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The best aspects of "Jurassic World," in which a hybrid super-predator runs amok in the trouble-plagued theme park, are so good that they transport you that exhilarating mental space where the series' original director, Steven Spielberg , raised a tentpole back in 1993. The worst aspects are bad indeed: thin characterizations, a blase attitude toward human-on-animal violence and a weird male-supremacist streak that comes close to sneering at unmarried career women who don't have kids.

On the "smarter" side of the ledger, you can enter three, maybe four large-scale action sequences that do the master proud. Directed by Colin Trevorrow in a style that's Spielbergian but not slavishly so, they're bruising but not overbearing, and laid out with clarity. You always know where you are and what's happening, and you rarely see as much brutality as you think: some of the mayhem is suggested by sound effects, a blur of motion obscured by foreground objects, or a spray of blood on a wall. Every shot and cut pulls its weight. Every new development makes the sequence feel like a story-within-a-story with the end goal of getting the hell away from dinosaurs. The final half-hour is a sustained chase through dark woods that reverses expectations again and again, culminating in a whirl of dino-on-dino violence: a funnel cloud of claws and teeth. But best in show goes to the sequence where park visitors are attacked by pterodactyls that pluck them from the ground like mice—an homage to "The Birds" that amounts to Treverrow doing Spielberg doing Hitchcock. You can say a lot of things about this director, but not that he lacks confidence.

Less bruising but more intriguing are the the bits that feel like preemptive strikes against criticism—or at the very least, examples of a $200 million franchise installment sizing itself up as a consumer product as well as a film. It's as if somebody had taken one of the most-discussed bits from the original " Jurassic Park ," the shots of merchandise emblazoned with the same logo as the film you were watching, and unpacked it with care and joy, as if it were a bottomless, self-referential toy chest. That "Jurassic World" can think about itself as a sequel without taking us out of the story we're watching makes it truly Spielbergian.

When a friend heard the premise of "Jurassic World"—the park, which has been open for twenty years without an accident, decides to create a bigger, badder meat-eater—he said the tagline on the poster should be "We Never Learn." As it turns out, Chris Pratt's character says "These people never learn" when he hears about the new dino. Park staffers talk about how they introduce new creatures every few years to goose ticket sales. Jaded park visitors are compared to Americans who lost interest in moon missions after the first one, and require "bigger, louder" dinosaurs with "more teeth." The  movie is talking about the "Park" series itself, which introduced new dinos each time out to keep viewers interested, and easily bored movie audiences in the age of computer-generated imagery, technology that the first two "Park" films made fashionable. It's also talking about the steady escalation of scale in the blockbuster, which mandated that the each new incarnation of Godzilla be larger than the previous one, and birthed superhero films so inflated that on those rare occasions when the good guys save the human race instead of the universe, critics congratulate the filmmakers for daring to be intimate.

The cartoon character "Mr. DNA" makes a brief cameo here, as a prelude to discussions of the new predator; ditto the original compound headquarters and the " When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth " banner, and they all remind us of how intimate the first movie now seems, and how comparatively old-fashioned. There's an even better scene where teenager Zach Mitchell ( Nick Robinson ), one of two brothers visiting the park, takes a cell phone call from his mom while behind him, a T-Rex approaches a goat in a paddock that's decorated to evoke the spot where another T-Rex tore apart two land cruisers in the first "Jurassic Park." Apparently the elapsed time has turned a moment of life-changing terror for Jeff Goldblum , Laura Dern , Sam Neill and company into just another theme for an exhibit. The young man in the foreground is so bored with what's happening behind him—just as, presumably, young moviegoers are bored by 1990s Spielberg films? I hope not—that he doesn't look up from his phone when the T-Rex eats the goat. This scene resonates with that moon missions comment. It also connects to a scene where a whale-sized predator in a Sea World-style aquatic theater leaps from the water and bites a great white shark off a dangling hook; this is a marvelous image on its own terms, but even better when you realize that it's summing up the last forty years of summer blockbuster cinema, starting with " Jaws ." Every twelve months there's a bigger fish. 

A few of the action scenes break with Spielbergian tradition by treating the dinosaurs as monsters to be exterminated with impunity, rather than magnificent, human-recreated, once-extinct animals that ought to be admired and pitied as well as feared. Dinosaurs get wiped out by the bushel in this movie, sometimes in scenes that are too obviously inspired by James Cameron's " Aliens "; there's even a sequence where soldiers' deaths are tallied by freaky first-person helmet-cam feeds and flatlining EKG displays. The DNA-spliced super-predator, which goes by the knowingly silly name Indominus Rex, is immense and unnatural looking: its teeth are so jagged that you wonder if it cuts its gums when it eats. But even though it's basically a dino version of Frankenstein's monster, the film won't allow us any mixed feelings towards it, because that would complicate the movie's first person shooter-style, gee-whiz attitude toward mercenaries, guns and explosives.  

Much worse is the relationship between the commando-turned-velociraptor trainer Owen Grady (Pratt, drained of charisma playing an eye-rolling know-it-all) and park administrator Claire Daring ( Bryce Dallas Howard ), who is entrusted with the care of her nephew Zach and his wide-eyed, sensitive kid brother Gray ( Ty Simpkins ). Claire's unflattering "business" outfits and helmet-like hairdo make her look like a life-sized 1980s "Office Woman" action figure. She wears high heels all through the movie so that she can look dumb running in mud and give Owen a crowd-pleasing line about her "ridiculous shoes"—shoes that the screenplay placed on her feet.  All this stuff is a throwback to 1960s macho adventure pictures in which the he-man-of-nature knew best—knew everything , really—and the little lady was onscreen to get in the hero's way, scream, cry, and have her dedication to her career, her failure to produce children, and her lack of maternal warmth treated as fair game for sneering jokes.

Claire rallies near the end, of course, and does brave things in those heels, but the overall effect is so tonally inappropriate that you may wonder which of the film's producers went through a divorce recently. It's possible to filter out the irritating aspects and enjoy the movie as a raucous, often brilliantly assembled spectacle. But we shouldn't have to. The fact that we do makes an otherwise hugely impressive sequel feel small-minded.

Matt Zoller Seitz

Matt Zoller Seitz is the Editor at Large of RogerEbert.com, TV critic for New York Magazine and Vulture.com, and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in criticism.

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Jurassic World (2015)

Rated PG-13 intense sequences of science-fiction violence and peril

124 minutes

Chris Pratt as Owen

Bryce Dallas Howard as Claire

Jake M. Johnson as Lowery

Judy Greer as Karen Mitchell

Vincent D'Onofrio as Morton

Nick Robinson as Zach

Lauren Lapkus as Vivian

Omar Sy as Barry

B.D. Wong as Henry Wu

Irrfan Khan as Masrani

• Michael Crichton
• Amanda Silver
• Derek Connolly
• Mark Protosevich
• Colin Trevorrow
• Michael Giacchino

Director of Photography

• John Schwartzman
• Kevin Stitt

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‘Jurassic World Dominion’ Review: Extinction Rebellion

Things get very hectic in the last episode of this trilogy, which brings back familiar faces (Jeff Goldblum, Laura Dern, Sam Neill) along with the usual dinosaurs.

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By A.O. Scott

“Jurassic World Dominion” starts with a nod to “The Deadliest Catch”: A marine reptile snacks on king crabs in the Bering Sea before turning its jaws on a trawler and its crew. Yikes! Then a mock newscast swiftly brings us up-to-date on the global catastrophe that began to unfold almost 30 years ago in the first “Jurassic Park” movie. In case you need a refresher, how it started was with Richard Attenborough rhapsodizing about the wonders of life; how it’s going is that the big lizards are everywhere, generally bringing out the worst in people.

It would be nice if those reanimated monsters inspired better movies. The “Jurassic” brand, born in Michael Crichton’s 1990 novel , promises bone-rattling action and sublime reptilian special effects infused with pop pseudoscience and bioethical chin-scratching. The second trilogy, which started in 2015, hasn’t quite lived up to that promise. “Dominion,” directed by Colin Trevorrow, might be a little better than its two predecessors ( “Jurassic World” and “Fallen Kingdom” ), but in ways that underline the hectic incoherence of the whole enterprise.

However: Jeff Goldblum is back, as the “chaotician” Dr. Ian Malcolm, more seductively lizardy than the dinosaurs themselves. Ian is reunited with his “Jurassic Park” frenemies Dr. Alan Grant (Sam Neill) and Dr. Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern). Ellie has been married and divorced and made a name for herself in the field of genetic something or other. Alan is still carrying a torch for her. Yes, he’s in love with her, but what I mean to say is that he literally carries a torch, to light their way through an old amber mine deep in the Dolomites.

That rocky bit of Italy is where the fiercest, biggest ancient predators now live, in a preserve built and supervised by Lewis Dodgson, an evil tech/pharma billionaire played by Campbell Scott. He seems nice enough at first — his company, Biosyn, claims to be protecting the dinosaurs out of the goodness of its corporate heart, and also curing disease, feeding the world and so on — but nobody except a naïve scientist is likely to be fooled. There are too many tells. Lewis’s silver hair is combed flat against his scalp, and he wears collarless shirts and soft jackets in rarefied neutral tones like ecru, pewter and mother-of-walrus. His very speech patterns suggest libertarianism run amok.

As it happens, Lewis has bioengineered a plague of giant locusts, with the help of Dr. Henry Wu (BD Wong), another revenant from the earlier “Jurassic Park” movies. Biosyn has also kidnapped Maisie Lockwood (Isabella Sermon), the cloned avatar of a famous scientist.

To make a very long story as short as I can: For the past few years, Maisie has been in the care of Owen Grady (Chris Pratt) and Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard), who have been with the franchise since “Jurassic World” and who have less and less to do. Well, that’s not quite fair. It’s just that everybody else is more interesting, both the old-timers and the newcomers. Mamoudou Athie and DeWanda Wise are both better than they need to be in cookie-cutter parts. She’s Kayla Watts, a tough, cynical cargo pilot, and he’s Ramsay Cole, a smooth techie minion. They both end up pretty much where you expect they will. Kayla is someone you might hope to see in her own movie.

