Lots of Fun (but still cant hold a candle to the original)

Rating: 7/10 (14 June 2015)

Jurassic World summed up in one word is FUN.
Is it a perfect movie? No. Is it as good as the original? No. But its incredibly entertaining. The fight between the Indominus rex, T Rex and Raptor at the end was boss. Incredibly satisfying, and I don't think I've had that much fun watching a fight scene since the latest Godzilla. I also liked Jake Johnson in this. I thought he was genuinely funny and added in some much needed comic moments to help relieve some tension. I liked that his character didn't end up with someone romantically. I think thats what so many people expect out of movies these days and it was nice to see that take a different direction. (Although, that didn't stop the writers from making 2 other characters get together. But more on that later). And while I do miss the amazing practical effects, the CGI in this was still really good. I also liked that they did try and add some new elements to make it fresh. By having the park be fully operational. By training raptors. By having a new "villain" (aka the Indominus rex). Overall there were some fun moments and fun lines that made it quite enjoyable and probably the best sequel to the original.
That all being said, sometimes I found it was playing too much of homage to the original. With having 2 siblings visit the park where a family member is in charge. And that particular family member dresses in all white. And at one point the kids get trapped in a vehicle as a dinosaur trys to eat them. And there are other little things sprinkled in, like Jake Johnson's character wears an original Jurassic Park t-shirt. There's a brief cameo of "Dr.DNA". The kids find an old Jurassic Park service station of some sort, where they find the night vision goggles of the first film and the jeeps. And then they even drive around in one of the jeeps. And I felt like they were really trying to play off our nostalgia when they should have been trying to make a more original film.
Also, I didn't care as much for the kids as I did in the original. The younger kid (I seriously have forgotten their names) is very much another overly excited dinosaur know it all (like Tim was in the first). And as for the older brother, all we know about him is that he's girl crazy. Like he has a girlfriend back home, but he spends a lot of time in Jurassic World staring at girls.
I also didn't particularly care for the romantic subplot between Claire and Owen (Bryce Dallas Howard and Chris Pratt). It wasn't the worst thing ever, but it was kind of contrived.
But yeah, despite those things it was still a fun movie. Some really cool action sequences (I already mentioned the big fight at the end). I also thought the action sequence with the pterodactyls was awesome. I honestly got a little teary eyed when a brontosaurus died. The film was a roller-coaster ride and definitely a good summer flick.