Jurassic World

By KJM

Jurassic World came out with much fanfare, already able to claim the highest grossing opening weekend ever in the U.S. and internationally — breaking The Avengers' 2012 record by 1.1 million dollars. Beautiful nature views and excellent dinosaur graphics accompanied the return of Steven Spielberg's franchise of films, providing a fun ride through a newly envisioned Jurassic theme park. Overall, the film was beautiful and full of dinosaurs — what more do you want from a Jurassic Park sequel?

Over 20 years after the events of Jurassic Park, the island is now home to a Disney-worthy theme park full of attractions, hotels, restaurants, and about 20,000 people at a time. Meanwhile, the lab continues to hatch more and more dinosaur species, including a new, almost ready to be revealed to the public, dinosaur hybrid. Without giving any spoilers, let me just say, the tingle you feel down your spine when you hear "new dinosaur hybrid" is not left unfulfilled. It's a scary beast on which to base a story, but be aware that that really is the whole of the plot — and there are more dinosaurs than plot.

Aside from the intense fear and action inherent to the storyline, the movie is relatively clean for its PG-13 rating. Chris Pratt plays a smart caretaker/trainer who respects both the danger and the value of the dinosaurs. He also comes into the film with his now signature smart mouth and not so coy advances upon women. Bryce Dallas Howard plays the head of the park, who is essentially too caught up in her business dealings to be bothered with Chris Pratt, but of course, we know how quickly things can change in desperate situations.

Something that you may miss from the original film is the horror-movie flair that worked well with the mysterious nature of dealing with an extinct species. Jurassic World still retains a few hold-your-breath scenes of hiding under cars or water as the dinosaur searches at a painstaking pace, but the general feel of the movie is more action-adventure than horror.

However, other than the horror feel, little else was left out of Jurassic World. It is full of homages to the original Jurassic Park, and characters reference "mistakes of the past" a number of times. Various species of dinosaur are featured, including the new hybrid, all in fantastic graphics that leave little if anything to be desired.

Whether you are a long-time fan of the franchise or never seen the original, there's some fun — and scares — to be had in Jurassic World.

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