Pratt and Howard, bless them, are the designated action figures, who do a lot of the running and jumping and fast driving. There is a complicated chase through the narrow streets of a picturesque Mediterranean seaport, which is only tangentially related to dinosaurs but which might remind you, not unpleasantly, of a Jason Bourne movie. Other chases happen in mud, rain, snow and gloom of night, and also along the sleek, curving corridors of a high-tech research facility.

This is a very crowded movie — so many species of dinosaur, and I’m so bad at keeping track of them that my 8-year-old self is no longer speaking to me. They are variously menacing, ravenous, bizarre and kind of cute, but the frenzied live-action and digital special effects rarely produce moments of Spielbergian awe.

Within the world of “Dominion,” the dinosaurs are no big deal. The message seems to be that human beings need to learn to live with them, accepting the occasional pet-mauling or boat-devouring as the price of coexistence. Is this utopian or dystopian? A vision of ecological harmony or of genetically engineered apocalypse? A metaphor for Covid or just a sign of imaginative exhaustion?

Jurassic World Dominion Rated PG-13. Lizard-brain stuff. Running time: 2 hours 26 minutes. In theaters.

A.O. Scott is a co-chief film critic. He joined The Times in 2000 and has written for the Book Review and The New York Times Magazine. He is also the author of “Better Living Through Criticism.” More about A.O. Scott

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‘jurassic world dominion’: film review.

Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard are joined by original franchise stars Laura Dern, Sam Neill and Jeff Goldblum in Colin Trevorrow's globe-hopping conclusion to the de-extinct dinosaur saga.

By David Rooney

David Rooney

Chief Film Critic

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More is depressingly less in Jurassic World Dominion , a legacy sequel that tosses in frequent winking nods to the 1993 Steven Spielberg thriller that started the dinosaur franchise and yet completely loses sight of the heart and humanity, the rapturous awe that made it so unforgettable. Whatever goodwill superfan director Colin Trevorrow earned with 2015’s enjoyable reboot, Jurassic World , he pulverizes it here with overplotted chaos, somehow managing to marginalize characters from both the new and original trilogies as well as the prehistoric creatures they go up against in one routine challenge after another. Evolution has passed this bloated monster by.

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Universal’s sixth installment in a series that has long since left the Michael Crichton source material behind will no doubt make a fortune anyway; longtime Jurassic junkies certainly aren’t looking to reviews for guidance. But they deserve better; at least a modicum of respect from filmmakers convinced that everyone watching has the attention span of a gnat.

Jurassic World Dominion

Release date : Friday, June 10 Cast : Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, Sam Neill, DeWanda Wise, Mamoudou Athie, BD Wong, Omar Sy, Campbell Scott, Isabella Sermon Director : Colin Trevorrow Screenwriters : Emily Carmichael, Colin Trevorrow

The Spielbergian Jaws trope of patiently building suspense by keeping the deadly creatures out of sight for as long as possible is anathema to this movie and its juvenile instant-gratification approach. There’s no mystery, no steadily mounting dread, just a succession of rampaging mayhem triggered with anesthetizing inevitability.

In one moment early on, Maisie Lockwood (Isabella Sermon), who was revealed in Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom to be a genetic clone, gives a group of Sierra Nevada Mountains loggers a tip to lure a pair of brachiosauruses away from their work site. The astonishment on the human faces as these majestic gentle giants lumber off on their sweet, herbivorous way recalls the poetic power of Spielberg’s original . But the new movie elsewhere is engineered for only the most soulless of thrills. It almost never stops to breathe.

Like one of the dangerous experiments with genetic modification of scientist Dr. Henry Wu (BD Wong), the screenplay by Emily Carmichael and Trevorrow splices together the DNA of countless different movies but cooks up a genre mishmash with no discernable identity of its own. On top of the Jurassic Park core elements, the writers drop in bits of the Indiana Jones , Bourne and Alien series, and a Maltese black-market dino-traffic hangout straight out of the Star Wars cantina. There’s even a mutant locust plague that recalls … The Swarm ?!

Those big-ass crossbreed locusts start decimating crops across the American heartland, quickly multiplying to the point where Dr. Wu, who developed the freak species, warns of an impending food shortage. But to Lewis Dodgson (Campbell Scott), his weirdo corporate boss at tech conglomerate Biosyn, global famine is just an unfortunate side-effect. Crops grown from Biosyn seed are untouched by the locusts, as intended, paving the way for the company to control the world’s food supply.

Ellie Sattler ( Laura Dern ), last seen in 2001’s Jurassic World III , learns of the locust phenomenon while studying soil science and sustainable farming. When she traces the bugs’ genes back to the cretaceous period, she reconnects with her former flame, paleontologist Alan Grant ( Sam Neill ), and they fly to Biosyn headquarters in Italy’s Dolomite Mountains. Their former associate, Ian Malcolm ( Jeff Goldblum ), is working as a consultant there, preening like a rock star during lectures for the company’s young scientists. But he’s also been slipping Ellie intel about the food shortage threat.

Along with the giant lab facility, the Biosyn complex includes a vast sanctuary, a valley of lush vegetation ringed by snow-capped mountains, where international governments have agreed to relocate the countless prehistoric species that have been breeding like rabbits since they were liberated from the gothic Lockwood mansion at the end of Fallen Kingdom . Exactly how those dinos have multiplied and spread across the planet in four years remains a hazy detail, though the surviving velociraptor known as Blue has reproduced without a mate thanks to her strand of monitor lizard DNA.

It’s through Blue’s baby, named Beta, and Maisie that the second storyline comes into play. Both are abducted near the cabin where Maisie has been living under the guardianship of former Jurassic World park manager Claire Dearing ( Bryce Dallas Howard ) and raptor wrangler Owen Grady ( Chris Pratt ).

Before the whole gang gets thrown together in the labyrinthine tunnels and forests of the Biosyn sanctuary, there’s a bunch of minimally engaging plot preamble involving teenage Maisie’s rebellious need for freedom; the worldwide poacher market for exotic prehistoric species, of which there now seem to be dozens; and the nefarious mercenaries on Dodgson’s payroll to bring in both the baby raptor and Clone Girl, who holds the key to DNA manipulation. Or something.

That requires a detour to Malta for Owen and Claire, where they go into action-hero mode fending off attacks from human and animal predators, including a ruthless smuggler named Santos (Dichen Lachman), confusingly dressed in cocktail attire while she’s busy laser-tagging folks left and right to make them raptor targets. The film’s biggest set-piece is a dual chase through the ancient streets of the Maltese capital Valetta, with Claire in the back of a pickup and Owen on a motorcycle.

There’s some nail-biting excitement in the will-they-or-won’t-they make it scene in which they race to board a cargo plane bound for the Dolomites, captained by unflappably cool pilot-for-hire Kayla Watts (DeWanda Wise). The writers count on pre-existing affection for the holdover characters, rather than giving them anything interesting to do beyond interchangeable “Oh no! Another dinosaur!” encounters. That allows charismatic newcomers Wise and Mamoudou Athie as Dodgson’s savvy head of communications, Ramsay Cole, to walk away with the movie, simply by virtue of bringing something different to the table.

Frankly, aside from the droll humor Goldblum brings to slick, shamelessly vain Dr. Malcolm, I could have ditched the old crew and taken an entire spinoff led by Kayla and Ramsay. The other newcomer, Scott’s Dodgson, is a pallid villain we’ve seen far too often lately, the socially stiff, egomaniacal CEO in the Bill Gates/Jeff Bezos/Elon Musk mold, who half convinces himself that the capacity for scientific and medical discovery in his work justifies the greed and the God complex.

The storylines feel rote, both separately and when they converge; a sameness sets into the action, whether it’s Ellie, Alan and Maisie in an abandoned amber mine or Owen, Claire and Kayla out in the wilderness sanctuary. Trevorrow keeps rolling out different dinos, including some old favorites not seen since the first movie, and new entries like the fearsome giganotosaurus, a late-cretaceous bad-boy theropod that has the distinction of being history’s largest terrestrial carnivore. Meh. In the apex-predator hall of fame, it might be bigger and meaner but ends up being no more terrifying than the good old T-Rex.

That’s because the storytelling lacks imagination. Scene after scene follows a familiar narrow-escape template, with no menace lingering for more than a few minutes, whether it’s a feathered pyroraptor (I’m including these names strictly for the dino nerds — you’re welcome) on a thinly frozen lake prone to cracking, or a bunch of flaming mega-locusts falling from the sky.

Despite all the breathless panic, most of the fixes seem too easy, like Claire glancing at a bank of computer monitors and conveniently exclaiming, “This is the same system we used at the park!” I actually started to miss watching her flee dinos in heels, given that she’s in sensible boots this time.

The dinosaurs are certainly varied in type and the CG work is solid enough for the most part, though some of the smaller, cuter species like the baby nasutoceratops look more like merchandizing opportunities than actual creatures. There was an artfulness to all this when Spielberg did it, with far less advanced technology. Now it all just looks like digital paint-by-numbers. There’s no magic. Even the abrupt swerve into classic monster horror that director J.A. Bayona attempted in Fallen Kingdom showed more invention than anything happening here.

Editor Mark Sanger and composer Michael Giacchino keep the story hurtling along, possibly hoping that if it moves fast enough no one will mind the colossally dumb plotting. At least there’s delicate distraction when John Williams’ original theme music is piped in over Ellie and Alan’s halting romantic reconnection, serving as a reminder of a real movie. As for this one, extinction beckons.

Full credits

Distribution: Universal Production companies: Universal Pictures, Amblin Entertainment, in association with Perfect World Pictures Cast: Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, Sam Neill, DeWanda Wise, Mamoudou Athie, BD Wong, Omar Sy, Campbell Scott, Isabella Sermon, Justice Smith, Daniella Pineda, Scott Haze, Dichen Lachman Director: Colin Trevorrow Screenwriters: Emily Carmichael, Colin Trevorrow Story: Derek Connolly, Colin Trevorrow, based on characters created by Michael Crichton Producers: Frank Marshall, Patrick Crowley Executive producers: Steven Spielberg, Alexandra Derbyshire, Colin Trevorrow Director of photography: John Schwartzman Production designer: Kevin Jenkins Costume designers: Joanna Johnston Music: Michael Giacchino Editor: Mark Sanger Visual effects supervisor: David Vickery Live action dinosaurs: John Nolan Casting: Nina Gold

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Jurassic World Dominion review: Let's get these dinosaurs to the nearest tar pit

The legacy cast returns for a final-feeling sendoff that rarely captures the magic.

