Jurassic World

*SPOILERS, OF COURSE!*

The park is open and ticket sales are huge, beyond all expectations to be honest, so, why grumble, aye? I'm sure nobody at Universal is kicking themselves saying; "Gah, if only the characters had been stronger!" etc.

Maybe in the future people will also look back upon Jurassic World with some fondness, who knows? Though seeing how much of a re-tread it is of Jurassic Park and still how beholden it is to a lot of that film's narrative and set-pieces I can't imagine how it could ever be held up all of its own. It will always be a sequel, perhaps the best sequel, but always a lesser movie than the original.

Which is a shame because the potential was there for something a little better, something that took its cues from what really worked about the first film:

Characters and conflict.

You've got Dr. Alan Grant (Sam Neill) not getting on with kids being forced to look after two kids.

You've got Dr. Ian Malcom (Jeff Goldblum) being a flirty fellow and taking a shine to Dr. Ellie Satler (Laura Dern) who is involved with Dr. Alan Grant.

You've got John Hammond (Richard Attenborough) thinking he can win over the scientists with his technological wonders, but the only one who sees the potential in his endeavours is the "blood sucking lawyer", who later runs in fear leaving two young children to - as far as he knows - die.

Even within Hammond's team there are various conflicts of interest, the old-school ranger Muldoon (Bob Peck) has a cautious, tentative approach, there's something cynical and beleagured about Ray Arnold (Samuel L. Jackson) who clashes with Nedry (Wayne Knight), who seems to rub everyone up the wrong way.

Not to mention how Hammond can't see how a flea circus and a dinosaur safari park are any different, or the brief flash of sexism he displays when it comes to going out to check on Arnold which is called up on by Ellie.

Sure, it's not the most complex film in the world dramatically, but all these little touches serve to make the action more thrilling. When we invest in the characters and the relationship drama the set-pieces impact is increased tenfold.

In fact, some of the best set-pieces in Jurassic Park don't even involve dinosaurs, such as the sequence where Alan and the kids are climbing over a deactivated electric fence whilst - unbeknownst to them - Ellie is working to switch the power back on.

What do we have in Jurassic World?

We've got two kids going to the park to stay with their aunt, she's too busy to really spend any time with them so they're looked after by an au pair, who we don't get to know.

So, why are the kids going to the park without their parents? Well, it's briefly suggested that their parents are getting a divorce, which makes one of the kids Gray (Ty Simpkins) have a bit of a cry and his brother Zach (Nick Robinson) promises to be there for him, and then the whole divorce plot doesn't come up again at all.

Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard) - their aunt - is Jurassic World's operations manager, and is concerned with keeping visitor numbers up, to this extent she's meeting with sponsors about their new attraciton, a genetically engineered dinosaur called Indominus Rex. All this under the guidance of her - generally benevolent - employer Mr. Masrani (Irrfan Khan) who vaguely says things to Claire about being happy and not being such a number cruncher, etc. He is also two days away from his helicopter license.

You see, Claire's attitude is that people are bored with the "usual" dinosaurs, sure, the geneticists discover the occasional new species, but they want bigger,scarier, more teeth. Something to make them look up from their smartphones.

Meanwhile, Owen Grady (Chris Pratt) is training some velociraptors, why and what purpose the creatures serve in the park - or will serve - we're not really sure. Mr. Masrani wants him to look at the Indominus Rex enclosure to make sure it's suitable, so Claire goes to ask Owen to look at it.

Some flirting ensues, well, Owen makes some bawdy remarks because he's such an "alpha male" and it transpires that he was too scruffy on a date they once had and she - because she's all business-focused - made a schedule for their date.

There's also a security guy who wants to use the velociraptors for military purposes, though his villainly isn't gleeful enough to really make any impression.

So, what's wrong...?

I think what I enjoy the most about the first Jurassic Park is that the real problems with the whole dinosaur theme park endeavour stem more from the scientists belief that Hammond shouldn't be meddling with nature than with any overtly functional problem with the park itself.

