Lacks the craft, subtleness and originality that made the first one a classic

Rating: 2/10 (13 June 2015)

I'm a huge Jurassic Park fan. The first one stayed with me dearly ever since I first saw it as a child and the two first sequels, although inferior, still brought some terrific fun moments and that delectable hint of nostalgia. The biggest issue with this new instalment comes from the fact it overdoes everything (especially the nostalgia factor) and ends up lacking the heart, the excitement and wonder of the original despite throwing everything ten times bigger at our faces.
Jurassic World has its clever moments (the pigeon on the opening scene comes to mind and the great "The Bird" reference as the pterodactyls tear everything and everyone apart) and good sentimental sequences (the kid seeing the park for the first time even brought tears to my eyes - as did the dying apatosaurus), however the overall feeling of the whole experience is too shiny, glossy and, well, fake. What specially shocked me was how inferior the special effects were when compared to Jurassic Park, almost 25 years ago. The thing is: Spielberg did use a lot of special effects, but they served as tools to tell a story, to create an atmosphere, they were wisely and carefully placed, that's not the case here.
The director, Colin Trevorrow, is no Spielberg when it comes to building tension either (the action happens in grand scale but it doesn't evolve or really thrill) and the climax is overdone and cheap looking, it reminded me of a video game. The lack of animatronics was felt, the dinosaurs didn't feel palpable like they did in the previous films (something about their design and movement was off too). The third act felt specially silly (and almost disrespectful to the franchise) as it turned the animals into human-like characters and somewhat heroes to the point one of them almost talks.
In Jurassic Park we felt the dinosaurs were real animals. Even if the whole idea was absurd, Spielberg never made the audience feel that, he did the opposite and made everything as intense and wonderful as possible without stepping into the ridiculous. Jurassic World doesn't have any worries in that sense, it carries its predictableness and abrasiveness in full force and it starts becoming a bit tedious after a while. Despite having a good premise, everything about it feels artificial - the scenarios, the dinosaurs, the dialogue, the situations...and that creates a distance between the audience and the film, while in the first one you could almost feel the T-Rex breath.
The main characters in Jurassic World (even though played by usually likable actors) were cartoonish in a way you didn't care for them (and a rehash of every other JP series character). The relationship established between them was so obviously contrived you can't help but dismiss it. Remember when Tim and Lex, in the first film, have finally a break from being chased and start eating jello and just look at each other smiling (before the scary raptors appear)? Well, that scene alone says much more about their feelings and relationship than I got from all the corny dialogue in Jurassic World. Spielberg knew the power of subtlety, both in the grand action scenes as in the smaller human parts. Remember the raptors in the kitchen or the T-Rex first appearance? These scenes are examples of a craft being mastered, they made me happy and terrified in equal measures, you just wanted to watch them again and again. The much hated Jurassic Park 3 actually felt more faithful to the original's atmosphere than Jurassic World despite the nonstop references.
The bottom line is: Jurassic World just didn't feel part of the franchise to me (even if it revers it to the point of exhaustion), it felt weird (as if it wasn't its own film) and sometimes too silly, cheesy and absurd in all of its CGI extravaganza, all things Spielberg skillfully avoided in the first film.