Senior Editor, Movies

If you can train velociraptors not to view you as a snack — just stick out your hand like you're hailing a cab and do a stern shake of your head — then maybe audiences can be trained to forget everything that made Steven Spielberg 's original 1993 Jurassic Park such a polished piece of fearmaking. Just a hair away from Jaws , it never let you forget its premise's cautionary sting, even with the theme-park-ification of Hollywood on the rise.

How prehistoric. Jurassic World Dominion (opening June 10), the sixth and, hopefully, final entry in a series of diminishing returns, takes us back to ethics-challenged scientists in remote labs and a general lack of learning from prior installments. Even returning snark source Jeff Goldblum (still looking good in leathers) finds his chaotician Ian Malcolm, once a reliable cynic, installed as the in-house philosopher at Biosyn, one of these secret corporate research facilities that no doubt calls itself a "campus" — he says he's got five mouths to feed. Rarely does selling out come so articulated in the dialogue. Is he the voice of the producers?

In Dominion 's world, dinosaurs are already among us, perched on city buildings, upsetting wedding ceremonies, and hassling runners on the beach. It's a stupefying intro, suggesting we'd all kinda be okay with this turn of events, somewhere between a drag and a headache. Mystifyingly, the story and screenplay (credited to director Colin Trevorrow and two others, though that can't be everyone) suggests that revived apex predators loose in the wild are the least of our worries. There are giant locusts the size of drones that Biosyn has unleashed to eat non-GMO crops. Ellie ( Laura Dern ) and Alan ( Sam Neill ) are on the case — it's one of those movies that climaxes with evidence being turned over to "my contact at the Times ."

Elsewhere — specifically in the snowy Sierra Nevadas — Owen ( Chris Pratt , he of the raptor-training hand gestures) and Claire ( Bryce Dallas Howard ) discover that their adopted daughter, Maisie (Isabella Sermon), who's both a directionless teen and, double-whammy, a human clone, has been kidnapped by bad guys who want her genetic code. All roads lead back to Biosyn, presided over by an evil billionaire in a Caesar cut ( Campbell Scott ), a place where everyone will attempt to look surprised to find themselves in the same fan-serving predicaments of yore, some of them for the second or third time.

Even though you'll recognize many of those moments (crouching behind a car while a T-Rex sniffs around; Goldblum hoisting a distracting torch, etc.), feelings of nostalgia won't be as forthcoming as a sense of box-ticking. The dutifulness is made worse by some unnecessarily junked-up action scenes, underlit and overhashed by editing. A black-market chase in Malta gives Trevorrow the opportunity to restage that jump-through-the-window moment from The Bourne Ultimatum — did you ever want to see a digitized raptor execute the stunt instead of Matt Damon?

Even with the original cast on board, there's surprisingly little chemistry or humor, and the movie makes repeated pit stops to stress family values: "Do you guys have kids?" Maisie asks Alan and Ellie, both of them no doubt tired of fielding that question, especially when fleeing from carnivores. Some of the new dinos have red feathers, a cute touch, but there's little of the wonderment of the first film, barring an image of a sad bronto at a logging site. It's the kind of listless enterprise out of which a savvy actor can sometimes pop: DeWanda Wise, playing a daring pilot, is basically starring in a one-woman Raiders of the Lost Ark in her head. Let's get that concept to the sequel writers stat, before they build another theme park. Grade: C–

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The Jurassic World Trilogy Has Painted Itself Into a Corner

Watching Jurassic World: Dominion , you might find yourself starting to feel just a little sorry for the people who made Jurassic World: Dominion . At the end of the previous film ( Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom — these titles start to blend together after a while), dinosaurs had finally been unleashed on the mainland and begun to exist alongside humans. That made for a promising cliffhanger, not to mention some stirring closing images, but it also effectively put the series in a bind. Now that dinosaurs are just, like, out there … what happens next? Why should we care about dinosaurs showing up somewhere since dinosaurs are effectively everywhere? How can the suspense escalate in interesting ways when these prehistoric creatures have become mere background noise?

Sadly, Jurassic World: Dominion appears to have found the answer in not making a dinosaur movie at all. The new film is, at times, a kidnapping thriller, a cloning drama, a Jason Bourne–style action flick, an Indiana Jones derivation, and a disaster movie, among others. It impatiently leaps from subgenre to subgenre with such frantic desperation that it feels like the movie is running from its own lack of imagination. Once upon a time, Steven Spielberg could spend enormous amounts of screen time patiently (and nastily) tightening the screws on a suspense set piece. Jurassic World: Dominion can’t be bothered to spend much time on anything, perhaps because if the movie ever pauses to take a breath, the audience might realize they’re being had. Because if the filmmakers aren’t all that impressed by dinosaurs, then what chance do the rest of us have?

To be fair, there are dinosaurs in Dominion , and there are enough bits of dino business to keep the kids awake, but the film itself clearly finds these creatures mostly unremarkable and uninteresting; one climactic three-way dino fight seems to last for about three minutes. Instead, the movie spends its time on … locusts? Dominion ’s central menace is a mysterious plague of giant locusts that is destroying crops and terrorizing farmers, seemingly unleashed on humanity by a powerful and mysterious biotech firm. Of course, all the Jurassic films like to dwell on the dangers of unchecked science and amoral profiteering (that’s how we got the dinosaurs in the first place), but we don’t go to these movies to see cautionary tales about deluded scientists, we go to see dinosaurs. The scientists are just an excuse to have the dinosaurs — not vice versa.

There are many other things Jurassic World: Dominion assumes. It assumes that we are genuinely interested in the relationship between raptor-trainer and dino-wrangler Owen Grady (Chris Pratt) and park manager turned activist Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard). It assumes that we buy Pratt as a wisecracking, can-do tough guy (as opposed to the slightly hapless and overconfident goofball he plays in the Marvel movies, where he fares better). It assumes that we are fully invested in the fate of Maisie Lockwood (Isabella Sermon), a young girl who was revealed to have been a clone near the end of Fallen Kingdom (long story) and who is now being sought by Dr. Lewis Dodgson (Campbell Scott), a soft-spoken but sinister, Steve Jobs–style tech guru who runs the aforementioned biotech company, called Biosyn.

The previous Jurassic World movies did generate tankerloads of money, so perhaps such assumptions were fair ones to make. Owen and Claire are, after all, the heroes of this trilogy. And yet one never really hears about them out here in the real world, the way we once heard about Han Solo and Princess Leia and Indiana Jones and the way we still hear about assorted superheroes, or James Bond and Jason Bourne. (Have you ever seen an Owen Grady lunch box? I sure haven’t.) That is likely because — and I hope you’re sitting down for this — the Jurassic World movies are not about characters; they are about dinosaurs . The original Jurassic Park trilogy (mostly) understood this; the films offered solid character work, but once the time came, the monster-movie spectacle took over.

Dominion also seems to have overestimated the nostalgia factor in bringing back the stars of the first film, Sam Neill, Laura Dern, and Jeff Goldblum, treating their relationships like some sacred canon. So, when doctors Ellie Sattler (Dern) and Alan Grant (Neill) are reunited, we learn about her failed marriage, which means there is hope again for them as a couple. Ellie and Alan have been invited to the campuslike headquarters of Biosyn by Dr. Ian Malcolm (Goldblum), who has become some sort of in-house philosopher and skeptic for the firm. While it’s certainly nice to see Dern, Neill, and Goldblum play these people again, it’d be nicer if the script gave them well-written dialogue or placed them in interesting situations. A symptom of our current nostalgia-at-all-costs pop-cultural landscape is that all too often filmmakers think it’s enough to just bring back familiar faces. I love Sam Neill, but I’m not sure I needed to see that “raising his head in twinkly-eyed bewilderment” move of his 85 more times.

Anyway, there are foot chases and motorcycle chases, and a plane crash, and a big fire (there’s often a big fire). It’s frantic yet lifeless, chaotic yet pro forma. A thorough lack of care emanates from the screen. At one point, a standoff involving two somewhat major characters is, as far as I can tell, completely abandoned halfway through; these people are never mentioned again. The film cuts so rapidly and so haphazardly among its various plot strands that the filmmakers appear to have lost their own threads.

At times, one can see what director Colin Trevorrow and his collaborators were attempting. Trying to be all things to all people, and to find their way in a universe where dinosaurs roam (and rampage) freely, they decided to mix dinosaurs into these familiar subgenres instead of finding a new story to tell. But the solution reveals the depths of the problem. Because the awe we’re supposed to feel upon seeing these dinosaurs — the entire reason for the movies’ existence — winds up taking a back seat to a cacophony of half-hearted plot points and story lines and twists and throwaway bits. During one chase, a dinosaur does the famous stunt from The Bourne Ultimatum in which Jason Bourne jumped from the window of one building into the window of another. In that earlier picture, the moment took our breath away, because we could see that it was a real stunt, done by real people, and it was something we recognized as being nearly impossible to accomplish. In Dominion , it’s an offhand, blink-and-you’ll-miss-it gag, but it’s symptomatic of the movie’s broader issues. Because when the “stunt” is being performed by a CGI dinosaur … well, let’s just say a certain “wow” factor is removed. Which is a bizarre thing to say, because these movies are supposed to be nothing but wow factors. The only wow factor in Jurassic World: Dominion is the awesome depth of its failure.

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Jurassic world, common sense media reviewers.

Reboot is fun but scarier, more violent than the original.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Science and nature can't be controlled, and animal

Owen is protective, wise, and courageous, as is hi

Several scenes of sustained tension, peril, terror

A couple of kisses and references to mating, as we

Infrequent use of "s--t," "bulls--t," "damn."

