This week’s Belated Sequel, whether it was worth the wait or not threw some petrol-soaked kindling on the smouldering embers of a franchise most of us thought was extinct (see what I did there?)
Jurassic World (2015)
Previous Instalments: Jurassic Park (1993), The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997) and Jurassic Park III (2001).
Time since last instalment: 14 years.
I have to start by saying, I like Jurassic Park III. It seems to be one of those films that everyone loves to hate for various reasons - probably because it wasn’t as good as the first one, but how often does that happen?
I like the fact that Sam Neill came back, I like the bigger, badder dinosaur - the Spinosaurus, I liked the parachute scene in the big aviary, and unlike 99% of the millions of other people who watched this film I didn’t get upset by the dream scene on the plane where the velociraptor says “ALAN”. It was a dream remember?!
No it’s not as good as the original Jurassic Park but it’s an entertaining watch (even though I do find Téa Leoni irritating) and if it’s showing on TV I inevitably watch it.
The original Jurassic Park though is my favourite movie experience of all time. It’s not my favourite movie of all time but I’ll never forget going to see it at my local cinema at the innocent age of 13 and having my mind totally blown!
It was amazing watching it for the first time. It’s such a big movie and so unlike anything that had come before it that it was not only a great film to see at the cinema but it was a real “experience”, something that rarely happens these days.
I particularly remember the scene where the group climb into the roof to evade the velociraptors and Lex (Ariana Richards) falls through one of the ceiling panels. Luckily she’s pulled up just in time, but not before a raptor jumps up and narrowly misses biting her feet off!
Literally everyone in the cinema yanked their feet up at that moment and then laughed at the realisation they’d done it in fear. It’s the only time I’ve experienced anything like that watching a movie.
Needless to say, all of the sequels had big shoes to fill, but after no dinosaurs had been on our screens for 14 years, the news of a new movie unsurprisingly got a few people excited.
Freshened up with a hot new cast, led by the super popular Chris Pratt who was enjoying the success of Guardians of the Galaxy at the time (not to mention a new buff bod) the movie also moved things forward in terms of the plot.
In Jurassic World we finally see the park open, but with so many people now used to the idea of dinosaurs wandering about and the whole thing feeling a bit “meh” scientists have decided to play God on a whole new level.
They’ve thrown together a dino-cocktail comprising of bits of this one and bits of that one. They’ve shaken it, they’ve stirred it and they’ve poured out an entirely new species just to keep the general public happy...
Obviously, said-dinosaur, named the “Indominus Rex” isn’t happy being a sideshow attraction so decides to shake things up and get out of dodge, eating as many “innocent” bystanders as it can manage along the way.
On top of all that, Chris Pratt’s character, Owen Grady is in the process of training four raptors and researching their intelligence.
InGen, the greedy and highly unethical corporation who has been prominent throughout the franchise believe that if the raptors can be trained, they can be weaponised, much to the opposition of Grady.
The film does a good job of reinventing the original idea to make it appealing to a new generation. It plays nicely on the nostalgia of the original as a lot of these movies do, but it doesn’t do it to such a degree that it’s all the film has to offer.
It was good to see BD Wong back as Dr. Wu (the scientist we saw back in the original while the raptor eggs were hatching), and they even threw little gems in like the boys (Zach and Gray) finding the jeep from the first film in the scene where Doctor Grant and co. first see the Brachiosaurus (look out for the “029” ID badge hanging from the rear view mirror).
There’s also the subtle picking up and dropping of the “When Dinosaurs Ruled the World” banner that can be seen falling in front of the T-Rex at the end of the original movie.
All of these things and more were nice subtle nods to the first Jurassic Park film.
The movie has has thrills, comedy, kids in peril and visuals up the wazoo and it’s basically a switch your brain off for a couple of hours and just enjoy it movie.
Sure there’s the whole “high heels thing” where people got upset at the fact that Bryce Dallas Howard wouldn’t have been able to run in heels (seriously?!), but surely if we can suspend disbelief enough to believe that dinosaurs are real, we can overlook such things as what footwear would and wouldn’t be practical in a life and death situation...?
As far as belated sequels go this is a pretty decent one. That said, as good as it is, it’s missing that magical element for me that made the first one or even two so good.
Is it the nostalgia getting in the way or is it perhaps the fact that much like the public who have become accustomed to seeing these miracles of science in the movie, I’ve just seen it all before now..?
In this case this belated sequel was worth the wait but it’s still not a patch on the original.
What do you think? Let me know below.