Jurassic World (Colin Trevorrow US 2015) (review)

Jurassic World is the most recent instalment in the Jurassic Park franchise. Set roughly 20 years after the events of Jurassic Park (Spielberg US 1993), previews for the film excitedly proclaimed 'The park is open'. The film highlights the inevitable disaster of bringing thousands of tourists in contact with dinosaurs, despite InGen's assurances concerning the park's safety and their ability to maintain control. Located on the same Site A as the original film, the new park has already been in operation a number of years, and the park requires 'invigorating' with a 'new attraction' to keep attendance and profits high. The public, it seems, is not as awed by dinosaurs as they used to be. The solution is to create a new dinosaur – Indominus rex – a genetically modified hybrid of Tyrannosaurus rex and the Velociraptor, with some cuttlefish, tree frog and snake DNA added to the mix. Indominus rex is created by none other than Dr Henry Wu (B.D. Wong), who fans will instantly recognise from Jurassic Park. Predictably, Indominus rex escapes from her life of total isolation, a cruelty condemned by our protagonist and Velociraptor cowboy Owen Grady (Chris Pratt), resulting in a rampage of death and destruction for both the humans and other dinosaurs in the park. If there is one constant in the Jurassic Park franchise, it is the theme of corporate greed run amok, and corporate greed proves especially deadly in Jurassic World. Extending sentiments from previous films, InGen employees insist the dinosaurs are genetically engineered property, and that 'extinct animals have no rights', claims used to justify the secret plan of Vic Hoskins (Vincent D'Onofrio) to weaponise dinosaurs for military combat. The dichotomy between Grady, who respects the Velociraptors as thinking and feeling beings, and Hoskins, a warmongering and opportunistic capitalist, is established early on and informs the main conflict of the film.

As is the case with most films, Universal pictures launched a Jurassic World tie-in website prior to its release. However, the Jurassic World website mimics an actual amusement park, complete with weather forecasts, ticket packages and park capacity information, highlighting the interesting parallels between the goals of an amusement park website and a film website; both platforms are carefully designed to increase hype and sales. As corporate greed in the film receives justified criticism, the Jurassic World website is a testament to the corporate greed surrounding the film. While clearly profit driven, the website attempts to convince the viewer he or she is about to engage in an active 'visitor' experience. Such immersive play seems particularly fitting for a film franchise so heavily invested in bringing both characters and viewers in close contact with dinosaurs.

Advances in special effects technology and playful homages to the franchise provide Jurassic World with an air of familiarity, while still providing an updated atmosphere. Like the previous films, the dinosaurs of Jurassic World are impeccably well realised. Visual Effects Supervisor Tim Alexander and Animation Supervisor Glen McIntosh utilised a number of cutting-edge techniques for the dinosaurs, such as motion capture, on-set visualisation, advanced flesh simulations and ball bearings for the eyes, and these effects are impressively effective at creating dinosaurs that look and move like living animals, even in close and well-lit scenes. While the dinosaurs have undergone a much needed update, they are akin to their film ancestors, providing visual consistency with the previous films. Fans of the franchise will appreciate watching multiple tributes to the first film, including a control room employee named Lowery Cruthers (Jake Johnson) who wears the iconic Jurassic Park T-shirt he purchased on eBay for US$150. Gray and Zach Mitchell (Ty Simpkins and Nick Robinson), two children who are loose in the park and running from the escaped Indominus rex, find the original compound and escape in a Jurassic Park Jeep Wrangler Sahara circa 1992. While there, Zach finds the 'When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth Banner' (itself a nod to the 1970s British prehistoric movie), and...