In 1993, Jurassic Park burst into cinemas like a T-Rex through so many electric fences. Audiences were blown away by the visual splendor created by computer generated visuals, delighted by fun characters and even left to question humanity (thanks to the larger themes nailed by Micheal Crichton’s original novel).
It’s a blockbuster that raised the bar for visual effects in cinema, and has been beloved ever since. Yet despite this, Jurassic Park has never worked as a franchise.
The first two sequels are overwhelmingly bad films, losing every ounce of charm, wonder and fun. Now, after over two decades spent in wait — Jurassic World has finally opened the gates.
World takes place in a society much like our own, one that is still feeling the effects of Jurassic Park. Dinosaurs have been back for over 20 years and the appeal has started to wane. Corporate sponsorships wrap the enclosures and the magic has waned. It cleverly mirrors our modern entertainment culture.
The same visage of a dinosaur on screen isn’t going to inspire awe like it did in 1993. We’ve gotten harder to impress, and it’s resulted in monsters that are bigger, badder and more dangerous than ever before.
We see the perspective of the park from many eyes.
Bryce Dallas Howard rules over the park from the control room. Chris Pratt speaks for the animals, while Ty Sympkins and Nick Robinson see things from the visage of the crowd.
It gives the story a sense of larger scope, fitting a park that dwarfs what the original’s John Hammond first built. However, beyond a few standout performances (Lauren Lapkus and Jake Johnson are constant scene-stealers as control room attendants), none of these characters are terribly memorable.
The script seems to be aware of this — moments of character building are brief, shifted aside for more dinosaur action and references to the first film.
While Park was a fun film, it was also a genuinely clever one. The original novel’s basis of genetic engineering was simple, believable and a modern parable for corporate science.
It’s a legacy that World just barely attempts to uphold, making large claims about the power of genetic engineering and manipulation, but never explaining beyond “Dinosaur A + Animal B = Super Murder Dinosaur.”
Jurrassic World is the first successor to Jurrassic Park that seems to understand why the original was such a mammoth hit. It’s a simple concept that neither The Lost World nor Jurassic Park III touched and seems very obvious in retrospect.
It’s satisfying to see a structure built by man for the purpose of containing the uncontainable and watching it all fall apart. As a result, World lit the same fire in me that Jurassic Park did back in the ’90s.
I left the theater with a massive grin on my face, immediately wanting to see it again.
Follow Chris Berg on Twitter: @Mushroomer25