By Bob Garver<\/p>\n
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\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cJurassic World\u201d takes place in a future where dinosaur cloning technology has existed for a few decades and the novelty of living dinosaurs has worn off. In real life, we live in a world where the \u201cJurassic Park\u201d franchise has existed for a few decades and this movie took in $204 million in its opening weekend. We are not yet sick of dinosaurs, and we don\u2019t even have the advantage of them being real.<\/p>\n
Jurassic World is the dinosaur theme park overseen by the workaholic Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard). Her nephews (Ty Simpkins and Nick Robinson) are visiting the park, but she can\u2019t pull herself away from work to be with them. The park can\u2019t call itself Jurassic Park anymore because of the deaths associated with its former name, though I wouldn\u2019t say it\u2019s enough of a separation; it\u2019s like calling an ocean liner the Titanish. The theme park is actually just a small chunk of a larger dinosaur-inhabited island, the rest is reserved for experimenting with more dangerous dinos. This includes a pack of raptors being trained by Owen (Chris Pratt), whose work is about to be usurped by a military official (Vincent D\u2019Onofrio) who wants to weaponize the cold-blooded killers.<\/p>\n
Also on the experimental part of the island is the Indominus Rex, the world\u2019s first dinosaur spliced together from the DNA of other animals. Supposedly it looks more terrifying than any of the other dinosaurs, but I thought it looked pretty average for a huge ferocious dinosaur. It\u2019s extremely deadly, but don\u2019t worry, the park\u2019s guests aren\u2019t in danger\u2026 unless someone leaves the gate to its pen open. Someone leaves the gate to the pen open and the park\u2019s guests are very much in danger.<\/p>\n
From here, the audience gets to spend the rest of the movie playing a rousing game of Guess Who Gets Eaten. Rich people, rude people, and people who don\u2019t take their jobs seriously are all likely candidates. Military assassins are going to have the resiliency of crackers, but you know the kids are going to be plucky enough to avoid being snacked upon. Owen is going to last a good long while because he respects the raptors and Claire is going to last because she means well.<\/p>\n
Our human heroes obviously spend a lot of time on defense, ducking and covering so the dinosaurs can approach them menacingly and then leave them alone, sometimes to pop back up again once they think things are safe. Offensive strategies usually consist of pitting the dinosaurs against each other, which then leaves our heroes with the problem of having new hungry dinosaurs in the mix. It\u2019s a poorly conceived strategy, but at least it gives the movie an excuse to use the raptors and a few others.<\/p>\n
The movie is lacking in charm. You wouldn\u2019t want to spend time around the human characters. Claire is icy, the kids are annoying, the park\u2019s tech people are sarcastic, and even Owen is less affable than a Chris Pratt action hero ought to be. The dinosaurs, on the other hand, do inspire a connection. Some are cute, some are cool, and one is downright heartbreaking. I wish the film had more confidence in their personalities, because the little we do get makes the film much more tolerable.<\/p>\n
\u201cJurassic World\u201d has no delusions that it\u2019s anything other than a dumb summer blockbuster, but it could still afford to be a better dumb summer blockbuster. The jokes could be funnier, the action more exciting, the ravenous dinosaurs more terrifying (not to be confused with the successfully-sympathetic \u201cgood\u201d dinosaurs). There\u2019s fun to be had, just not a dinosaur-sized amount.<\/p>\n
Two Stars out of Five<\/p>\n
\u201cJurassic World\u201d is rated PG-13 for intense sequences of science-fiction violence and peril. Its running time is 124 minutes.<\/p>\n