Many real-world products featured in the fictional

Cameo of Jimmy Buffett fleeing with a margarita in

Parents need to know that Jurassic World is more violent and terrifying than the original Jurassic Park . Since the titular theme park is actually open and filled with visitors, the ensuing body count when the dinos run amok is much higher than in the previous films (including some major supporting…

Positive Messages

Science and nature can't be controlled, and animals shouldn't be treated as predictable, passive attractions. Teamwork, bravery, determination, and smarts are valued.

Positive Role Models

Owen is protective, wise, and courageous, as is his assistant. Claire initially doesn't seem like she cares about anything besides her job, but she quickly goes into mother-bear mode to rescue her nephews. Zach has to step up and take care of his little brother, Gray. Despite his age, Gray is quick-witted and intelligent and helps the boys get themselves out of dangerous situations. The park owner and other secondary characters all rise to the occasion to save others. On the downside, there aren't many female characters (unless you count the dinosaurs...).

Violence & Scariness

Several scenes of sustained tension, peril, terror, and jump-worthy action when it seems like even kids will be killed. Dozens of people die (including major supporting characters); they're eaten or ripped to shreds (sometimes in graphic ways), trampled, or burned in explosions. Everyone is injured, some severely and others in minor ways. Bloody fights between the dinosaurs, who slash, hunt, and eat one another.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

A couple of kisses and references to mating, as well as innuendos related to what Owen and Claire could do alone together. Zach stares at and flirts with various teen girls.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Products & Purchases

Many real-world products featured in the fictional Jurassic World park: Coca-Cola, Starbucks, Apple (iPhone, MacBooks), Mercedes, Verizon, Jeep, Margaritaville, Beats, Nissan Quest, ViewMaster toy. Also lots of tie-in merchandise available in real life.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Cameo of Jimmy Buffett fleeing with a margarita in each hand. An employee makes a joke about a dinosaur that's been sedated being "stoned."

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Jurassic World is more violent and terrifying than the original Jurassic Park . Since the titular theme park is actually open and filled with visitors, the ensuing body count when the dinos run amok is much higher than in the previous films (including some major supporting characters), and there are many intense scenes of sustained terror, suspense, and peril (including kids in danger). People are eaten, torn to shreds, trampled, and severely injured. Language is infrequent (occasional use of "s--t" and "damn"), and there are a couple of kisses and suggestive remarks. And you can expect a lot of overt product placement -- from Coca-Cola, Apple, and Mercedes to Jeep, Beats, Verizon, and more. Mature tweens and teens who are fans of suspense/action (and still fond of dinosaurs) will be thrilled -- just make sure they can handle the truly jump-worthy scares. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

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• Parents say (89)
• Kids say (275)

Based on 89 parent reviews

Actions builds up - strong characters & storyline.

What's the story.

At the start of JURASSIC WORLD, a mom ( Judy Greer ) sends her two sons -- teen Zach ( Nick Robinson ) and tween Gray ( Ty Simpkins ) -- to visit their Aunt Claire ( Bryce Dallas Howard ), an executive at JURASSIC WORLD, the exclusive dinosaur theme park off the coast of Costa Rica. As the boys enjoy their VIP experience, Claire deals with an escalating set of emergencies surrounding the park's newest "asset," a huge hybrid dino dubbed Indominus Rex . Jurassic World owner Masrani ( Irrfan Khan ) asks Claire to bring in security consultant/velociraptor wrangler Owen ( Chris Pratt ) to inspect the Indominus ; things suddenly spiral out of control when the angry, isolated beast breaks loose and wreaks havoc, killing every dinosaur and person in its way. Owen and Claire must team up to rescue her nephews and take down the Indominus as quickly as possible.

Is It Any Good?

Jurassic World may not meet the expectations set by Steven Spielberg 's original, but it does surpass the underwhelming sequels. And it has enough visual thrills, humor, and memorable performances to make for a fun (if occasionally terrifying) franchise reboot. Director Colin Trevorrow ( Safety Not Guaranteed ) smartly doesn't try to mimic Spielberg, but he does stay true to the master's ability to make the movie's moments of suspense even more terrifying than the actual people-eating. Pratt plays Owen like Star Lord mixed with a Navy SEAL -- funny, clever, courageous. His chemistry with Howard's Claire is breezy and full of banter (and not nearly as sexist as some critics were worried about).

This is definitely a big-budget blockbuster: It's loud, thrilling, and full of intense sequences that will make viewers jump -- or possibly cower, depending on their age. Indominus is a mean, scary, killing machine, and the devastation she leaves in her wake makes the original movie's death toll look positively tame by comparison. The boys are both accomplished young actors, and they poignantly and realistically portray kids who are alternately impulsive, courageous, and frightened out of their minds. It's not groundbreaking in the same way Jurassic Park was, but if you're looking for heart-quickening fun, Jurassic World clearly delivers.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about the amount of violence in Jurassic World . How does it compare to what you expected? Did some of the scenes of violence affect you more than others? Why? What's the impact of media violence on kids?

What makes Jurassic World scary? What's the difference between horror and suspense? Which has more impact on you, and why? When are kids ready for horror movies?

How does Jurassic World compare to the other films in the Jurassic Park franchise? Do you think it's a good franchise reboot? Have movies become more violent over the years?

Do you think there should be a sequel? What elements of the story were left open-ended?

Movie Details

• In theaters : June 12, 2015
• On DVD or streaming : October 20, 2015
• Cast : Chris Pratt , Judy Greer , Bryce Dallas Howard
• Director : Colin Trevorrow
• Inclusion Information : Female actors
• Studio : Universal Pictures
• Genre : Science Fiction
• Topics : Dinosaurs
• Run time : 124 minutes
• MPAA rating : PG-13
• MPAA explanation : intense sequences of science-fiction violence and peril
• Last updated : January 26, 2024

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Jurassic World (2015)

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Jurassic World review – nice dinosaurs, shame about the plot

There’s certainly plenty of spectacle in this fourth trip to Jurassic Park, but where’s the bite?

T he trailer for this belated dinosaur sequel features a massive mosasaurus swallowing a dangling shark whole. The cheeky implication is clear: Jurassic World could eat Jaws for breakfast. Certainly, like the “ Indominus rex ” at the centre of its genetically spliced action, this cinematic theme park ride is bigger, louder, and has more teeth than either Jaws or Jurassic Park . Yet what it gains in size it loses in terms of dramatic logic and, more importantly, character chemistry. While the 3D beasts are undeniably impressive, their human counterparts remain resolutely two-dimensional thanks to a script that mistakes tone-deaf jumps and starts for emotional arcs. The result is a spectacular summer blockbuster that will doubtless eat the box office alive, but that remains all bark and no bite.

Twenty-two years after the events of Jurassic Park , Isla Nublar has become a fully functioning dinosaur playground, attracting boatloads of tourists. But with “de-extinction” yesterday’s news and raptors and T rexes no longer a draw, modified hybrids are needed to scare up new business.

Having learned nothing from the previous three movies ( The Lost World and Jurassic Park III are essentially sidestepped), nor from Michael Crichton’s gene-pool text Westworld , the owners again find themselves running an amusement park in which the attractions eat the guests. As Bryce Dallas Howard’s operations manager struggles to locate her awol nephews, dino-trainer Chris Pratt attempts to prevent his unscrupulous security chief from weaponising the velociraptors with whom he has formed an interspecies bond.

Emerging from more than a decade of development hell, this unwieldy beast of a film cobbles together elements variously cooked up over the years by umpteen writers (including executive producer Steven Spielberg, and Rise of the Planet of the Apes scriptwriters Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver) with a final draft by director Colin Trevorrow and his Safety Not Guaranteed screenwriter, Derek Connolly. This convoluted evolution has produced a story riddled with plot holes big enough for a mosasaurus to leap through with ease.

Worse, the thumbnail-sketch characters – endangered kids, parenthood-unready adults, kooky tech guys etc – remind us how much more fully fledged were their progenitors in the 1993 Crichton/David Koepp-scripted original. Only Irrfan Khan’s billionaire owner has something of the cracked charisma of Jeff Goldblum’s chaos theorist, but even this promising potential is thrown away in one of the plot’s most disappointingly lazy dead-ends.

Such shortcomings rankle, considering Trevorrow’s previous work. Like Godzilla director Gareth Edwards, he cut his teeth on a low-budget, fantasy-inflected oddity before graduating to this effects-heavy blockbuster. But while traces of Monsters remained in Godzilla , Jurassic World lacks the off-kilter interpersonal charm of the time-travel comedy Safety Not Guaranteed . Instead, Trevorrow simply tips his hat knowingly toward Spielberg’s back catalogue, reprising the dinosaur-eye-seen-by-terrorised-kids from Jurassic Park , evoking the pathos of ET as a placid herbivore lies wounded (“Ouch!”), even riffing on Susan Backlinie’s violent demise in Jaws (Michael Giacchino’s score comes close to quoting John Williams’s sharky terror theme). This is a dangerous game to play; I kept expecting Pratt to turn toward the camera and quip: “We’re gonna need a better script…”

On the plus side, Jurassic World doesn’t skimp on spectacle, compensating for its storytelling shortcomings with a superfluity of on-screen action. Viewed in Imax with the sound turned up to 11, the film fulfils its popcorn promise, offering a menagerie of dinosaurs (motion-capture CG, with a sprinkling of animatronics) that sweep majestically across land, sea and air. Once again, the velociraptors are the stars, proving that size isn’t everything. But there’s nothing here to match the nail-biting raptor raid of the original, despite advances in technology that continue to push the boundaries of cinematic sight and sound.

And therein lies the rub. Forty years ago, Spielberg all but invented the summer blockbuster with nothing more than a smart script, a perfectly chosen cast and a malfunctioning rubber shark. Today, Trevorrow can bring his dinosaurs to life in ways never before imaginable, but he can’t make us believe in or care about his characters. Like Spielberg’s Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull , this serves more as a reminder of glories past than of futures new. It has scales but no soul.

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Jurassic World Review

11 Jun 2015

NaN minutes

Jurassic World

Jurassic World is an adventure 65 million and 14 years in the making, but it’s the 14 that’s the key figure. In the time that’s passed since Jurassic Park III underwhelmed, creatively and commercially, other franchises and shared universes - you know the ones, with fluttering capes, fast cars and giant robots - have come to the fore and made a series that once boasted the biggest film of all time seem like something of, well, a dinosaur.

