Jurassic World: The Legacy
In a blockbuster movie season full of mostly unfortunate sequels and rebooted remakes (some better than others), comes the best one so far – Jurassic World.
Who could forget when Jurassic Park stormed the 1993 box office by bringing dinosaurs back to life through the clarity of mostly practical, amazing Academy award-winning special effects and the grounded, ongoing deft touch of Steven Spielberg. He combined his usual imagination overload into a family orientated story quickly about facing into heart pounding thrills derived from the best selling novel by Michael Crichton.
So unique, it has the honour of being the first feature film presented in digital sound that cinemas had to install a new system called DTS to screen it and the classification board were controversially torn between an M or PG rating. It received PG which led to national outrage by parents with their young children expecting a cute friendly prehistoric version of E.T: The Extra Terrestrial.
Instead an abundance of pre-teens were being scared witless by the rampaging T-Rex and in particular, sneaky Raptors opening a locked door in order to terrorise two children hiding in a kitchen. One scene after another entranced audiences including that image of a cup of water on a vehicle dashboard emulating circular vibrations which became engulfed into movie folklore and reworked into many a parody including the classic, Wayne‘s World.
Sam Neill and Laura Dern headlined an international cast including the late Richard Attenborough as the orchestrator of the project John Hammond and scene stealer Jeff Goldblum.
Two average sequels followed with the same enthusiasm but less convincing impact of that incredible trailblazing original. The Lost World: Jurassic Park 2 hit screens in 1997 with the tag-line ‘Everything has survived’ coming with it a huge amount of global expectation and keen fans ready to revisit the island adventure.
Site B is the scene for half the movie where the clones of the same dinosaurs from the original again are roaming free, however big game hunters move in on advice form unhinged entrepreneurs wanting to transport some to the city for display. Jeff Goldblum returned to the fray spouting just as many one-liners while Julianne Moore and Vince Vaughn were among the humans on the run.
The second stanza turns into a combination of Godzilla and King Kong, not a good attribute losing momentum long before final credits roll. By the time Jurassic Park 3 was released in 2001, digital CGI effects had taken hold in many films often over taking the story arcs. This often underrated installment took Sam Neill back to the lead role as the reluctant adviser chaperoning a trip back to the scene of all the carnage he had previously endured.
The supposed fly-over was actually a landing expedition to find a missing child. Flying dinosaurs was the selling point to this and it worked well with a fast pace and shorter running time only adding to the tightly executed suspense. Tea Leoni and William H. Macy were added to the fold as the delirious parents ignoring all the warnings to locate their lost son.
The secrecy surrounding this latest addition to the paleontology series is well served and I am not going to ruin any surprises here. Jurassic World may be over-the-top but fans craving for that impact from the original may be especially pleased. Set on the island which has since been turned into a Sea World-like theme park, things go astray when scientists dabble with nature again, further playing god beyond imaginable measures.
Touted as possibly the next Indiana Jones, man of the moment Chris Pratt backs up his dynamic role in Guardians of the Galaxy here and daughter of legend Ron Howard, flame haired Bryce Dallas Howard holds the attention with a finger nail like grasp, while character player Judy Greer is as always the scene stealer.
Cool casting and a few hilarious moments aside, it’s all about the dinosaurs. And the DNA mix recreating a new species is a reveal not to be forgotten and the reason movies like this are meant to be seen on the big screen.
Shane A. Bassett
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