A Dino-Mayhem-Disaster Flick Populated by Staple One-Note Characters

Rating: 6/10 (12 June 2015)

Once again it's a dino-mayhem-disaster flick populated by staple one-note characters - a couple of kids from a fractured family, a "are they going to or are they not" couple, a shady corporate bigwig, a "Dr Evil" type and so on. Thank goodness one of them is Chris Pratt who is the epitome of cool. Love the way he calmly plays his character, dripping with killer machismo and testosterone. Think Steve McQueen. Chris Pratt is the new old. Who cares about the other characters anyway?
It took quite a while to get going but once the mayhem started it is actually quite a rollicking good time. The story pays homage to Spielberg's Jurassic Park and I find it a bit laborious and self-conscious in that some of the homages roar in my face. The theme of corporate greed is again highlighted in rainbow colors and underlined in bold strokes, and there is just so much one can milk it. Why the heck people don't seem to learn? But I am getting ahead of myself. After all these are people in the movie world. The problem is that the narrative feels too familiar and it very soon became repetitive, but still it is really a logical extension from the idea posed in Jurassic Park, a "what if" brought to full fruition - a full-fledged dinosaur theme park.
Colin Trevorrow's storytelling is uneven and the tone feels a little unsettled. It feels like he was hovering around "shall I give my due respect to Spielberg" or "shall I do my thing", but it couldn't quite figure out what it wants to do. The tone can also feel preachy (especially the long exposition in the beginning) and goofy, and it doesn't feel like it was comfortable blazing its own path. Thankfully Pratt's character smooths out the ragged edges for me. The poster of him on a bike with the raptors made no sense, but after the movie it made perfect awesome sense.
Jurassic World didn't re-invent the dino-disaster wheel. I doubt that is its aim. IMHO it is a greatest hits album packaged with a few remixes of old tracks. Like a theme park ride, you would easily push the lousy parts like the long wait to the back of your mind, and only remember the thrills and spills.