'Jurassic' sequel visually splendid with smarter dinosaurs, dumber people
Twenty-two years have passed since Steven Spielberg's original "Jurassic Park" terrorized us with his best monster thriller since "Jaws."
Now, in Colin Trevorrow's "Jurassic World," a third sequel, the dinosaurs have evolved into faster, smarter creatures while the humans have devolved into dumber, duller characters.
Stop me if the plot seems vaguely familiar.
Two young siblings with excellent lungs for screaming visit the Jurassic island where a relative serves as an administrator. They are protected by a dinosaur expert, who shares a marginally flirty relationship with his co-worker, a single professional woman.
Meanwhile, as the island prepares to show off its newest genetic triumph, a disgruntled Jurassic employee, in cahoots with an outside agency, plots to capitalize on the company's assets.
Whoa. This sounds like the plot for "Jurassic Park."
It is.
"Jurassic World" recycles the same plot and similar characters, almost as if Trevorrow and fellow writers Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver and Derek Connolly wanted to reboot the series with minimal changes from Spielberg's original, right down to the same moral ("It's not nice to fool Mother Nature") and the same ending, albeit with a "twist" that perceptive viewers will see coming way, way down the Jeep path.
"World" begins with Zach (Nick Robinson), a mercurial teen, and his younger, easily excitable brother Gray (Ty Simpkins) preparing to visit the revamped Jurassic World where their uptight, single aunt Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard) works as the operations manager.
Her boss, billionaire Simon Masrani ("Life of Pi" star Irrfan Khan) has been pushing Dr. Wu (D.B. Wong) to create new dinosaurs never found in nature, something bigger, scarier with "more teeth" to bring in audiences.
Wu creates Indominus rex, a genetically altered female T-rex equipped with secret qualities gleaned from other animals' DNA. When Masrani wants the mystery dinosaur's cage checked for security, Claire calls upon Owen ("Guardians of the Galaxy" star Chris Pratt), a former Navy man now training raptors to obey his commands using trust-building techniques and his position as the ruling alpha-raptor. (Yes, this really is the plot, I swear.)
Indominus turns out to be much smarter than anyone thinks, and escapes. Now free to turn 20,000 unsuspecting tourists into popcorn shrimp, she goes on a killing spree.
"It didn't eat anything!" Owen shouts. "It's killing for sport!"
This cues a shady executive named Hoskins (Vincent D'Onofrio) to act on his plan to use Owen's trained raptors as weapons for the military. Hoskins suggests Owen sic his dinos on Indominus.
"War is part of nature!" Hoskins wheezes.
If you've seen the three preceding Michael Crichton-inspired "Jurassic" adventures, you've pretty much seen this one already, with so many added scenes of gnashing jowls trying to eat screaming victims that they become mildly repetitious.
Spielberg himself selected Trevorrow to direct "Jurassic World" after watching his clever, shoestring-budgeted 2012 time-travel drama "Safety Not Guaranteed."
Trevorrow delivers the action goods at breakneck speed, but there's a superficial, hollow feel to the characters in the wake of incessant 3-D (or 2-D) effects.
Wouldn't it have been a more daring casting decision to make the siblings sisters instead of brothers? And why is the major female character here a sociopathic, genetically engineered thrill killer?
For all of its technologically improved and overpowering visual effects, "Jurassic World" lacks the urgency and sense of real threat that sparked Spielberg's game-changing original.
“Jurassic World”
★ ★ ½
Starring: Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Vincent D'Onofrio, Ty Simpkins, Nick Robinson, B.D. Wong
Directed by: Colin Trevorrow
Other: A Universal Pictures release. Rated PG-13 for violence. 123 minutes