Jurassic World

I was coming into the movie with very high expectations and came out with the movie exceeding my expectations! Jurassic World is now one of my favorite movies of all time. The action sequences are intense and plentiful. The special effects are top notch. The music is wonderful(and not just John William's famous themes; Michael Giacchino's score is excellent as well.) And while the characters may not be as developed as in the original Jurassic Park, they are interesting in their own right. Chris Pratt does a great job as Owen, the raptor trainer, and Bryce Dallas Howard does excellent as Claire, the head of the park. One of my favorite "characters" though is the underwater dinosaur Mosasaur. (Every time it jumps out of the pool it's freaking awesome!) Even though a lot of people have called this movie predictable, it had a lot of twists and turns that were surprising, especially the ending. Without spoiling it, the ending sequence is one of the most epic endings that I can remember in any movie. The ending will give any true Jurassic Park fan chills.

The original Jurassic Park still is a personal favourite, it is an enormously fun, thrilling (with some nail-biting moments) and brilliantly made film, with one of John Williams' most memorable main themes and scene-stealing dinosaurs. The Lost World has its admirers, but for me it was a major step-down and one of Spielberg's weakest films, and Jurassic Park 3 was even more disappointing.

Jurassic World is not a patch on the first Jurassic Park and I didn't quite find it the return to form that it has been touted as, but for all its faults and uneven parts it is a massive improvements on the previous two sequels and is an entertaining film in its own right that does more right than it does wrong.

First things off, Jurassic World is an incredibly well-made film, it's beautifully shot with scenery that's both colourful and atmospheric and the dinosaurs look wonderful. The dinosaurs also steal the film, not just their designs but also that they're lots of fun and are scary, their scenes are great to watch and there could have been even more than there were. This is especially true with the Indominus Rex, who is chillingly bloodthirsty, when she is stalking her prey it's enough to be glued to one's seat and then jump out of it. Michael Giacchino's music score is positively stirring, and even includes themes from Williams' score for Jurassic Park, which was just a lovely homage and fits within the rest of the scoring beautifully.

The film's homages are most enjoyable and give the film a nostalgic quality, some of it is savvy and funny and while not as much as the original there's still a good of thrills and scares to be had. The latter half is often very exciting, the film is efficiently directed, doing nicely in maintaining the tension, and the acting is good (though one does wish that the characters were written better). Chris Pratt has a likable and warm presence, as well as a nice wit, and Bryce Dallas Howard is similarly good even with the most problematically written character. Vincent D'Onofrio makes a real effort making his somewhat one-note and underused character more interesting than he deserves to be and does bring some intensity.

However, Jurassic World does contain some large problems. Not all the acting works, Judy Greer for my tastes was annoying in places and the children's acting was often too forced and their back story goes nowhere. The script and story are uneven, with the script it has its moments but it can be a bit muddled, as a result of trying to do too much at times, some of the dialogue is very weak and can induce cringes and some of the reversals are really out of place. It also could have done a much better developing the characters, because they felt very underdeveloped and clichéd, especially Claire, and any character arcs come off clumsily or aren't explored enough, particularly for the children. Owen and Claire's romance can slow the film down and does contain some forced dialogue. The story is at least never really dull, and excites more than it limps, but at the same time it does lack the wonder, consistent suspense, smartness and originality that Jurassic Park had. It does feel like a too predictable rehash at times, does feel muddled tonally, the exposition in the first half hour does go on for far too long and doesn't really say anything interesting and the ending is too silly and anti-climactic for my tastes.

All in all, uneven and not on the same level as the original Jurassic Park, but a very entertaining well made film and by far the best of the sequels. 6.5/10 Bethany Cox

It's been awhile I think that I have labeled a film "a thrill ride" but seriously though this film was a real thrill ride. It takes place about twenty years after the events of the first film. There is now a functioning theme park on the original island. They get thousands of guest and they have tons of money making attractions. But then the people who run the park get a little greedy wanting to make more money and bring in more people so they create a new attraction, one that is more dangerous and scarier then the T-Rex. This film was fantastic. Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard lead this film very well almost as a good as Sam Neill and Laura Dern did in the first film. The kids as well Nick Robinson and Ty Simpkins did a good job. Colin Trevorrow also was a great choice to helm this film and he did a fantastic job directing. Now yes this film was a sequel and a great one at that. It's been a long time since I have felt that a sequel is just as good as its original. This film to me is really good and just as good as the first film. The special effects were great and one of the best parts was the music. I have been a Jurassic Park fan since I was a little kid and this is actually the first of franchise that I have seen in theaters as well. So this was definitely an amazing experience for me and hearing that original score in this film literally gave me goosebumps.