Not anymore. Colin Trevorrow's assured blockbuster, which has at its core a caution about the dangers of trying to keep up with the Joneses by going bigger and better and faster, is comfortably the best dino-outing since Spielberg's unimpeachable original. Given the competition - The Lost World: Jurassic Park, which had the franchise’s most suspenseful set-piece but also a young girl drop-kicking a velociraptor, and Jurassic Park III, which didn't even have that - that may be the very dictionary definition of damning with faint praise. But Jurassic World is fresh and thrilling, and while it often tips its hat to the original, it’s not a slavish copy, introducing more than enough new wrinkles into the prehistoric playbook to launch a new wave of sequels.

Where both Avengers: Age Of Ultron and Fast & Furious 7 blasted off big this summer with pre-credits blowouts, Trevorrow resists the temptation to plunge us straight into carnivore carnage, opting instead for a Spielbergian slow build. We don’t actually see a full dinosaur until roughly 20 minutes in, with the introduction of Chris Pratt’s Hunk McStubble (not his actual name; that’s Owen Grady) and his band of trained raptors. But if anyone thought, following the money shot of Pratt riding with his fanged friends at the end of the first trailer, that the series’ most effective threats had been neutered, we’re very quickly reminded that they still have teeth and claws and big appetites. But for his Big Badosaurus, Trevorrow needed something new. Enter the Indominus Rex: a truly terrible lizard.

Genetically engineered by BD Wong’s Dr. Henry Wu (the only returning cast member, though watch out for nods to Ian Malcolm), the Indominus Rex – named by a focus group, naturally – is the spared-no-expense dinosaur to end all dinosaurs. Literally. It’s a giant, chameleonic mother with all kinds of nasty tricks up its scaly sleeve, and once it gets out into the wider World, chaos reigns. From the off, fuelled by Michael Crichton’s big brain, Jurassic Park has always been a debate about the boundaries of science, and here that’s explored further. The Indominus is a textbook example of scientists being so preoccupied with whether they could that they didn’t stop to think if they should. Silly scientists.

It’s at once a neat comment on our been-there-done-that generation, which so quickly gets bored with the new, and a genuinely menacing movie monster. Despite being the size of a Routemaster, it lends itself neatly to several suspense sequences dotted throughout the movie, notably an Aliens-esque moment when it makes mincemeat out of a platoon of Muldoons. Because it’s been engineered in a lab, and because it’s batshit loco, single-clawedly creating the series’ biggest body count, it’s the first Jurassic Park resident that can be treated as a villain, and not a living, breathing animal simply doing what living, breathing animals do, thus giving our heroes no qualms whatsoever about trying to blast it into oblivion.

Of those heroes, Pratt cements his reputation as cinema’s new go-to leading man, even if he’s not quite as quippy or charming here as Guardians Of The Galaxy’s Star-Lord. Like Indiana Jones, he’s an unyielding man of action, who’s pretty much the same at the picture’s end as he is at the beginning. Instead, the major character arcs go to other humans and, intriguingly, certain dinosaurs. Both Nick Robinson and Ty Simpkins, as the brothers who become embroiled in the turmoil, bring surprising notes and warmth to roles that could have been standard movie brats you can’t wait to see get munched.

In a way, neatly heading those accusations of '70s-era sexism at the pass, the biggest arc belongs to Bryce Dallas Howard. When we first meet her park supervisor, Brittle McButtonedup (not her actual name; that’s Claire Dearing), she’s not entirely cold-blooded, but she is more preoccupied with profit margins than looking after her visiting nephews (in a neat touch, she can’t even remember their ages), but by movie’s end has transformed into a flare-wielding furiosa. Life finds a way.

It’s not all plain sailing – InGen’s villainous agenda has a hazy, underdeveloped, fix-it-in-the-sequel vibe, while some of the supporting characters feel like mere sketches. Fans of Vincent D’Onofrio’s incredible turn in Daredevil will be disappointed to find him on one-note form here as arch villain, Evil McMoustachetwirlerson (not his actual name; that’s Vic Hoskins). And some professional pooh-poohers may also have a problem with the everything-but-the-genetically-modified-kitchen-sink climax.

But the joy here comes from watching a new director on the summer blockbuster scene make an impact. Trevorrow’s debut was the lo-sci-fi Safety Not Guaranteed, and this is a significant step up. He’s at ease with the oohs and the aahs as he is with the running and screaming, even if he knows full well that the impact of the original’s astonishing ‘you-will-believe-a-dinosaur-can-roar’ effects can’t be recreated (though ILM does sterling work here). And when the dino-doo doo really hits the fan, you can almost hear him cackling as he piles outrageous beat upon outrageous beat. After careful consideration, we've decided to endorse this park.

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Jurassic World

By Peter Travers

Peter Travers

It’s not the cynical, cash-in cheesefest you feared. OK, Jurassic World is a little of that. But this state-of-the-art dino epic is also more than a blast of rumbling, roaring, “did you effing see that!” fun. It’s got a wicked streak of subversive attitude that goes by the name of Colin Trevorrow. He’s the director and co-writer whose only previous feature credit, a nifty 2012 indie called Safety Not Guaranteed , cost $750,000, chump change on a studio product like this, which cost — wait for it — $150 million.

For starters, Trevorrow is a fanboy of all things Jurassic and Steven Spielberg, who directed the first two  Jurassic   films and rode herd as an exec producer on this one. But even with the boss looking over his shoulder, Trevorrow, with his writing partner, Derek Connolly, redrafted the existing script to get in his own licks. That means throwing a few bombs at a public that thinks better is defined solely by upping the wow factor. Style, character and emotion are fatally retro or, worse, so three Jurassic epics ago. If you intend to watch this new take while binge-checking your smartphone, Trevorrow has a few darts aimed your way.

But, first, let’s play catch-up. The big attraction that John Hammond (Richard Attenborough) envisioned in 1993’s Jurassic Park never opened; too many creatures created from dino DNA wreaked havoc on humans. In Jurassic World, the third sequel in the series, the park has been open for 22 years. But the tourists are jaded. Dinos have been domesticated. Kiddies ride tamed triceratops. And when a great white shark (name-check, Jaws ) is swallowed in one gulp by a Mosasaurus, all the public gets is splashed. Safety is guaranteed. Boring! The fans want danger — bigger, faster dinos with more teeth. If that’s not Hollywood in a nutshell, I don’t know my inflated, degraded CGI epics, in 3D and IMAX, from  Transformers to San Andreas .

To stay in business, Jurassic World, the park, needs to give the public what it wants: blood. For Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard), the operations manager, that means building a better tourist trap in the scary form of an Indominus rex, created from a mix of, heck, I’ll never tell. But she’s a beauty and a terror, forcing the park to erect a wall to hold her (name-check, King Kong ).

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Enter our hero, Owen (the über-relatable Chris Pratt ), an animal-behavior expert (he tames velociraptors) so human his shirts stink from sweat. Can his raptors bring down the Indominus? Or will a bullying profiteer ( Vincent D’Onofrio ) rain down holy terror? Not so fast. First, Owen and Claire have to get it on in the 1980s style of Romancing the Stone . An early clip from Jurassic World inspired Avengers director  Joss Whedon to tweet, “She’s a stiff, he’s a life force — really? Still?”

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Don’t groan. Pratt — cheers to Star-Lord of Guardians of the Galaxy  — aces it as an action hero and invests his sexual banter with a comic flair the movie could have used more of. And Howard, a dynamo, is nobody’s patsy. Claire can do everything Owen does, and in heels. She also protects her two visiting nephews, 11-year-old Gray (Ty Simpkins) and 16-year-old Zach (Nick Robinson). The boys have a killer scene in a gyroscope with video commentary from, of all peeps, Jimmy Fallon. It’s hilarious till the gyro goes flooey and turns the kids into dino bait.

Trevorrow relishes turning tourists (read “us”) into material for chomping. We get what we wish for. And we care because there’s a humanity in the characters, even Lowery (Jake Jonson), a park techie who collects toy dinos and wears a tee from the original Jurassic Park that he bought on eBay. Lowery is a realist who sees things with childlike wonder. So does Trevorrow, who recaptures the thrilling spirit of the Spielberg original (name-check, T. rex) with fresh provocation: Is bigger always better, or is it an empty, soulless thing ready to bite us on the ass? Jurassic World will scare the hell out of you, and not just for the obvious reasons.

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Jurassic World

• Action/Adventure , Sci-Fi/Fantasy

Content Caution

In Theaters

• June 12, 2015
• Chris Pratt as Owen; Bryce Dallas Howard as Claire; Ty Simpkins as Gray; Nick Robinson as Zach; Vincent D'Onofrio as Hoskins; Irrfan Khan as Masrani; BD Wong as Dr. Henry Wu

Home Release Date

• October 20, 2015
• Colin Trevorrow

Distributor

• Universal Pictures

Movie Review

Venture capitalist John Hammond’s dreams of a dinosaur theme park have finally come to fruition. Sure, 20 years ago when the old fella first gave the idea a try, things didn’t go so well. OK, it was a total disaster. But since then the InGen Corp has smoothed out the bumps and wrinkles of that earlier, uh, scaly situation. And if John were still around today, he’d be so proud of how successful his idea has become!

Not only have the InGen labs genetically reconstituted and cloned a cavalcade of fabulous heretofore extinct creatures, they’ve been able to seamlessly incorporate these monsters into a fully functioning vacation spot. Incredible earth-shaking dino attractions and petting zoos mixed with first-class hotel accommodations and shopping! Ah, it’s truly a modern marvel of a destination resort.

In fact, Jurassic World has been running so smoothly that it’s almost become, well, trapped in the amber of its own success. That’s why the park’s investors have been calling for something bigger, faster and scarier to add to the attraction lineup. You know, something with some serious sizzle to keep the public streaming in the front gates.

So the lab boys whipped up a genetically spliced-together super beast that’s a blend of DNA strands from the T. rex, velociraptors and, oh, a bunch of other top-secret sources those science guys are keeping under wraps. The point is, this gigantic terror is an incredible nightmare of a dino. Smart, powerful and fearsome. And sure to be a massive draw.

