Movie Review: Jurassic World

Starring| Chris Pratt (Owen), Bryce Dallas Howard (Claire), Ty Simpkins (Gray), Vincent D'Onofrio (Hoskins), Nick Robinson (Zach)

Rating| A

This movie exceeded all my expectations by far, and I can see why it was the number one movie in the world!  If you haven't seen it, you really should.

Let me start off this by saying, no, I have never seen the original trilogy.  Nor do I have plans to.  When I was younger I watched the first part of Jurassic Park.  It had me running to my room crying I was so scared.  Even the thought of seeing that movie gets me to ball up inside.  I'm sure someday it'll be inevitable and I'll have to watch it.  But if I can avoid it, I will.  So why did I watch this one?  Well, Chris Pratt was a major draw, for sure, but I also wanted to see what all the fuss was about.  And even though I was pretty sure I would be terrified of this film (and I really do hate horror movies) I decided I must see it in theaters.  If I didn't watch it on the big screen I wouldn't watch it at home where I could escape.

And I was terrified.  During the middle and end I did actually start crying a little bit.  It honestly scares me all the way to my bones.  I had to remind myself that this is fiction, and that Dinosaurs do not exist anymore, and no one is stupid enough (at least not yet) to bring them back to life.  Thank God for that.  I guess this is a testament to the film makers who created such a realistic world that I could easily get lost in.  Not one I'd want to get lost in, but one that sucked me in regardless.  As good as the movie was, I can't give it a perfect score because I just can't seem to swallow that fear.  Also, there were, from what I could count, around 16 separate name droppings and product placements.  Also a bit upset at that, even though they were interwoven into the film so nicely.

But wow was this movie good.  The scene stealer here was Bryce Dallas Howard, who took my breath away.  You can count me as a fan- she's one of the finest actors I've seen in a long time.  Her character looked absolutely ridiculous to me in the trailers, but she was a multi-dimensional character that could spawn a franchise of movies (oh look, she basically just did :) ).  Chris Pratt was great in the movie- he's really turned into quite the action star and I love it- but I really couldn't take my eyes off of her.  The two kids did a great job and I hope to see them around movies more often.  D'Onofrio (one of my favorite actors, if you weren't aware) completely transformed himself, yet again, into another iconic role.  I think he's just such a versatile actor and he makes you forget about all his past roles whenever he plays a new one, reinventing a character.

The plot was unexpected and edge of your seat.  The visual effects were far too realistic for my tastes (obviously, since they scared the crap out of me), and look like they'll hold up pretty well.  The detail was incredible.  There really wasn't anything wrong with this movie at all.  Like I said, if you haven't seen it already, you need to go buy a ticket now (before it leaves the theatre).