Jurassic World

When it comes to film franchises, one of the most prolific, well-loved ones in the biz is probably the Jurassic franchise. When I came out of the theater in 1993 after watching "Jurassic Park", my knees were wobbling and at that time I knew I was hooked. What a ride! Well with "Jurassic World" now in tow, we're on our fourth installment of this franchise and it just doesn't get any better.

Twenty-two years after the events of Jurassic Park, Isla Nubler now features a fully functioning dinosaur theme park equipped with gyrosheres and a petting zoo appropriately called Jurassic World, as originally envisioned by its creator, Dr. John Hammond. After 10 years of operation and visitor rates declining, in order to fulfill a corporate mandate, a new attraction envisioned by Simon Masrani (Irrfan Khan), Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard) and Dr. Henry Wu (BD Wong) is created to re-spark visitor's interest which, of course, will increase profits. In order that safety be an issue, Masrani instructs Claire to call upon Owen Grady (Chris Pratt), a dinosaur expert who specializes in vilaciraptors to give his 'stamp of approval'. Even though Owen lays out his disagreement with the corporate motivations for this new idea, they decide to implement it anyway. Subsequently this all ends up backfiring horribly to the chagrin of all involved, but then again hindsight is 20/20.

Others to round out the cast are Vincent D'Onofrio as Vic Hoskins, Owen's boss, Ty Simpkins as Gray and Nick Robinson as Zach, Claire's nephews, Jake Johnson as Lowery, Omar Sy as Barry, Owen's assistant, Judy Greer as Karen, Lauren Lapkus as Vivian, Katie McGrath as Zara, Brian Tee as Hamada and Andy Buckley as Scott.

This was staged remarkably well by director Colin Trevorrow ("Reality Show" (Documentary) '04, "Gary: Under Crisis" (TV movie) '05, "Safety Not Guaranteed" '12). Considering that Steven Spielberg was one of the executive producer's on this, his input was definitely evident in this production. With Trevorrow's limited experience, I'd like to see what he could do next. It was written by four, count them, four writers: Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver, Trevorrow and Derek Connolly based on a story by Jaffa and Silver which is based on characters created by Michael Crichton. Usually when a screenplay has more than a couple of writers in the mix, the end product is usually fraught with inconsistencies, choppiness and incohesiveness, however this storyline flowed very well and certainly was able to easily hold my attention for the 124 minute running time. There were certain scenes that were reminescent of the original which I took as a homage more than anything. And what can I say about the visual effects and live action dinosaurs. The visual effects predominately designed by ILM (Industrial, Light & Magic), Image Engine Design and Hybride were absolutely stunning. Of course, ILM producing the visuals on all the installments, this chapter soared. The live action dinosaurs were created by Legacy Effects and were incredibly realistic. The late Stan Winston of Stan Winston Studios designed all the other dinosaurs in the previous installments, but Legacy proved they could follow in Winston's footsteps with artistic clout. The music was created by Michael Giacchino who has quite a resume of great film work. John Williams, who composed the music of the original "Jurassic Park" would have done this film justice, but if he couldn't do it, Giacchino was certainly an effective alternative. Williams' Jurassic theme was used I'm sure as a homage to the film.

I typically don't promote seeing a film in IMAX and/or 3D, but this, presented in both formats, simply enhances the roller coaster ride you get with this gem. Maybe when you walk out of the theater after seeing this, your knees will be wobbling as well. I know mine did!

Out of 4 Stars: 4                                    Rated: PG-13                                124mins.