They call it Indominus rex.

A new enormous attraction, however, just means more hard work for Claire, the park’s administrator. She’s been frantically pulling everything together—from investors to proper facility construction—before revealing this new beastie to the public. It’s a hectic job, but hey, she knows her business and she knows how to make these kinds of things work.

That includes dealing with staff members, like the rugged ex-military guy Owen, who management brought in to care for the raptors and “evaluate patterns of vulnerability.” Owen is raising all kinds of silly questions about the safety and wisdom of genetically creating something like the I. rex. But c’mon, Claire figures, he’s got no clue about the business side of this kind of enterprise. And she’s got no time to talk it over with him.

That company-focused tune, however, changes when the sly Indominus starts developing abilities the lab tests never predicted. And when the giant concoction manages to escape even the most imposing of confines and begins killing everything in sight … well, at that point Claire quickly runs straight to Owen for a real chat about business. Of course, by then, everyone else is running as well.

And screaming.

Positive Elements

Claire has two other things to worry over, in the form of her young nephews Zach and Gray. They’ve been sent to the resort over Christmas break while their mom and dad work through some marital problems back home. And though the boys are initially just one more problem for Claire, they eventually become precious connections to family for the single-minded businesswoman.

In the midst of all the new dino-danger, the brothers bond more closely, too. Teen Zach initially shrugs off the possible effects of their parents’ potential divorce, but later stresses the ties of family to his younger sibling. “We’re brothers,” he tells Gray. “And we’ll always come back to each other. No matter what.”

Both Claire and Owen repeatedly risk their lives to save or protect each other and those around them. Owen, for instance, steps bravely in front of a group of raptors in an effort to protect a worker who fell into the predators’ paddock. Owen shows empathy for the “innocents” in the dinosaur kingdom as well. (We see him comfort a wounded brontosaurus until it dies.)

Sexual Content

We see a few formfitting, low-cut tops. Owen flirts with/taunts Claire, saying that, like dinosaurs, humans often have a need to eat, hunt and mate. (He makes a motion to indicate the latter, wondering, a bit sarcastically, if she might be able to relate to at least one of those things.) The two do eventually share a kiss.

Violent Content

There are a few moments when the camera glimpses some foliage that’s dripping with blood and/or spattered wall after a mangling monster mash. Or the camera hastily glances away just before a few flesh-ripping kills, leaving us to listen to the crunch and crack.

Indeed, an InGen military guy named Hoskins tells us that “war is a part of nature; everything in this jungle is trying to murder the other.” And we certainly see that play out in thumping, slashing, screeching and roaring style. The gigantic I. rex leaves scores of men and dinosaurs dead in its wake. The camera pans over an entire valley full of dino corpses as Owen realizes the savage creature has been hunting for sport. We see it snatch cowering people off the ground in one gulp, throw some around like toys and stomp others beneath its feet. It chomps and claws at various dinosaurs and gnaws on the whole head of one dino foe. The creature smashes through buildings and picks entire vehicles up in its massive jaws.

Raptors attack and rip at soldiers in a dark forest. And they slash threateningly at Zach and Gray, too. A man holds his hand out in front of him, whereupon a raptor bites his arm up to the elbow before the camera cuts away. A swarm of Pterodactyls swoop in on a large group of people, ripping at them with their talons and hoisting some into the air. One woman is grabbed and fought over—getting tugged to and fro—by the flying dinosaurs before both she and one of her beastly captors are swallowed whole by a huge whale-like Mosasaur.

Soldiers blaze away at their dinosaur foes with rifles and machine guns. One bazooka-like shell knocks a colossal creature right off its feet. A militarized helicopter blazes away before being hit and sent to its exploding destruction. The resort itself is badly battered by a rampage.

Owen punches Hoskins in the face.

Crude or Profane Language

Close to half a dozen s-words join three or four uses each of “d–n” and “h—.” “A–” and “b–ch” are trotted out once or twice each. “Oh my god” is exclaimed five or six times; Jesus’ name once.

Drug and Alcohol Content

We see a guy picking up two margaritas at a resort cantina. Owen flirtingly jokes about the craziness of maintaining a diet that doesn’t include tequila.

Other Negative Elements

Early on, Zach is a “typical” obnoxious teen who continually scopes out pretty girls and pushes his younger brother to break the rules. (Though he eventually sees the cost of those choices.) Hoskins talks of militarizing dinosaurs for use in war.

It’s not easy to effectively resurrect a popular movie franchise after it’s languished for a decade and a half. Especially when the iconic pic that started it all was a Steven Spielberg-directed edge-of-your-seat classic that pretty much defined the term “must-see blockbuster” when it released in 1993. But Jurassic World certainly gives the task a Mosasaur-sized, swimming good try.

Things here aren’t quite as sharply drawn and memorable as that first flick. But you still end up enjoying the efforts of a couple of cheer-worthy heroes in the heat of action. You’ll hear solid statements about sticking by your familial loved ones—even when not threatened by a gob full of foot-long razor-sharp teeth. You’ll walk out with an I-can-finally-breathe happy ending. And, of course, you’ll witness an awesome thrill-ride exhibition of some truly incredible giant-reptilian CGI magic.

But speaking of those terrifying teeth, you’ll also see some seriously freaked-out folks being gobbled up whole, squashed by gigantic monster mitts or swept screaming into the air by sharp-clawed creatures in this feature.

After spending more than two decades touring, directing, writing and producing for Christian theater and radio (most recently for Adventures in Odyssey, which he still contributes to), Bob joined the Plugged In staff to help us focus more heavily on video games. He is also one of our primary movie reviewers.

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Movie Review: Jurassic World (2015)

• Dan Gunderman
• Movie Reviews
• 17 responses
• --> June 12, 2015

It has been 22 years since the incident at Isla Nublar, but the earlier devastation is now just a footnote in the logbook of the InGen financiers, for they have forgotten the tumult and the ethical barriers they tore down and commercialized. They now operate a seemingly infallible amusement park with monorails, an aviary, a raptor paddock; you name it, a Jurassic Park think-tank conceived it. Yet, these cutting edge scientists and proprietors have still failed to wrap their brains around the fact that one cannot simply dream up a faultless, quixotic “asset” to brush declining revenues under the carpet without there being repercussions. Like Dr. Malcolm once said long ago, doing so is “a rape of the natural world,” and that “life will not be contained.”

Viewers will be happy that the misstep was taken again, however, for the culmination of their efforts led to Jurassic World , a witty — even comical — and aesthetically massive installment to the renowned movie franchise that’s fallen on hard times.

Aside from the stunning visuals — with the impressive labyrinthine mise-en-scene — and the return of an original character in Dr. Henry Wu (BD Wong, “ Focus ”), Jurassic World introduces a vigorous new lead in Chris Pratt (“ Guardians of the Galaxy ”), who incorporates the savviness of Dr. Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) with the game warden qualities of Robert Muldoon (Bob Peck) also from the first movie. The film’s writing, while stretched thin at times, is mostly pleasant, and is a noticeable improvement from the “parasailing gone awry” concept from the third movie in 2001. It’s quick, the frames are full — brimming with character, beast, and bullet; and Bryce Dallas Howard (“ 50/50 ”) even gets to show off her piercing scream. (I admit, she does a bit more, too, for her performance steadily improves over the course of the two hours).

It begins with Zach (Nick Robinson, “The Kings of Summer”) and Gray Mitchell (Ty Simpkins, “ Iron Man 3 ”) being sent off by their parents to tour the dinosaur amusement park, much to the dismay of Zach who finds the exhibits to be a grade-A bore. On the island, the boys find their Aunt Claire (Howard), a workaholic focused almost exclusively on rejuvenating the park’s revenue, and executing a corporate mandate for something “bigger” and “scarier” with “more teeth.” The park’s answer comes from the research wing led by Dr. Wu (Wong) who cross-breeds a T-Rex with the DNA of a cuttlefish, and of course, a frog (among other animals, living and extinct). The result is a captivating hybrid beast known as: Indominus rex.

I-Rex is also intelligent, deceptive and bloodthirsty, and before its paddock is certified safe by Owen Grady (Pratt) it escapes containment, effectively spelling doom for the other animals and the 20,000+ in attendance at the park (and thrills for movie-goers).

When Claire learns that her nephews are still out in the nifty “hamster balls” after she orders the park into lock down, she, with her one-time beau Owen (who has spent many of his days training and taming the velociraptors), embark into the dinosaur laden abyss to save them. Oh, and as if facing off with a genetically superior predator wasn’t enough of an obstacle, they’ll also have to battle the ego of gruff InGen security expert, Vic Hoskins (Vincent D’Onofrio, “ The Judge ”), who wants to militarize the velociraptors.

To be fair, Jurassic World does not outshine or subvert the 1993 film, but it sure out maneuvers the last half hour of “The Lost World” and all 93 minutes of “Jurassic Park III.” Its strict compliance to the science behind the park, interspersed with wholly satisfying showdowns in the misty thickets, pays homage to the original in all the right ways, which is surprising since this latest installment offers up an entirely new cast. One scene in particular — in the elemental remains of the original park — will have any Jurassic fan glued to the screen. Further, it’s hard not to notice the motifs that director (and co-writer) Colin Trevorrow so plainly brushes into this film — allusions to Dr. Sattler, John Hammond, the impact terminal scene, etc., are all faithfully displayed.

In the previous sequels, the stakes always seemed to increase (a T-Rex loose in San Diego, really?), but with Jurassic World , some care was taken to ensure the focus of the narrative returned to the dynamic between man and nature. This installment also boasts better chemistry within the cast rivaling the original — Pratt and Howard are good together, the brothers hold their own, and the supporting cast also pumps some life into the film, especially Omar Sy (“ X-Men: Days of Future Past ”), who plays Barry, a sensible raptor tamer, and Irrfan Khan (“ Life of Pi ”) who plays the thankless part of new park owner Simon Masrani.

So, Jurassic World has in effect brought the franchise out of the reverie it was stuck in since the original film. Indominus rex might be a bit tacky, but the people that chase it down are fun to watch (as is the chase), and when they do so in a way harmonious to “Jurassic Park,” let’s just say one word can best describe the response: Goosebumps. And for me, it’s been too long since goosebumps and dinosaurs were said in the same sentence.

