Excellent entertainment without the warmth and charm

Rating: 7/10 (16 June 2015)

If I was forced to choose one movie from my childhood to call my favourite it would be Jurassic Park. I went into this from the trailer really looking forward to it as I liked the idea that they managed to realize Hammond's dream and finally create this amazing theme park rather than it all going balls up at the research stage.
Overall I thought it was really entertaining, it looked amazing, and I was never bored for a second. There was a really nice blend of referencing the past, little nods to nostalgia, and then some new really creative exhibits and activities to do at the park that made me wish something like this was real. The plot was fine, it was only ever going to go down the way everyone expects it. I found myself thinking a lot through it that it just lacks a bit of charm and warmth, that's not unique to most action movies today though. There's two major issues I had:
1) Human characters - I love Chris Pratt but he was very miscast here. Not much joy or fun in his character. Bryce Dallas Howard was pretty dull unfortunately, if we were supposed to feel the attraction building between her and Pratt throughout the movie then their lack of chemistry totally threw that out the window. Older boy was so unlikeable - the whole weirdness with his girlfriend and then checking out other girls at the park went nowhere, seemed pointless, and just made him seem like a jerk. Younger boy was okay, but I never felt the urgency that he ever thought he was in danger or was terrified like the kids in the 1993 movie really gave off. Vincent D'Onofrio - I'm not sure why we needed such a super villain character, was Wilson Fisk fresh in his mind?
2) So much Military and war stuff - Is the world so obsessed by super military weapons and impending war that we can't even have an innocent movie about dinosaurs without the grander picture being about creating killing machines for the Army?
It was an enjoyable way to spend a couple of hours, the creation of the dinosaurs were fantastic, the action was edge of your seat stuff. Fans of Jurassic Park will get a kick out of the nostalgia but may be left disappointed if they try to compare the two, as with the Jurassic Park sequels that suffered in the same way.