Jurassic World (2015)
Cast: Chris Pratt (Owen), Bryce Dallas Howard (Claire), Ty Simpkins (Gray), Judy Greer (Karen), Nick Robinson (Zach), Vincent D'Onofrio (Hoskins), Irrfan Khan (Simon Masrani), Jake Johnson (Lowery), Omar Sy (Barry), BD Wong (Dr. Henry Wu), Lauren lapkus (Vivan), Brian Tee (Hamada), Katie McGrath (Zara), and Andy Buckley as Scott.
The film begins with the characters Gray (Ty Simpkins) and Zach (Nick Robinson) they are getting ready for their trip to the iconic island of Isla Nublar, the dream of John Hammond (Richard Attenborough) became a reality 22 years later. The boys will be taking a flight to the island, with no expense by their aunt, Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard). Gray (Simpkins) happens to be a Dinosaur junkie, his excitement is beyond imagination, his brother Zach (Nick Robinson) has trouble saying goodbye to his girlfriend, meanwhile the parents are gesturing, signaling him to get in the car.
After the flight the boys settle on the island; they find a women holding a sign with their names, a chaperone, Zara (Katie McGrath), a typical move by Karen's sister Claire. The boys will have VIP status which means no wait time on all rides, as the great John Hammond would say, "With no expense!," the overall theme coming from their aunt, who almost never is around because of work. Zara (McGrath) is to look after the boys while in the park, Clarie (Howard) will meet up with them after her meeting with Simon Masrani (Irrfan Khan), the CEO of the park and the one who is the backing the theme park.
The helicopter is ready for liftoff, but when Clarie (Howard) realizes she will be riding, and Mr. Masrani (Khan) will be flying, her nerves become a problem. The helicopter takes off, unbalanced. Clarie (Howard) tells him about the park's dip in capital, her nerves and the reporting on the island budgets are sounding almost robotic and repetitive. Masrani (Khan) tells Clarie (Howard) about what his vision includes. Hammod wanted a fully operational park, filled with incredible dinosaurs. The dream was finally accomplished 22 years later, even after the events that unfolded, destroying remnants of his dream, the park managed to become reality.
"The key to a happy life is to accept you are never in control," as the helicopter finally reaches it's destination. They land on a pen that holds a very important key to the success of the theme park, the Indominus Rex pen is fully operational, and heavily secured. Masrani (Khan) wants Owen to check out the dinosaur, only Owen can find issues that will help secure the park. The unpredictable, overly large dinosaur will once again make this park an even bigger hit.
Owen (Chris Pratt) controls the situation by signaling, gesturing to the very dangerous Velociraptors, each have a name so that their trainer, Owen can understand, communicates with them. Blue, Charlie, Delta and Echo. These guys understand Owen is the Alpha and the leader of the pack. Blue understands this, but is always challenging the Alpha for that lead spot in their pack. Owen unique training method, works and keeps the animals in check. Afterwards, Clarie (Howard) approaches Owen (Pratt) and tells him about the Indominus Rex. Masrani (Khan) wants him to inspect the pen for weak spots. After a slew of verbal innuendos, Owen agrees to help. The location, and the pen had weak spots, indeed. The monstrous creature had escaped, but something else was wrong, the Indominus Rex was inside the pen, he had prepared a trap which makes this creature dangerous.
Barry (Omar Sy) the animal caretaker and Owen (Chris Pratt) is approached by InGen's finest, Hoskins (Vincent D'Onofrio), the meeting did not go well after an accident in the pad, a new employee managed to get himself trapped inside the Raptor pen; without the help of Owen (Pratt), this new guy would be a meal for the Raptors. Hoskins wants the Raptors to replace humans at the front lines in war. InGen has always had an ongoing plan for the dinosaur park, but what can it be this time around?
