I remember it well. The sense of excitement as I sat there in a McDonalds™ restaurant sipping Coca Cola™ from my special cup depicting that famous scene where Laura Dern (Dr Ellie Sattler) gets her hands dirty in dinosaur dung! The year? Well it was 1993 of course, I was 8-years-old, and Jurassic Park mania was only just beginning…
Fast forward to 2015, I’m now a lot older (I’ll let you do the math) and I’m so looking forward to Jurassic World! That wonderful title music brings a tear to my eye as I prepare to immerse myself in the fourth instalment of this memorable franchise. So what did I think of it?
Honestly, I don’t feel some of the characters worked or were needed. Here I’m talking about ‘Claire’ (Bryce Dallas Howard), ‘Gray’ (Ty Simpkins), ‘Zach’ (Nick Robinson), and ‘Karen’ (Judy Greer) to name a few. I’m afraid that as much as I wanted to like them, there is no substitute for the great originals a.k.a Sam Neill (Dr Alan Grant), Jeff Goldblurn (Dr Ian Malcolm), Richard Attenborough (John Hammond), Lex Murphy (Ariana Richards), and Tim Murphy (Joseph Mazzello).
Saying this, Chris Pratt as ‘Owen’ was an excellent lead and I really enjoyed watching him, especially when he joins the velociraptors – which he had nurtured from birth – on a hunt for the ‘new attraction’. He rides the iconic Triumph Scrambler in a bid to keep up with the pack.
Like the opening up of Pandora’s box, Jurassic World created a monster on Isla Nublar. One stomper of a film that makes the most of visual effects **** (4 out of 5 stars)
Plenty of scares in this film and lots of close up moments with the dinosaurs themselves, as well as a momentous battle between the T-Rex and the mother of all dinosaurs, but not much in the way of memorable quotes. I also felt that when it came to exploring the Park itself, there was so much more left to investigate, but thankfully I’ve been able to have a good look around by playing Lego Jurassic World on Xbox.
In summary: not bad, I would watch it again, and never underestimate the power of the Pterodactyls – with their mega large wingspan and sharp beaks, these little beauties are depicted a lot more bloodthirsty than they were in the original triology. Yikes!
So what did Twittersphere make of it? A handy little round-up is available here, courtesy of CNN.
Further reading:
Step into film 