. However, he refuses to reveal the exact make-up.

 

Claire Dearing (Bryce Dalls Howard) is the park operations manager. She’s high-strung in keeping her investors happy and making the park money. So much so that when her nephews Gary (Ty Simpkins) and Zach (Nick Robinson) come to visit, she pushes them off onto her assistant Zara (Katie McGrath). And then there’s Owen Grady (Pratt) is the dinosaur whisperer. OK, he’s a Velociraptor expert and trainer. His buddy Vic (Vincent D’Onofrio) is the head of security for InGen. Vic has a different agenda now that he believes the raptors are trained, though Owen is adamantly against that idea.

 

Owen is reluctantly called in to check out the Indominus rex’s habitat to make sure it’s safe for spectators. However, while criticizing everything that’s not only wrong with the cage and the way the dinosaur is kept, it goes missing. This prompts Owen and some staff to head into the enclosure. The smart creature is just hiding and it attacks the group. Owen manages to get away, but so does the dinosaur as it heads into the jungle.

 

Not wanting to panic the public, Claire calls for a partial park closure, closing exhibits near where the dinosaur got loose. This includes where her nephews have just boarded a crazy sphere that brings them up close to dinosaurs in a field. The teens being teens don’t listen to the warning to return and venture out on their own. Of course, they encounter the Indominus rex in a very up close way as it destroys their pod. The boys escape and head into the jungle to seek safety. As they come across the old remains of Jurassic Park, they get an old Jeep going and find the edge of the park. Meanwhile, Claire seeks out Owen again and they head into the jungle to find her nephews. They are, of course, two steps behind Gary and Zach, but they manage to meet up with them.

 

Back at base, Vic decides the best way to track and stop Indominus is to use the raptors. With no other suggestions, the raptors go in with a team. Claire and the boys stay behind, and she watches in horror as one by one the team members are killed. Turns out, when the raptors find Indominus, it becomes their new alpha. Owen does manage to get through to the creatures and gets away. But not before Claire and the boys’ truck gets attacked. They all regroup at the main security building, which of course has been evacuated and is starting to be overrun with dinosaurs. As they run outside, in hope to get to safety, they are face to face with the raptors and Indominus. And in a quick change of heart, the raptors ‘protect’ the humans and attack Indominus. Gary quickly realizes that the tiny dinosaurs are no match for the hybrid, so Claire calls upon Lowery (Johnson), the only park employee to stay behind, just in case, to open the T. Rex exhibit. And together with the help of the raptor Blue, T. Rex manages to bring Indominus over to the water’s edge where Mosasaurus finishes him off.

 

And there is room for a sequel, as Dr. Wu manages to leave the island with some DNA before it is overrun by the dinosaurs.

 

And just at the moment when the Mosasaurus jumps out is when I wanted to jump up and clap! Actually when T. Rex is let loose, I wanted to cheer. I love how this veteran dinosaur, who was so killer in the first films, turns out to be the savior. And in the end, he basically claims the island again, which is fine by me.

 

Pratt was fantastic as the dinosaur whisperer. He’s funny when he needs to be and serious when he needs to be. After all, I feel Johnson provided the comedic relief anyway. The only thing I found less believable than the dinosaurs though, was Claire running around in white heels through out the muddy jungle and not once falling or getting them dirty. But that’s a minor technicality that I can overlook because it’s such an amazing action film!