REVIEW: Jurassic World

One of my earliest nightmares as a child was a tornado assisting a T-Rex to rip the roof off our new house, and the T-Rex eating my heavily pregnant mother and my Barbie dolls. Now my Barbies live a contented life in storage and my "baby" brother is a nightmare only on occasions. My elephant-like memory does however recall the spine-chilling, blanket clutching nights of watching Jurassic Park (1993) and Twister (1996) with the older girl-next-door-best-friend, who seemed absolutely fearless at the time. Basically, Michael Crichton orchestrated my nightmares with a little help from Steven Spielberg.

 

So it was only with slight trepidation that I boldly ventured into the monthly movie-date-night in seats C3-4 (the sweet spot of Cinema 7 at Cine Prestige) to watch Jurassic World.

Twenty-two years after the events of the original Jurassic Park, the island located off the coast of Costa Rica, Isla Nublar, is now a luxury resort and theme park. It also plays home to an array of genetically engineered dinosaurs, including the genetically-modified Indominus Rex. When the newest attraction hatches an escape, it sets off a chain reaction that causes the park to descend into chaos. Now, it's up to a former military man and animal expert, Owen Grady (Chris Pratt) to use all his resources (including his army of raptors) to save two young brothers and the rest of the tourists from almost certain death.

Directed by Colin Trevorrow, who makes his blockbuster debut, and with Steven Spielberg as Executive Producer the movie delivers and is a rather good one. Which shows in the box-office numbers: "The highly-anticipated sequel capitalized on the nostalgia moviegoers had for the brand by shattering the box office record books. During its first three days of release, it set new marks for international opening ($511 million) and domestic opening weekend ($208.8 million) and is showing no signs of slowing down." (Stats according to Screenrant.com) And has already knocked Avengers 2 off its perch.

 

It gives you exactly what you expect - an adventure in a world beyond your wildest imagination that leaves you in awe and also slightly terrified. I say slightly because it was just short of the "usual" scares - no fear trembling jelly or being stalked by velociraptors. Also, the female heroine, Claire (Bryce-Dallas Howard) manages to outrun a T-Rex in heels - females can't even walk properly in heels but here she is brandishing a flare like the Olympic torch and sprinting - you go girl!


I soon found myself fantasizing about having my own army of trained velociraptors to wreak havoc on my enemies, then realized all I've done thus far with animal training is teach Koda to open doors at 8pm when hungry. Maybe Chris Pratt would do a house-call...

The references to the first movie really add to the feelings of nostalgia and also the "authenticity" of the park - if something like this were possible would humans appreciate it or get bored with the entertainment value of dinosaurs? Or is it simply in our nature to turn everything into either an investing opportunity or weaponry?

If you're looking to truly escape on movie-night, do yourself a favour and book a ticket to Isla Nublar.