Jurassic World is definitely the 2nd best movie in the franchise so far, right behind the first Jurassic Park. J.W.'s mix of humor, action, adventure, horror, and suspense makes it a great movie for anyone to enjoy. The movie is about Jurassic World, a theme park dedicated to dinosaur-themed attractions. Every time a new attraction is released, attendance spikes. One of the park's high officials, Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard), talks about a genetically modified hybrid, something no one has ever seen before, to be the next big attraction. It is known as the Indominus Rex. The movie features Chris Pratt as Owen, a man who has a lot of experience dealing with dinosaurs and proves to be very useful. As you've probably already predicted, things go awfully wrong in this movie. Some of these things are very unrealistic and would never happen in real life. At that point in the movie, I wanted to give it an 8 or 7. As I advanced further, the witty remarks, brilliant acting, and stunning visual effects made me forget the minor plot holes and such and made me truly love this movie. The movie is mostly rated PG-13 for its bloody scenes, which there are a few of, and its frightening jump scares, which are relatively frequent. All in all, Jurassic World is a great movie for the family, although younger viewers might get scared at some parts. If its story wasn't predictable at times, it would easily be the best Jurassic Park movie ever made.

OK, I read the 2 novels before the original movies came out, and was hooked back in 1991/92 when the original movie came out. Fell in love! And really have enjoyed the 2 sequels for what they're worth. Then, came out with Jurassic World, used our favorite Starkilled... and we have an amazing movie. I'm still riding a high from seeing it last night. It was just so good. I spoiled a few moments for myself, but overall was still surprised at the ending, despite it's Mortal Kombat predicted finish. The CGI was top notch and had us really believing these creatures were real. A worthy movie to see over and over again. I really do not want to spoil a THING. I would not say this movie is sexist in anyway... not sure where people picked up on that, but will say it is heavy on the testosterone(did I spell that correctly?). Which isn't a bad thing. Jurassic World has a wonderful build up, some good personalities, and a few main 'side characters' are killed off! We see some personalities actually change through the movie. Claire, Zach, and even Gray and Owen to some extent. I'll say this: Claire learns some humility and heart. Zach learns real love over shallowness to some extent, Gray learns true courage, and Owen (with already enough faith and trust) gains even more (and a fan club). Though the one character who comes back... I wonder if they grew his character more from a twisted version from the original novel. (Real the original novel!)

Don't let the trailers anger you, you will root for the raptors, and you will LIKE IT! The raptors aren't exactly 'tamed', barely. Think Dug from Up. This is the true sequel to the original movie Michael refused to give Spielberg years ago... instead Creighton wrote about irregular students outside of the norm, attached to a character akin to Spielberg's personality, and gave us a more boring version of Malcolm (that sung Dixie no less), and Harding, who was a woman who to was hard to understand and not very likable. And the end of the second book was... lackluster to say the least. Not want Spielberg wanted. Still a good novel and fun read.

The island is back, the locations, the look, and we see some of its 'history' (wish we saw more of the attractions). This is the true sequel and it the summer smash for 2015. If you like the original Jurassic Park movie, you can not miss out on this movie. It fits so well, and open enough for a few questions and a sequel. Which makes one think... they could... no wait, can't say it. It might spoil the ending! Ha ha! They do mourn a character that dies. A plot twist here or there... the final fight is simply amazing. Cool tributes to the original movie (and Stan Winston - there's a building named after him, look for it, I saw it!) This was an excellent movie and a definite 10 in my book. Easily rewatchable.

Please note, it seemed a little more gory than the previous movies with a little more blood. The cursing was actually minimal. I wouldn't take anyone under 7 or 8 to see it. The gore was kind of cool though. More detail than we had in the originals other than "I think this was Gennaro..." Great movie, plenty of dino on dino fighting action. Don't listen to the naysayers. No contrived endless conversations about dinosaur behavior here.