It has become rather frustrating that the people behind the making of movies will spend tens or even hundreds of millions of dollars to make things look great but will not spend even ten dollars on the development of a good story or writing of a good script. The focus is totally on the style and not the substance. Whether you are a tent pole film or not word of mouth will get around that there is not enough to the movie to warrant spending anywhere from thirteen to twenty dollars to go and see it.
Jurassic World looks great and has some funny moments but there is precious little there to cling on to character or story wise. Predictability is the name of the game here. A total summer film franchise meaning you can leave your brain at home and just settle into putting a dent into your large bag of overpriced popcorn.
We are now a generation after the cloning of dinosaurs became a reality. Seeing real live dinosaurs is not even that big a deal anymore. Two brothers, Zach (played by Nick Robinson) and Gray (played by Ty Simpkins), are on the dinosaur island just off of Costa Rica. Young people can explore the island park freely as it is reputed to be completely safe. Zach and Gray (and their parents) believe that because the person saying that the loudest is their aunt Claire (played by Bryce Dallas Howard), the woman who is the manager of the park.
Claire and the park’s resident expert on dinosaur behaviour, Owen (played by Chris Pratt), often are on different sides of the issue when it comes to these prehistoric beasts. Their battles have to be put aside when Claire’s two nephews, who have been exploring the park in a Gyrosphere (a kind of giant hamster ball), are chased by an escaped Indominus Rex.
Jurassic World is a kind of combination of the old school Spielberg dinosaur films and a more modern attempt at telling this story. It focuses mostly on being a monster/dino film, so more action than drama. The reason to see this film is the visuals which really push the boundaries. Director Colin Trevorrow (Safety Not Guaranteed) has succeeded in bringing things to the screen that we have not seen before in regards to special effects, etc. This is the film’s one and only treat.
Being the very definition of what a summer movie is can be okay, but one thing I did have trouble swallowing was the whole feminine or anti-female side of the film. Let’s just skip over the fact that the Rex is a female and head straight over to the Claire character. She is portrayed as a steely business woman who has not a maternal bone in her body. All this goes a ways to making her unlikable in the film’s eyes. Why is my question? If she were a male character we would not feel negatively about her life choices (favouring career over family), so why are we supposed to solely because she is a female? Hmmm….
