Disappointing

Rating: 4/10 (12 June 2015)

I wanted so much to like this movie. Jurassic Park is my favorite movie to date, and I'd hoped based on the premise that this film would reinvigorate the same themes (with regard to harnessing nature and taking advantage of scientific advancement) but was sorely disappointed. For a start, the acting and the script are terrible. The only character with whom I identify and sympathize is the T-Rex, and that's mainly because she's the same rex that appeared in the first film and I feel some kind of kinship with her. The movie focuses primarily on two kids, neither of whom are relatable (and the older one, honestly, is kind of a dick), Chris Pratt's character (who has minimal depth), and the lady scientist (who is a walking, talking stereotype of the female Ice Queen). You don't feel saddened by the fact that any of these characters might die. The 'raptors are severely mollified, the "new" dinosaur is inexplicably genius while simultaneously devoid of character (unlike the 'raptors in Jurassic Park), and it seems like ever other scene is a direct knockoff of the original.
I have to imagine that someone somewhere was placating themselves with the knowledge that these scenes were an homage to the original, but they weren't. They were a knockoff. The writers looked back at the previous movies and cobbled together some hybrid formula, with facets that mostly didn't work for Lost World or Jurassic Park III, and called it a day. There were several scenes that actually sent the entire audience into fits of laughter - unintentionally. The exposition is awkward, the characters are unlikeable, and the action is laughably fake. As I said, I really wanted to like this movie...but it was just as bad as a SyFy original. Absolutely no depth, just lots of CGI (and one laughably brief shot of an animatronic dinosaur).