It's not the dinosaurs that ultimately cause the chaos, it's Nedry's software that he designed to enable him to steal the embryos.

I guess thematically that's Nedry's belief that he can control technology going awry, which causes the park to collapse setting these other technological marvels that Hammond thought they could control loose. It's thematic dominoes.

In Jurassic World Owen (who constantly preaches the importance of understanding dinosaurs and being cautious, etc.) decides that because he saw some claw marks on the side of the compound that the Indominus Rex - a dinosaur that he has no idea what it looks like and what it's capable of - must have escaped, so he, and two other disposables, go into the enclosure to look at the claw marks.

Is this part of any lesson learning that Owen is due to receive later in the film? No, Owen, as a character, is constantly celebrated by Jurassic World as being a "bad ass", and whilst Claire later steps up to the plate and fends for herself it's more a case of her becoming more like Owen than the two of them ever finding some middle.

For the two kids with this distant Aunt they need to see her really come into her own, and this could come across later in the out-running a t-rex whilst wearing heels scene.

A fair bit has been said online about Claire's high heels (most notably in The Dissolve: https://thedissolve.com/news/5927-jurassic-world-high-heels-and-why-wardrobe-matters/ and a decent counter argument in Slate: http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2015/06/15/bryce_dallas_howard_s_high_heels_are_not_sexist_they_re_the_best_part_of.html), but what I believe Genevieve was really getting at in her article was not to grumble about the high heels per se, but to use them as one illustrative point as to how Jurassic World thinks it can set things up and never acknowledge them or pay them off (illustrated rather brilliantly and humorously in some tweets from musician JME: http://crackmagazine.net/2015/06/jme-saw-jurassic-world-and-he-didnt-enjoy-it/).
The annoying this is not that the film doesn't make sense, it just doesn't really seem to be trying.

More fun could be had if the film had embraced its concepts a bit more, there are loads of great ideas floating around in Jurassic World that it's frustrating to not have them realised.

First up, how about we ditch the military concept completely, at least, let's not dedicate any screentime to it. We don't need this discussed, this could just be a thought in the back of the security guards mind, maybe saved for a sequel which could really be Aliens with dinosaurs.

Also, it's frustrating that we wind up wasting time wandering about the jungle with the lost kids in a sloppy re-tread of tired old beats from the first three films. Especially as the reason for them winding up out in the jungle is pretty ropey, surely there'd be an over-ride for the gyropspheres, y'know just in case a guest was using them to ram into innocent dinosaurs or something? So the control team could remotely pilot them all back to the base of operations.

Secondly, there's no real lead-in as to why Zach would suddenly take his brother out past the security fence, maybe if throughout their visit to the park Gray hadn't seen any action, any excitement due to his brother constantly making him chase girls aorund instead. Finally, due to following a girl who seemed to be into him, they wind up in the gyrosphere and wrestle over the controls, winding up - unintentionally - passing through the hole in the fence and into the jungle?

Or, perhaps, Zach finally sees that his brother is having a terrible time, wants some excitement, so then suggests they go "off road".

However, I would have just preferred it if the Indominus Rex had burst into the gyrosphere area and we never had to trudge around the jungle - outside of the marines vs. dinosaurs elements.

Indeed, the jungle scenes lead us to one of my least favourite moments, an example of really clunky writing devoid of set-up.

The boys find themselves at the old Jurassic Park visitor's centre, overgrown with vegetation, covered in dust and debris. There they discover the old jeeps and suddenly Zach says something like; "Remember how we fixed up grandpa's old car..." and using a convenient nearby recently-crashed vehicle they swap the battery over and now have a fully operational jeep.

I'll accept that perhaps, maybe, if you're lucky, the jeep has no other problems, e.g. a car parked near where I work was sat out, unmoved, for four years and its tyres grew flat and began to become part of the road and shrubbery growing up into it!

