But by the time the second one came around, I knew we were approaching Back to the Future territory as it was also a franchise that started off with a cool idea but ended with Michael J. Fox riding horses in the Wild Wild West. Well in Jurassic Park 2 they decided to give Jeff Goldblum a black daughter; an obvious response to the fact that the only black person in the first movie (Samuel L. Jackson) chain smoked and died a horrible death, which is pretty standard fare for horror movies.
The issue, outside of the obvious, was that his black daughter couldn’t just be a normal kid; for some reason they decided to also make her a world class gymnast. So there she was, this little black girl swinging from tree to tree in the jungle just like a little monkey would!!! I didn’t know if I should laugh from the hilarity of what was happening on screen or if I should be unbelievably outraged and offended at the unintentional racism. All I do know is that for the safety of those around me, I was hoping that with Jurassic World they would forget about trying to be creative with the plot and would simply stick with what works, dinosaurs eating people. I didn’t want to have to turn into Wayne Brady and start slapping bitches in the theater. Please see the Chappelle Show if you don’t get that last joke, I don’t slap women or call them bitches.
Anyway, for the most part they did keep it simple. The writers and director Colin Trevorrow (Safety Not Guaranteed) fast forward to 22 years after the disaster of the original Jurassic Park took place and show you a fully functional and supposedly safe Jurassic World. It his been in existence for quite a while and is basically viewed in the same manner as any normal zoo is today. It’s on an island in the middle of Central America and it even includes a petting zoo where kids are hugging and riding baby dinosaurs; a far cry from what we saw taking place in the original.
You are also introduced to the main characters who include the apathetic teenager Zach and his little brother Gray, a kid who knows absolutely everything there is to know about dinosaurs. They happen to be the nephews of the uptight and always business oriented Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard), the woman who’s in charge of running the theme park. Claire is so focused on her work that she knows nothing about her nephews nor really seems remotely interested in spending any time with them. She does however seem to have a reluctant interest in the park’s main animal handler Owen (Chris Pratt) as he is an attractive loner who has somehow managed to gain the trust and control of the park’s velociraptors.
The reason I took the time to mention all of this is because the movie decided to spend a significant amount of time developing these characters and showing just how strained their relationships were. But anyone who has seen any summer movie ever knows that they will all eventually come together and find some bond after their lives have been threatened by that of giant man eating dinosaurs.
And speaking of giant dinosaurs, due to declining interest in the park, the scientists on site have decided to blend the DNA of a few species to create a new dinosaur that is bigger, better, and meaner than ever before to once again spark fear and excitement in the hearts of the patrons. Well as you can imagine, things go horribly wrong.
Fans of the original movie will enjoy quite a few moments as they repeatedly pay homage to Spielberg’s classic with t-shirts, relics, and even gadgets from the first one that now seem ancient. And while Trevorrow can’t quite replicate the suspense Spielberg once did when he had us all holding our breath as we saw the water trembling in the giant T-Rex’s footprint, there were a handful of memorable scenes that will eventually go down as classics themselves. Some of which include the giant hybrid dinosaur attacking the kids in their bulletproof sphere, the pterodactyls swooping in and picking up random people to be their food, and of course the scene where Chris Pratt is running alongside his raptors in an attempt to hunt down and kill the new hybrid.
In the end Jurassic World wound up being the quintessential summer popcorn flick; a movie that doesn’t require you to think at all and allows you to simply sit back, laugh, and enjoy the spectacle on screen. And while Trevorrow is capable of giving you something deeper but equally as fun as World is, as he did with Safety Not Guaranteed, he knew that with a big budget summer movie you have to keep it simple; and that’s exactly what he did.
The more I think about this movie, the more I enjoyed it; so based off of that, I have to give it a solid rating of FRESH! Oh if for nothing else, go see this movie so you can see a sweaty and busty Bryce Dallas Howard run around for two hours!
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