By Fayann D’souza
There are many good reasons, and more than US$500 million in revenue worldwide on opening weekend, to say that the latest instalment of the Jurassic Park series is a blockbuster hit.
As soon as the opening scene of Jurassic World commences, the viewer’s eyes are well primed for a visual feast – an expected side effect of the original film – Jurassic Park.
Spielberg’s original creation had a plot that’s now a cult classic and a world cinema milestone – couple that with 22 years of changes in visual effects and Jurassic World has suddenly got a lot of cinema magic to live up to.
Jurassic World (Universal Pictures) encapsulates the face that dinosaurs have long captured the collective imaginations of many an audience. Shrouded in the mystery of their disappearing act from the face of the planet, these giant creatures are both fearful and fascinating – a combination that is enthralling when human beings get thrown into a visualisation of co-existence.
The story itself is layered with strong, mostly visual characterisations. We see a commercial-minded Claire, prudently dressed but lacking charisma and personality.
She is portrayed as rather cold, but clearly very passionate about impressing her boss, Simon Masrani (Irrfan Khan).
Her seemingly distant nature also extends to the dinosaurs, which she refers to as “assets” and “attractions” and all efforts are made towards making the park a commercially viable entity, even manipulating the dinosaurs’ DNA to make them more attractive to park visitors.
She is mostly pictured as far too busy to care for her nephews, 16-year-old Zach (Nick Robinson) and his little brother Gray (Ty Simpkins). She hands them off to an assistant without much guilt, a choice she comes to regret later.
A main factor driving the plot forward in this movie is the tension between the characters and their relationships. Claire is too obsessed with her work to be bothered about getting a family of her own and this ties in with Owen, a dino-consultant of sorts, someone who has a ‘real’ relationship with the velociraptors and who believes the opposite of what she does – ‘it’s not about control, it’s a relationship’: both with the velociraptors and Claire.
The story sometimes comes across as quite predictable – an Indiana Jones stand-in, the untamed he-man with whom Claire should ideally settle down.
Size does matter in this sequel where mostly every human being is portrayed as mere snacks for these hair-raising, giant adversaries. The dinosaurs are out to ravage every single person and soon we see humans beings killed, some of whom we came to know and start to care about.
Themes of ‘playing God’ emerge when park owner Simon Masrani clashes with the ambitious, mad-scientist character Dr Wu who, in the process of ‘upping the wild factor’ in the park, has created a monster, capable of not only killing for fun, but possessing a level of intelligence not seen in these creatures before.
The scientists in Jurassic World haven’t learned from its history. This entails some useful discussion about the limits of science and how far humans can go towards manipulating life and disrupting the natural flow of creativity and life-formation, an ethical issue that’s pertinent to the present world and future generations of humans and animals.
How far can we really go in the manipulation of the human genome?
The low point is that this issue is the most meaningful discussion one can try and have after watching. If you’re looking for a more engrossing storytelling experience, Director Colin Trevorrow doesn’t go far beyond the DNA manipulations and the audience-eating bonanza of the star dinosaurs. Even with the amazing and really thrilling effects and great pace of the film, it doesn’t quite match the thrilling suspense and fear factor from 22 years ago.
The most unbelievable element in the entire film is Claire, dressed in pristine white, being chased by dinosaurs, across miles of Jurassic World, all in her high heels.
The film contains mostly action-packed sequences that border on violent interludes, a bit of attempted comic innuendo, at least one use of profanity and a few crude and crass terms.
With John Mulderig, Catholic News Service