It was always going to be incredibly difficult for Jurassic World, the latest iteration of the Jurassic Park movie franchise, to live up to the breakout genius of the original movies. However, that didn’t stop them from giving it a try anyway with the movie landing on the the big screen in early summer 2015.
Without the might of Michael Crichton’s writing behind it and with an audience that has seen it done before, the prehistoric theme park frenzy had an oversized task to reinvent itself and to a large extent that’s exactly what it did. Bringing in Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard to lead the cast, it went on to be a lot of fun and you can check out the action and tongue-in-cheek direction in the trailer below.
Release date
Cinema:
Jurassic World had a UK, US and worldwide release date of the 12th June 2015, which put it firmly in line for the summer blockbuster showdown with Avengers: The Age Of Ultron, which was released a month earlier and it turned out to be a close call between the two. With the special effects, thrills and dinosaur spills that ensue in the big budget movie, it was a clear contender for 3D viewing with some eye popping dinosaur attacks.
DVD, Blu-ray and digital download:
The film made its way to DVD, Blu-ray and digital download in the UK on the 19th October 2015, and it was followed by the US release the very next day. If you haven’t seen the film yet you can check out our review summary below.
Storyline
It’s been a whopping twenty one years since the first movie release, so maybe we were due a new entry. In a move of vague genius the developers have kept to the same timescale, picking up on Isla Nublar twenty two years after we first got to see those water ripples in the glass. In the modern day, the dinosaur them park that is now a reality and has been in operation for a number of years. However, declining visitor numbers force the owners of Jurassic World to push for a new, thrill fueled attraction that obviously results in catastrophe.
Using DNA manipulation, they create new breads of dinosaurs to help drive up their sales figures, including the superkiller hybrid monster, Indominus Rex, which combines the genetic make-up of a snake, cuttlefish, velociraptor and T-Rex. When this inevitably goes wrong, and the beast starts to run riot, the staff and visitors of the park find themselves in a whole lot of danger. Check out the trailer below to see some of the Indominus’ skills for yourself.
Cast
Perhaps the biggest name on the cast list is Chris Pratt, who’s starting to get some pretty big roles for himself following the success of Lego Movie and Guardians Of The Galaxy. He plays Owen, a member of staff at Jurassic World who specialises in raptor behaviour. He’s joined by Bryce Dallas Howard, who you might recognise as Hilly Holbrook in The Help, as Claire, the park’s ops manager; Irrfan Khan (The Amazing Spider-Man) as Masrani, the owner of Jurassic World; Jake Johnson of New Girl and Let’s Be Cops fame playing tech operator, Lowery; and Omar Sy, who sci-fi fans will know as Bishop from X-Men: Days Of Future Past.
The film also introduces a couple of new kids to the block in Nick Robinson and Ty Simkins as Claire’s nephews Gray and Zach. The rest of the cast includes Vincent D’Onofrio (Charlie Countryman) as Morton, the the head of security, BD Wong (who played Franck’s trusty assistant Howard in Father Of The Bride) as Dr. Henry Wu, the geneticist behind all of the mayhem, Judy Greer (Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes) as Claire’s sister, Karen, Katie McGrath (who starred as Morgana Pendragon in BBC’s Merlin) and Brian Tee (Wolverine).
Production
Stephen Spielberg got back in on the action for Jurassic World, having directed the first two movies, but having no involvement in Jurassic Park 3. For the fourth installment he had the role of executive producer along with Frank Marshall, Patrick Crowley and Thomas Tull. Relative newcomer, Colin Trevorrow, took over the director’s chair, as well as co-writing the screenplay with Derek Connolly, with help on the story from Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver, who’s previous credits include Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes.
Sequel
Universal Pictures has confirmed that it will be producing a sequel for the film entitled Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, so there’s going to be a whole lot more dinosaur ducking still to come from the franchise. The release date has been scheduled for the 22nd June 2018, but details for the story are still thin on the ground.
Review
Crichton’s first two books, Jurassic Park and Lost World, were literally mind blowing in terms of their science fiction brilliance, big business narrative, thriller action and fresh approach and it’s fair to say that this translated well to the corresponding first two movies. However, with three movies down and a lack of the surprise factor that made the first two films such big impact cinematic releases, the fourth entry in the series needed to work very hard to win over the critics; us included.
While the trailer below looked interesting in parts, we were very skeptical about the prospect of another sequel before the release. It has some pretty cool sections, but there was also at least one duff scene with the crocodile dinosaur jumping out of the water to eat a shark like it was Sea World. It could have ended up being unappreciated, as was the case with the other recent monster movie, Godzilla (2014), which had a decent trailer, but failed to deliver on the promise of the big budget movie, but that turned out not to be the case entirely for Jurassic World.
A lot rode on the performance of key cast members, like Chris Pratt, and considering the fact that he started out as Anne’s slacker boyfriend, Andy, in Parks & Recreation and all of his roles since making the transition to movies have been comic in one way or another he was a risk factor in pulling off the serious tension of dinosaur thriller. However, his role in Guardians Of The Galaxy had prepared him well and he went on to deliver the goods.
Overall, it’s a much changed beast from the first two movies, with less focus on serious sci-fi thriller action and more on the sheer unadulterated fun of the movie concept. It’s fast paced, action packed and a good mix of thrills and tongue-in-cheek humour. Check out our full Jurassic World review for more details.
