Jurassic World - Holiday Viewing Review

When I first saw this film in cinemas back in 2015, I thought it was an enjoyable revisit of a classic film series but certainly nothing special. However, whilst stuck at home for the holidays my family decided to put it on and I've got to say, this film should have been really impressive and beloved... but it just feels empty?

I think the film looks absolutely stunning, the set design in particular is wonderful, especially with the nod to the original films by adding in part of the original Park set. However, when you look at the CGI dinosaurs... the original films created stunning looking 'dinosaurs' that were 20 years ahead of their time. Jurassic World's 'dinosaurs' by comparison are just a bit flat.

Now onto the characters. Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard are rather excellent in their roles, with Pratt playing his well worn hat of lovable, comedic character who is overly sarcastic but secretly has a heart of gold opposite Howard's harried, professional business woman who has given up her femininity to be successful in her career. 

Howard's character design - the heels, the skirt and the blouse - rather seems to contradict my observation of her giving up her femininity. However, she is shown to have previously lost out on a relationship with Pratt's character, due to the emphasis she places on her job, she is never with her nephews, nor does she know much about them such as how old they are or how long its been since she saw them, she physically recoils from the younger nephew's hug and most damning of all - she actively refutes her own agency of potentially bearing children. All of these things deny her femininity, despite her outfit choices, all of which are reasons that make this film actively annoying to watch.

As well as this, the child characters are given little to no development, one second they are fighting, the next the elder brother is helping the younger brother 'get the most out of the Jurassic World experience.' Not only is this bad character writing, the boys are given little to no good dialogue, with the majority of their lines coming off as cringey or cheesy cliche's.

I know I'm being quite harsh on this film - I actually do enjoy it. I adore the relationship between Pratt's character and the Raptor Blue, not to mention I think that the subplot of the children's parents getting a divorce is done rather well and the finale boss fight is excellent to watch.

But, as enjoyable as the film can be, its just too forgettable, especially as a new era Jurassic Park franchise film. I only watched it an hour ago and most of the details have already slipped my mind.

Therefore, when I began my review by stating that the film felt empty, what I mean is it just doesn't hit as hard as I want a Jurassic Park film to hit. The original film certainly was and still is a masterpiece of cinema and, much as I believe these things should be judged as separately from their source material as possible, this film makes you confront its legacy and as such it just feels... utterly lacking by comparison.