But, what bugs me is that these kids - for no reason other than getting them out of there - suddenly know how to fix cars. It is painfully lacking in imagination. Ordinarily in screen-writing you want to write yourself into a corner and think of the best way to get out of it, and the best way is never to have a character suddenly say; "Oh, did I forget to mention that I can fix cars?"
So, don't bother, keep them in the operational theme park please.

Because the best scene in the film is when the flying dinosaurs attack the guests, it's full of malevolent glee and actually has some playful, inventive moments - like Jimmy Buffet's margarita saving cameo.

Though the contrivances that unleash these winged beasts aren't set up particularly well either, they sort of hinge on Mr. Masrani flying the helicopter, though the way we get there isn't exactly satisfying.

We see him walking out saying; "I'm going to fly the helicopter".

Not good enough.

Instead, as it had already been set-up that he was two days away from getting his license, and his co-pilot was last seen up-chucking in a bush, why not have the helicopter team head out. Claire wonders how that's possible as the pilot is sick. We cut to Masrani at the controls. It's a more fun moment, and makes his choice to be there seem that much more foolhardy, sure he's a fine pilot ultimately and that isn't really the issue, but, it just would have been a nicer way to deliver that moment.

Later, Owen continues to be remarkably smart by leading a pack of velociraptors out into battle only to realise he doesn't have control over them when it transpires that the Indominus Rex is part raptor and can communicate more effectively with the raptors - well, up until the plot decides Owen needs to be the alpha again. Additionally, during all of this, Owen instantly sides with the military and starts firing on his own raptors once he doubts their loyalty. Hey, maybe the Indominus is the mum and you're the dad Owen? Couldn't you just work things out together?

Finally, my biggest gripe with the film's set-ups and pay-offs is in the final face-off against the Indominus Rex.

All the raptors have switched sides back to Owen, they're fighting the I-Rex but not doing too well. "We need more teeth," says Gray, and Claire has an idea, she tells them to stay there and runs off, we know not why...

As I sat in the cinema, I was wondering at this moment; "What's been set up that's going to pay off here?"

The reveal that she was unleashing the T-Rex didn't feel like any kind of pay off, in fact, it felt like Zach saying he fixes cars, it was convenient - and it didn't have to be.

Part of the film's plot revolves around Claire saying that guests get bored of dinosaurs quickly, they want something bigger, more teeth, etc. Maybe we need to see a bit of that? Sure, the rest of the park's doing ok, but perhaps the T-Rex exhibit isn't the draw it used to be, maybe when Zach and Ty hurry in they're greeted with a poorly attended scene, maybe even a somewhat lacklustre looking T-Rex, one that's fed up with being a prize pet, no wonder people aren't coming to see it anymore, ah well, poor T-Rex, "That sucks," grumbles Zach, he doesn't even instagram it, onto the next thing.

What we've done there is show that the T-Rex used to be the king, but now nobody cares. Colin Trevorrow the director has said that he wanted the final showdown to be like Rocky vs. Apollo, and, yep, that's what I thought too. Except, Rocky T-Rex needs to swagger into that ring like the former champ everyone's written off, so when he does show up it's like the old guard truly come to give the new kid a whupping.

It needs to be sold as a moment, and a sprinkling of back-story could show that.

Maybe we even get a glimpse of the new marketing that would replace T-Rex hoardings with Indominus Rex images, "COME AND SEE THE NEW RULER OF THE DINOSAURS!" it'd cry.

So when the T-Rex finally comes out it's firstly to chase a human - oh goody, sport - and then, it stops in its tracks, spots the I-Rex, ding-ding, round one...

Jurassic World's bare bones are all in the right order, and whilst they put a good skin on those bones, it actually needed some decorative feathers to really work.

So many strands of the narrative that could be used to improve the tension by building upon the characters - e.g. brother's relationship, sibling rivalries, parent's divorce, maybe giving Owen some acknowledged flaws and a backstory - are just left hanging.

Whilst the brains behind Jurassic World have stumbled upon a formula that for the moment is bringing them huge fortunes, it's a shame that - like the Indominus Rex - it's going to flounder when it stands toe-to-toe with a true great; the original Jurassic Park.