Movie & Opinions: Jurassic World -- My Review & Questions

It is not man VS raptors, it is man teams up with raptors
Image from Jurassic World

Okay, so the last movie review came a little too late and most people have already watched The Avengers 2, but that iskind of my point: what I have said would only not spoiled your mood after you have watched it, right? This time, my Jurassic World review really does contain some spoilers so be warned.

Here are some reasons why I think I am not disappointed by this sequel at all: first, I think it did very well in what it has to do in terms of rekindling the "dino interest" among movie-goers while being limited by the odd storylines set by the previous two movies. Many other reviews on IMDb would disagree with me, saying that the storyline is simple and predictable, but to be fair, when you are dealing with dinosaur movies, or dangerous creatures movies such as sharks, zombies, GM-gorillas and chimps, or even Ultron Sentries as a matter of fact, you can only expect the storyline to be: in control-->lose control--> chaos--> battles-->restore control/unable to restore control, am I right? Whatever twists you can think of in between will not be able to challenge this designated flow of storyline (or generic stages in linguistic term). With The Lost World's (JP2, 1997) weirdest storyline of T-Rex rampaging through the town after a trip on cruise, drinking from swimming pool and eating house puppy, and JP3's (2001) better script but the very worst lost-child's-mother acting, Jurassic World (JP4) has done its best in terms of script.

New theme park, new dinosaur, the Mosasaurus
Image from Jurassic World

Second, the screenwriters know the weaknesses of the movie, yet they managed to shut the audience up. The screenwriters have been reminding the audience over and over throughout the movie that

1. Jurassic Park was a thing back 20 years ago,
2. People are no longer interested in common dinosaurs,
3. People want bigger, louder, scarier dinosaurs, more teeth,

and guess what, none of these isn't true! These are what everyone of us who have watched the last 3 JP movies think. We all think the first movie is the best and none of the previous sequels have impressed us as much as the Jurassic Park, we are no longer interested in common dinosaurs because we can easily see them when we switch the TV to Discovery channel, and we all think that none of the usual dinosaurs in an encyclopaedia can scare us any more, so how can we be satisfied with JP4? The answer has been, in fact, shooting directly at our faces like a laser beam since 1999,

Yes, you are right, this is the answer,

A quote that wins, every time
Image from forums.marvelheroes.com

I mean, how else can we be satisfied if it hasn't been a frickin' mutated dinosaur? The screenwriters know what we want and has made this explicit to us! They even know that running from dinosaurs in high-heels is ridiculous!

Good-looking female runner
Image from superherohype.com

Third, the storyline is restricted by its predecessors in many ways, yet it managed to squeeze out a little twist. Like I have mentioned at the beginning, the flow of the movie can't be changed, and some elements also can't be changed, like there must be raptors 10 times the size of the real-life counterpart, there must be brainy kids with family issues, there must be a park owner whose intention is to do good but eventually made bad decisions, there must be a female role who looks good when she runs, there must be a hero role who knows dinosaurs best, and there must be a T-rex that ruins / saves the day.

2 kids and a hero
Image from hypable.com

This was the winning formula for Jurassic Park and the screenwriters know it, the difference is JP2 and JP3 did terribly in reusing it, whereas JP4 has at least tried to add twists to this formula and turned the raptors from villains into heroes. Sounds ridiculous that raptors listen to a human's order? Well, if crocodiles can understand their own names, then why the highly intelligent raptors cannot?

Gallimimus running on the field in Jurassic World
Image from kryptonradio.com/

Gallimimus running on the field in Jurassic Park
Image from popculturelandscape.com

Fourth, I really like the way the story relates to the old Jurassic Park.

Gate of Jurassic Park
Image from jplegacy.org

Gate of Jurassic World
Image from cultofmac.com

Every step of the way, the actors and actresses remind you of the old Jurassic Park by using the same design of the Jurassic Park gate: the same island Isla Nublar, the same Gallimimus running on the field scene, naming and quoting John Hammond's "spare no expense", bringing audience back to the old park lobby and fallen "When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth" banner, old raptor painting on the wall, old JP jeep with old logo, and to my biggest surprise -- the return of scientist Henry Wu, who is one of the few characters who are still alive yet has not appeared in any sequel and the only Chinese in the movie. Don't you just miss him?

Here's a photo comparison of the old one and the recent Henry Wu,

Henry Wu in Jurassic World and Jurassic Park, 20 years apart
Image from passthepopcorn.my

Lastly, I like the way this movie leaves clue for yet another sequel. When I come to think of it, in Jurassic Park, Dennis Nedry tried to steal embryos but failed tragically. This time round, Henry Wu stole his own work and escape on a helicopter. Who is behind these incidences? Who is always trying to get their hands on these dinos while not wanting to spend money on developing their own? InGen Lab has always been creating these dinosaurs, yet InGen Security seems to be happy to steal its own lab's stuff and take control. Henry Wu seems to have secretly reached a deal with someone from InGen Security, possibly someone from the Jurassic World board who wants to destroy the owner Simon Masrani. All these have probably started since the days of Jurassic Park 20 years ago. There are too many gaps left behind in this movie and we should expect the next JP movie to tell us more about it. I'm really excited about the next one.



PS: Okay, okay, it doesn't mean I have no complaints. Logically speaking, no matter how quiet a dinosaur can be, there is no way could the Indominus Rex successfully climb out without getting the workers' attention, there are people working outside the fences you know? So, there is no way that our hero Owen goes inside the cage without the slightest bit of checking, since he is so smart. And keeping those high-heel shoes on throughout makes sense, since those are her only shoes available, but not breaking those heels at all to make escaping easier? This I can never understand.




Resources:
Movie & Opinions: The Avengers 2 - My Belated Review & Questions @ Locky's English Playground
http://lockyep.blogspot.com/2015/06/movie-opinions-avengers-2-my-belated.html

Crocodiles 'taught to recognise their names' @ Telegraph
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/wildlife/7053745/British-crocodiles-taught-to-recognise-their-names.html

JURASSIC WORLD Official Full Length Trailer @YouTube
https://youtu.be/TTA0DIZ5EdM

The Lost World: Jurassic Park @ IMDb
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119567/?ref_=nv_sr_1

Jurassic Park III @IMDb
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0163025/?ref_=nv_sr_4

Jurassic World @ IMDb
www.imdb.com/title/tt0369610/?ref_=hm_cht_t0

Austin Powers - Sharks with lasers @YouTube
https://youtu.be/Bh7bYNAHXxw

Jurassic Park 3D Movie CLIP - Life Finds A Way (1993) - Steven Spielberg Movie HD @ YouTube
https://youtu.be/ZnczJcY1Xe8