Rant: (Warning Spoilers!!!) do not continue to read if you haven't seen the film. The film is the continued story of a theme park filled with dinosaurs, a dream the character from the first film had, which became a reality in this film. Unlike the previous films this version has a brand new cast with Dr. Henry Wu (BD Wong) the exception. The story is about the Theme Park and the attractions, it's essence and the established continued story from the other films, gives this film a push down the slide. The audience comes in knowing they're going to see dinosaurs, and all that comes with that package. Jurassic World used the same formula as the first film, and it was a successful in the box office. The film had story, action, and the big T-Rex that stomped it's way to the flipped over Jeep Wrangler in the 1993 version. The very formula that worked for the first film, worked for Jurassic World.
Story: The film has it's main characters, all are new except the good Dr. Henry Wu played by BD Wong, in a way I'm kinda glad he made it to this film, because it reminds us of the first film, almost as a doorway to another dimension. InGen corporation is again the bad guys, and this time around they have "Wilson Fisk," opp! wrong film. Vincent D'Onofrio as Hoskins the InGen power-player that comes in, wants the Raptors to be a part of a military soldier deal, and our hero Owen (Chris Pratt) wants nothing to do with him and his company. So you have conflict within the story, characters that are funny, and likable. A hook line and sinker feel, the story develops and it has some similar situations like the first film. Remember the Jeep Wrangler scene in the first film, the kids were trapped inside, the T-Rex chomped the undercarriage, ripped it to shreds. Now flash forward to the scene with the Indominus Rex and the hydrosphere, same situation, only difference is what the kids are in, and the intelligent dinosaur came after them fast and hard. The suspense was there in the first film, as it was in Jurassic World, but the scenes were alike, they both made sense, but all the same which made the movie exciting and if your a picky person like me, you would point out those similar scenes. Don't get mad at me, just a fact and a really cool scene.
The direction of the film was good, overall it brought you back to the park which was missed and loved by thousands. Jurassic Park was just one of those ground breaking films, it was not only a film but a book as well, the movie was based off of the late Michael Crichton (1942-2008). The author was a director, television producer, and a doctor, Jurassic Park became one of the highest grossing films in history. Afterwards the author went to create medical drama's like E.R. So the director of Jurassic World had a very big plate to fill, the estimated budget of Jurassic World was 150,000,000, opening weekend it hit 204,600,000, the total gross world wide is 408,389,075.
Sometimes i go into the money making part of the film to reflex on audiences and the trends of the film. Reviewing those trends make you understand more about what the folks want. Box office trends really make a difference, let's take the Fast and the Furious films, each film afterwards did much better, the overall ranking went from the low end to the higher end of the spectrum. Fast Five (2011) ranking at 90, and in 2013 Fast Five 6 slotted at number 50, and finally the Fast Five 7 dominates at number 3. So these trends are very important to the film industry, and that's why? you get so many sequels, because the big guys up at the top of the film industry look at the numbers very closely, and those numbers will determine the lifeline of that film.
Jurassic World wasn't perfect, it had some problems, but the overall theme of using InGen, the continued antagonist in all the films, really makes no difference to me, these guys are the bad guys, and the one's who funded the creations, and hybrids. So why change the formula? Yes, you could have a feuding corporation merge with InGen, in turn wipe them out, and start the company the way you want it to. Many possible ways to change the story a bit without hurting the essence of the film.
Finally i would like to thank Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Vincent D'Onofrio, Irrfan Khan, Jake Johnson, Omar Sy, Bd Wong, Lauren Lapkus, Brian Tee, Judy Greer, Ty Simpkins, Nick Robinson, Kate McGrath, and Jimmy Fallon. All the hard working actors did justice to the film, it reminded me of the essence of the first film, it kept the formula, yes it was predictable, but enjoyable, and that my friends is the core of film making.
Scenes: My favorite scene in the film is when the boys find the old Jurassic park structure in the dense jungle, i absolutely loved that moment. The theme of the film kicks in, the piano really did it for me, John Williams musical score always does it to me, a Nostalgic moment when you remembered Hammond, and the characters running scared from the raptors. Jurassic World is not the original, but it sure brings you back to 1993, i guess the magic is still there, and the kid in me comes out when watching these types of films.
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