The entire film is worth it just for the finale alone.

Rating: 8/10 (25 July 2016)

I'll be honest. At the time this movie came out, I'd been waiting for it for fourteen years. These films were an obsession for me growing up, and the moment this film was announced, that obsession returned full force. My excitement was not dissimilar to the excitement that you'd see in your average four year old over- well, whatever it is that four year olds get wildly excited about. I've read the books, I own all the movies, I have an embarrassing number of Jurassic Park toys for a 22 year old. I bought my midnight premiere ticket the moment they were available. I asked off from work to see this months and months in advance; indeed, the moment I was hired for that job.
Seeing this movie was wildly important to me.
I have no problem seeing that a lot of how people feel about their favorite movies rests distinctly in the arms of nostalgia. I know this is often the case for me, and I can see it most clearly when I rewatch films I love and they don't quite make me feel the way they used to. I still love Jurassic Park. I love The Lost World, and, unlike many, I love Jurassic Park 3. They still, in many ways, make me feel the way I did when I was a child. In other ways, they've lost some of the magic. I think I've just gotten to know them too well to still feel small when watching.
Enter Jurassic World.
I know that its been some time since the film was released, but its taken me some time to work out my feelings. The very first trailer that was released, I was so excited that I cried, honest to God tears. When the first real clips of the Indominus Rex came to light, I cried again.
Because it excited me. Because it made me feel so very small, the way the originals did.
The night of the movie, I went with two friends who had never seen any of the Jurassic Park films. All they knew about the movie, they knew from me.
I never had any doubts about how good this movie would be, and it lived up to all of my expectations, and more.
There were many things I didn't like. I can't say I was wildly fond of the older brother. I can't say that I liked that Claire ended up with Owen by the end of the film. I don't like that the majority of the cast/characters are straight and white. There could have been more female characters. My complaints end there. While the CGI on the velociraptors is subpar, the Indominus is just as well done as the raptors are lacking, and there were very few moments where I was put off by the CGI. Practical is better, yes, but just not always do- able. The originals are a miracle in and of themselves, and this movie shouldn't be wholly judged to their standards.
My feelings about this movie can best be summed up with a quote from the film itself, and a quote I felt very strongly about the moment I heard it, because it so aptly described the feeling I'd had about this franchise for years. "Jurassic World exists to remind us how very small we are." Watching this movie, I felt like a kid again, overwhelmed and afraid and loving every single second of it. Yes, some of the plot elements are absolutely wild, one hundred percent out there, "how did they get the okay for this" madness, but I love it. It's part of what makes it so fun. Within the film itself, it works. Whatever failings the characters have, this movie did, for me, the thing that was most important. It made me feel like a kid again. It made me feel wildly, incredibly small.
I realized, from things I knew and from scenes in the trailers, just what was going to happen in the finale moments before it did, and I knew it was going to be absolutely absurd, and I started squealing in my seat and honestly crying because I was so excited. That finale alone was worth the entire film, and Claire is still one of my favorite characters. Her character progression and growth was a pleasant surprise, and my love for her increased tremendously in the buildup to the finale.
I went back again the very next day to see this again, and it was just as much fun the second time around.
This is not a perfect film. There's no such thing as a perfect film. But it did what a good Jurassic Park entry SHOULD do, and I don't think it was as lesson-less and shallow as many have made it out to be. I knew, going in, almost the entire plot just from guessing, and I'm almost certain that I have the next two films guessed, too, but it's a good movie. If you've still been holding off on seeing this, give it a chance. Let yourself be a kid again. Let Jurassic World remind you just how small we all are.