Tagged: dinosaur , park , scientist , sequel

Dan is an author, film critic and media professional. He is a former staff writer for the N.Y. Daily News, where he served as a film/TV reviewer with a "Top Critic" designation on Rotten Tomatoes. His debut historical fiction novel, "Synod," was published by an independent press in Jan. 2018, receiving praise among indie book reviewers. His research interests include English, military and political history.

Movie Review: Six Minutes to Midnight (2020) Movie Review: Apocalypse ‘45 (2020) Movie Review: Greyhound (2020) Movie Review: Robert the Bruce (2019) Movie Review: 1917 (2019) Movie Review: Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019) Movie Review: Ad Astra (2019)

'Movie Review: Jurassic World (2015)' have 17 comments

June 12, 2015 @ 4:29 pm Dastardly

Dinosaurs are so powerful they can overcome the worst screenplay ever written. Seriously. The writing in this is awful.

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June 12, 2015 @ 4:37 pm MasterChief

There’s so much stupidity exhibited by everyone involved at the park that I wished the I-rex would kill them all. I liked the movie otherwise!

June 12, 2015 @ 10:02 pm trailmix

I wished those kids would find their fate in the mouth of a raptor and the lady do more than just run around with a blank look on her face..

June 12, 2015 @ 4:44 pm oscillator

The final fight was great but I hate that on your trailer post I was 100% correct on predicting it.

June 14, 2015 @ 12:55 pm General Disdain

Seemed obvious but just to be on the safe side can you send to me the winning powerball numbers?

June 12, 2015 @ 5:13 pm grifta

‘Verizon Wireless Presents The Indominus Rex’ yet the island doesn’t have cell service. The whole damn movie was a blatant cliché and advertisement.

June 12, 2015 @ 6:57 pm Lainie

What’s the matter, you don’t like the Tostitodon or Pepsisaurus?

June 12, 2015 @ 5:30 pm Legit Problem

Best on-screen death: that poor lady who gets eaten by a Pteranodon that gets eaten by the Mosasaurus.

June 12, 2015 @ 5:34 pm adolfo

Jurassic World proves yet again that even a bad movie with dinosaurs is a good movie.

June 12, 2015 @ 8:28 pm age appropriate

Means people are fascinated by dinosaurs and will see them in a bad movie. Which LW technically is.

June 12, 2015 @ 6:28 pm Bluefin

As impressed as I am with Jurassic World I am most impressed with Bryce Dallas Howard running around the park in heels. I’ve seen girls twist ankles just trying to walk in them things so watching her outrun hungry dinos at every turn is astonishing.

June 12, 2015 @ 7:42 pm Carl Lee Money

Fun movie. Loved Indominus. Chris Pratt is a cool cat, he’ll make a good Indiana Jones if ever they decide to reboot that franchise.

June 13, 2015 @ 1:37 am whole lotta colada

Theaters were packed for it. A number 5 is a forgone conclusion..

June 13, 2015 @ 6:11 am RadioDaze

Dinosaurs didn’t look as real as they did for Jurassic Park but World still had plenty of spirit and action. Really liked BD Wong getting the villain cred too, I didn’t see that one coming. Chris Pratt is a likable leading man, this role cements it for him. And I hope Blue gets to live a good life.

June 13, 2015 @ 3:15 pm deb-free

Aside from the glaring inconsistencies in the story I liked it. Made me feel like a kid again.

June 15, 2015 @ 3:14 pm Trae Hopkins

Nice review. Check out mine if you get a chance.

June 22, 2015 @ 10:06 am Dan Gunderman

This is a classic case of ‘love it or hate it.’ Generally speaking, JW had enough narrative and aesthetic chops to separate it from most of LW, and JP3, making it the “quintessential JP sequel.” Sorry to anyone who disagrees (plus, it’s almost at $1 billion and climbing).

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How Similar Is Steven Spielberg's 'Jurassic Park' to the Book?

Spielberg's blockbuster classic has the novel built into its dino-DNA.

The Big Picture

• In the Jurassic Park movie franchise, the dinosaurs remain on Isla Nublar and Isla Sorna up until the events of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. In the novel, however, some dinosaurs have escaped from the islands and are headed to the mainland at the start of the book.
• While many of the same characters from the book are in the movie, there are some major differences. For instance, the roles of Tim and Lex are swapped, and there is no romance between Ellie Sattler and Alan Grant.
• John Hammond is portrayed differently in the film as a naive billionaire, while the book depicts him as strictly evil and reckless.

With talk of a Jurassic World 4 en route and the possible involvement of Scarlett Johansson (unconfirmed) and director Gareth Edwards (confirmed) recently, it has returned focus to the franchise that began way back in 1993 with Jurassic Park . Steven Spielberg 's film was a critical and box-office smash, and a touchstone moment in the history of special effects. Jurassic Park itself would be followed by two sequels before seeing the franchise rebooted in 2015 as Jurassic World , giving moviegoers a look at a completed, and functional, dinosaur park. Until all hell — and an Indominus rex — broke loose. That film spawned Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom before bringing back the original Jurassic Park cast to star alongside the Jurassic World crew in Jurassic World Dominion . Now the franchise continues to expand with this latest announcement (whether it should or not is a different question — see here ). What gets lost is how the Jurassic Park films started on the page, not on the screen, with Michael Crichton 's 1990 novel of the same name . Let's take a look at how the film evolved on its journey to the silver screen.

Jurassic Park

In Steven Spielberg's massive blockbuster, paleontologists Alan Grant (Sam Neill) and Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern) and mathematician Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) are among a select group chosen to tour an island theme park populated by dinosaurs created from prehistoric DNA. While the park's mastermind, billionaire John Hammond (Richard Attenborough), assures everyone that the facility is safe, they find out otherwise when various ferocious predators break free and go on the hunt.

Dinosaurs Make It Out of the Park Earlier in the 'Jurassic Park' Novel

At least up until the events of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom , the dinosaurs remained on two islands off the coast of Costa Rica: Isla Nublar, the location of the first film and Jurassic World , and Isla Sorna, where InGen cloned the company's dinosaurs, where The Lost World: Jurassic Park was largely staged. It was a small comfort in the film, knowing that the killer dinosaurs weren't a threat here in our world, and once our heroes escaped, they could rest easy. While the novel does take place on Isla Nublar as well, a number of small dinosaurs have evaded the security protocols in place and have stowed away on supply ships to the mainland prior to the book's events.

'Jurassic Park's T-Rex Almost Killed a Crew Member — For Real

The opening of the book details a scene in which a young girl is attacked by a group of small Procompsognathus on a Costa Rican beach. It's a scene that actually opens The Lost World: Jurassic Park , only the attack occurs on Isla Sorna, not on the mainland. The book also details the efforts to contact the supply ship that has a group of young Velociraptor stowaways before it reaches the mainland. Good news: the power turns back on just in time and the raptors are killed by the crew of the ship. Bad news: the epilogue makes it clear that raptors have made Costa Rica their new home — only no one knows where they are. Comforting. They're probably feeling pretty good about it too, especially after hearing that their former island location has been napalmed by the Costa Rican government.

The 'Jurassic Park' Film Makes Some Big Changes to the Book's Characters

One of Jurassic Park 's strong suits is its cast, a collection of actors that held their own against its impressive visual effects while playing characters with disparate personalities, ideas, and motives. For the most part, the characters themselves have all made the transition from paper to film, but who they are differs , and in some cases significantly. Take Tim and Lex, for example. In the film, Ariana Richards plays the older, computer-savvy sibling Lex, while Joseph Mazzello plays Tim, the younger sibling with a fascination with dinosaurs (maybe not anymore, though). In the book, the roles are reversed. Lex is the youngest, a baseball fanatic who spends a good portion of the novel being all whiny and daft about the peril they're in, taking on the role of a naive small child. Tim, on the other hand, is more level-headed, and it's him who is the computer whiz.

Ellie Sattler ( Laura Dern ) and Alan Grant ( Sam Neill ) enjoy a little romantic subtext in the film, but in the novel it's strictly professional, with Sattler as a younger graduate paleobotany student and Grant in the role of a mentor who, incidentally, isn't as child-averse as his Hollywood counterpart. As for what's up with the other doc, B.D. Wong 's Dr. Henry Wu has a much larger part in the novel, at least until he's killed. Given how Wu is pivotal to the storyline of Jurassic World Dominion , the film franchise didn't kill him. This leads to one of the biggest differences between the book and the novel: who survives . Game warden Robert Muldoon makes it to the end of the novel, but isn't so lucky in the film, with a "clever girl" Velociraptor making short work of Muldoon ( Bob Peck ) in the film. Ian Malcolm, given life by a pitch-perfect Jeff Goldblum , is killed off in the novel, or so it would seem, as in both film and print the character returns for The Lost World: Jurassic Park .

One of the most blackly comic parts of the film sees lawyer Donald Gennaro ( Martin Ferrero ) rewarded for his cowardice by the T. Rex picking him up off the toilet as a light snack. In the novel, however, Gennaro not only survives, but is one of the protagonists, one who does what he can to keep everyone safe when things go wrong, and goes so far as to risk his own life by jumping into a Velociraptor nest to do so. The greedy coward of the novel is actually a character that doesn't appear in the film at all, Jurassic Park's head of public relations, Ed Regis. Regis is a sycophantic yes-man to John Hammond, who bolts at the first sign of trouble and meets his end in the novel as Gennaro did in the film. Spielberg simply melded the two characters into one .

'Jurassic Park's Biggest Book-to-Film Difference Is John Hammond

But what of the man behind it all, John Hammond? In the film, Hammond, as played by Richard Attenborough , is a charming billionaire, a lovable old man with good intentions. He isn't evil, just naive, imagining a park for everyone to enjoy, but not considering the bigger picture of what his scientists are doing (the whole "whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should" argument). And when things go wrong, he shows great concern for everyone, especially his grandchildren, and agrees in the end that he can not "endorse the park." While his character can be argued as the villain of the film , it's still hard to watch as his dream of something grand is shattered.

