***SPOILER ALERT***
So it’s been 22 years since the first time I entered the Jurassic Park universe, ducking underneath the seat, afraid that my favorite dinosaur of all, T-Rex would eat me up. Staying under the seat for more than half of the film resulted in a much distorted idea of the story, which was essentially a chase for the T-Rex’s tail. I have come a long way since then, having watched the film again and again on TV and home video. So not being able to wait any longer for the sequel announced two years back, my cousin and I decided to go for the paid-preview, watching it one day in advance. But 15 minutes to the film it starts raining cats and dogs, so I dodged a few cars, broke a nail, fell embarrassingly on the road and then reached the venue all soaked. But nothing could spoil my mood and excitement. As the familiar logos appeared on screen once again some fellow enthusiasts like me screamed and the film started.
To be very honest, there are many things wrong with the way the film is structured. The biggest flaw of the film is that it aims to be too family-friendly, thus out goes the blood and gore and painful deaths. Most of the events also take place in broad day light so that sucks out half the fun. I don’t get the studios decision to tone everything down these days. Jurassic Park apart from its fine writing, worked mostly because of its unapologetic violence. There is little or no violence in this film, everything is suggestive mostly. And there is the horrible CGI, too perfect and too polished but no matter what you do you can’t beat Stan Winston bitches! Thus the dinosaurs look pretty much one dimensional and flat.
Most of the film is essentially bad dialogues and lame unnecessary scenes with tributes to 1 here and there. One can understand the necessity for tributes but then any sequel must also attempt to be original. What’s disappointing is how consciously the film tries not to be better than its original predecessor and how much it banks on it (not counting the spin-offs). But its creators took great risks with this one and some of them had to backfire but then some of the tributes to the original work beautifully and even if they are not equally moving they work effectively.
Jurassic World essentially works because of its sheer scale, and because it understands very well where the strengths of the first film lay and it leaves no stones unturned to ensure that these are fully achieved. The film’s digesis breaks from time to time and we take a trip down nostalgia , revisiting relics and you can’t help but shed a tear or two listening to John Williams’s original score. Such a break is not unwarranted given that the film doesn’t acknowledge sequel 2 and 3. What’s nice is how the action is underplayed and there is that brilliantly but hilarious tribute to Hitchcock’s The Birds and not to forget Indiana Jones. It is very hard not to see this film as an Indiana Jones film given Chris Pratt’s look and that awesome awesome bike.
Now for some big spoilers, towards the end of the film you realize that the last hour and a half of blinding daylight was basically a buildup to the 30minutes long climax. Whatever the film misses in its first half, it makes up for it with the ultimate showdown. If I want I can criticize the film to no end, see it as a film student. I could criticize the film for its plot holes, for being borderline sexist and racist. But I am not going to do that. I went to enjoy this film and I did something which I rarely allow myself these days. Over time I have learnt to critique Hollywood and see its flaws, but I do love my blockbuster. But it has to be a good one. And this one clearly is!
Jurassic World isn’t as great as Jurassic Park, it will never be, but it is definitely 1000 times better than The Lost World and Jurassic Park 3. What needs to be appreciated about the film is how it doesn’t try to be another pretentious post-apocalyptic, dark sci-fi. The film knows that its job is to entertain and it does so. Jurassic Park truly defined big blockbuster movies for a generation of movie goers who are now in their late 20s and Jurassic World succeeds in achieving the same to a great extent. The movie essentially is a great stepping stone for the franchise reboot of a series which was thought to be long dead. But Colin Trevorrow and the original film’s fans proved the world wrong again. Jurassic World has made me fall in love with dinosaurs again. It is truly a great monster film after a long long time and must be watched for sheer nostalgia if not anything else and I am more than ready to write a critical piece on it if my readers ask me to!
Photo Credit- Alvaro Miguel
Jurassic World isn’t as great as Jurassic Park, it will never be, but it is definitely 1000 times better than The Lost World and Jurassic Park 3. What needs to be appreciated about the film is how it doesn’t try to be a pretentious post-apocalyptic, dark sci-fi. The film knows that its job is to entertain and it does so.