It stands in direct contrast to the John Hammond of the novel, an evil and reckless man right from his introduction on. He knows all that's gone wrong in the past, like the dinosaurs on the mainland, and the red flags of danger around him, but chooses to ignore it all. And when things really start to go downhill, so much so that he can no longer ignore it, Hammond refuses to take any culpability for his part in it, blaming it all on security systems and others. With dollar signs in his eyes, Hammond has only his own interests in mind , as evidenced by his cold-blooded decision to carry on with his plans for the park even after all the lives lost, having learned nothing. And when he dies — and he dies in the book, by the way — it's a karmic righting, not a tragedy.

As an aside, all of those deaths, had they been faithfully reproduced in the film, would have easily earned Jurassic Park a well-earned R rating . Now that would be one hell of a great director's cut.

Jurassic Park is available to stream on Netflix in the U.S.

WATCH ON NETFLIX

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Jurassic World Reviews

Just as the dictionary definition of "spectacle" states, the blockbuster is unusual, notable, and entertaining in an eye-catching, dramatic, and very public way. It is big, loud, and dumb, but, hot damn, it sure is fun.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Sep 4, 2023

... a lot of fun, part mindless two-hour theme park ride, part self-aware sequel where supposedly smart people make a cascade of bad decisions.

Full Review | Aug 20, 2023

Jurassic World lacks heart because everything happens on the same level of fast-paced, forgettable entertainment. [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | Original Score: 7/10 | Feb 28, 2023

The visual spectacle, the dinosaur fights, the theme park environment all work to immerse you in a really cool setting. It’s too bad the underwhelming story, narrative hiccups, and bland characters drag it down to passable but forgettable levels.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 22, 2022

It’s sharp, well-made, knowing entertainment that’s also the first sequel worthy of the original masterpiece.  

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Jun 9, 2022

The action-adventure comedy still has its fair share of missteps, but in the context of the Jurassic Park saga, it remains one of the few popcorn films to deliver on its blockbuster promise.

Full Review | Original Score: 7/10 | Jun 7, 2022

As far as Jurassic movies go, this isn't Jurassic Park, but it never had to be. The film is a reverent, effective follow-up to a classic. That, folks, is what we call no small feat.

Full Review | Feb 11, 2022

Jurassic World is the way to go - the nostalgia factor, new CGI and a nature defying gamble. Chris Pratt is charm on wheels and I'm rooting for Bryce Dallas Howard who has been away too long.

Full Review | Oct 4, 2021

As I watched the really neat digital dinos chase people around, the scenes that resonated most with me were the ones that took place in the park's laboratory.

Full Review | Sep 13, 2021

This is the first sequel to do the original Jurassic Park movie any real justice...

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Jun 4, 2021

Stepping into the lead is man-of-the-moment Chris Pratt, fresh from his Guardians of the Galaxy success, and he is joined by the substantial talent of Bryce Dallas Howard...

Full Review | Apr 22, 2021

Several sequences of dinosaur carnage are expertly crafted and thoroughly entertaining, even if they're repetitive of previous entries in the franchise.

Full Review | Original Score: 6/10 | Dec 4, 2020

It's easily the best of the sequels, but it certainly falls short of the original's sense of surprise and spontaneity that marked the original.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.0/4.0 | Sep 13, 2020

Whilst it will never touch the greatness of the original and shamelessly predictable, Jurassic World is a positive entry in the franchise.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Jul 17, 2020

If you squint really hard, you might find this to be good old dumb fun. But honestly, how long can you do that before getting a headache?

Full Review | Original Score: C+ | Jul 15, 2020

Clumsy, full of flat, dead-eyed characters, and is an obvious cash grab. But somehow none of that matters when there are rampaging dinosaurs on screen.

Full Review | Original Score: B- | Jul 5, 2020

Overall, Jurassic World delivers. It's everything you probably want or expect from a summer blockbuster sequel. It's still scary when it needs to be, funny when it tries and a worthy continuation of the story.

Full Review | Jul 1, 2020

Yes, I said it. "Jurassic World" SUCKED! What the hell was I missing?

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Jun 11, 2020

The production flirted dangerously with the "video game phase" syndrome that had done so much damage to the previous two installments of the franchise. [Full Review in Spanish]

Full Review | May 7, 2020

Once again MacDonald's cinema at our service: fast consumption and instant forgetfulness. [Full Review in Spanish]

Full Review | Apr 28, 2020

New ‘Jurassic World’ Movie Gets 2025 Release Date, David Leitch in Talks to Direct

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“Bullet Train” director David Leitch is in talks to direct a new “ Jurassic World ” film for Universal. The currently untitled project is slated to release on July 2, 2025. 

David Koepp , the original screenwriter of “ Jurassic Park ” and “The Lost World: Jurassic Park,” will write the script for the film, which will be executive produced by Steven Spielberg through Amblin Entertainment. Frank Marshall and Patrick Crowley will produce and David Leitch and Kelly McCormick will also produce through 87North.  

Popular on Variety

Universal’s executive VP of production development Sara Scott and creative executive of production development Jacqueline Garell will oversee the project for the studio. 

Since the June 1993 release of Spielberg’s original “Jurassic Park,” the six-film franchise has earned more than $6 billion worldwide. The most recent entry in the series, 2022’s “Jurassic World Dominion,” surpassed $1 billion worldwide. 

David Leitch’s directorial credits include “John Wick,” “Atomic Blonde,” “Fast & Furious” spinoff “Hobbes & Shaw,” “Deadpool 2″ and this year’s Emily Blunt and Ryan Gosling-led action comedy “The Fall Guy,” out May 3. He is represented by CAA, Johnson Shapiro Slewett & Kole and 42West. 

Deadline was first to report this “Jurassic World” news.  

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“Jurassic World 4” Promises Fresh Start with Scarlett Johansson

A s “Jurassic World: Dominion” concluded major story arcs, the announcement of “Jurassic World 4” aims to reinvigorate the franchise with fresh ideas and new faces. With mixed reactions to “Dominion,” the studio is set to steer the dinosaur saga back on track, featuring Scarlett Johansson in a lead role, marking a significant shift in casting and creative direction for the series.

By Julian James

Star Power Casting

Scarlett Johansson, known for her role as Black Widow in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, is currently in talks to lead “Jurassic World 4.” While details about her character remain under wraps, Johansson’s potential involvement could inject new energy into the dinosaur franchise. The negotiations are ongoing, and her presence could signify a bold new era for the series.

Accelerated Production Schedule

Shortly after its announcement, Universal has slated “Jurassic World 4” for a July 2, 2025, release, demonstrating the studio’s commitment to moving swiftly with its new vision. This date is just over a year and a half away, signaling an ambitious timeline for the film’s production. Whether this schedule will hold remains to be seen, as such deadlines are often subject to change.

Casting and Speculation

Unlike previous installments, “Jurassic World 4” will reportedly not feature any original stars from the earlier “Jurassic Park” or “Jurassic World” films. This decision marks a significant departure from the past, resetting expectations and possibly introducing an entirely new ensemble. The full cast remains unconfirmed, setting the stage for more surprises as casting developments continue.

Plot and Reboot Strategy

Described as a hard reboot, “Jurassic World 4” could represent a return to the original themes of the franchise, possibly aligning more closely with Michael Crichton’s first novel, which critiqued corporate greed. Screenwriter David Koepp’s involvement suggests a narrative realignment aimed at capturing the essence of the series’ origins, potentially offering a darker and more introspective take on the Jurassic saga.

“Jurassic World 4” stands as a bold initiative to revitalize and redefine a beloved franchise. With the possible addition of Scarlett Johansson and a strategic return to foundational themes, the project holds promise for both long-time fans and new audiences. Scheduled for 2025, this next chapter in the Jurassic narrative could well reestablish its dominance in the genre, blending classic elements with modern cinematic dynamics.

Based on content from www.screenrant.com

Steven Spielberg Reportedly Making a UFO Movie with the Writer of ‘Jurassic Park’

Fresh off baring his soul and telling his own life story in the Oscar-nominated movie The Fabelmans , Steven Spielberg is reportedly headed back into the world of extraterrestrials!

Variety notes in a report this week that Spielberg will “likely make his next project a UFO film based on his own original idea,” set to be written by David Koepp ( Jurassic Park ).

Interesting to note, Koepp is himself returning to his early roots with the next installment in the Jurassic World franchise. He’ll be writing next year’s untitled new installment .

Steven Spielberg is of course no stranger to extraterrestrial encounters, directing two of the greatest alien movies of all time: Close Encounters of the Third Kind in 1977 and E.T. in 1982. It’s an arena he returned to in 2005, directing an adaptation of H.G. Wells’ War of the Worlds .

Even more recently, Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment produced the Netflix docuseries “ Encounters ” last year, which explores true stories of human contact with otherworldly phenomena. You can stream all four episodes of “Encounters” over on Netflix right now.

Stay tuned for more on Spielberg’s mysterious new UFO movie as we learn it.

‘E.T.’

Writer in the horror community since 2008. Editor in Chief of Bloody Disgusting. Owns Eli Roth's prop corpse from Piranha 3D. Has four awesome cats. Still plays with toys.

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‘Drop’ – Violett Beane Joins the Cast of Christopher Landon’s New Thriller

Christopher Landon  ( Happy Death Day, Freaky ) is staying busy here in 2024, directing not only the werewolf movie  Big Bad but also an upcoming thriller titled Drop .

The project for Blumhouse and Platinum Dunes is being described as a “fast-paced thriller,” and Deadline reports today that Violett Beane ( Truth or Dare ) has joined the cast.

Newcomer Jacob Robinson has also signed on to star in the mysterious thriller. Previously announced, Meghann Fahy (“White Lotus”) will be leading the cast.

Landon recently teased on Twitter , “ This is my love letter to DePalma .”

Jillian Jacobs  and  Chris Roach  wrote the script.

Michael Bay, Jason Blum, Brad Fuller and Cameron Fuller — “who brought the script in to Platinum Dunes” — are producing the upcoming  Drop . Sam Lerner is an executive producer.

THR notes, “The film is a Platinum Dunes and Blumhouse production for Universal.”

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