Told you I'd be reviewing these films eventually. Well anyway, so many of us will know of a man called Stephen Spielberg. He is a film maker without whom, the idea of a summer blockbuster wouldn't exist. I mean, he's one that likes to go big with his films and what many have considered to be among his best films, is Jurassic Park. Now I'm going to go out and say that while I do enjoy each of the films in their own way, I wouldn't go and say that the series as a whole is great. Its certainly up there as one of the greats and in a way, most influential of films, but its not superior despite it having dinosaurs in it. But anyway, its been 14 years since we've had the last (and also the worst) film of the series and with this new film being a sequel and having Chris Pratt of all people in it (he's been in a few films which so far, have been quite successful), I'm pretty sure we're in good hands. But then again, anything can happen. So let's enter the park and see what's inside:
Jurassic Park
So we have this guy called John Hammond (played by the late Richard Attenborough) who is the founder and CEO of the bioengineering company called InGen. He has created this theme park called Jurassic Park on a tropical island in an isolated Central American location called Isla Nublar and its population is mostly cloned dinosaurs. Following an incident that led to a plant worker being killed by a Velociraptor in spite of a rescue operation led by the park's warden Robert Muldoon (played by the late Bob Peck), the park's investors who are represented by lawyer Donald Gennaro (played by Martin Ferrero) demand that experts go to the park to certify its safety. This leads to the pair inviting mathematician Ian Malcom (played by Jeff Goldblum who many of you know as the guy with that strange voice), palaeontologist Dr. Alan Grant (played by Sam Neill) and paleobotanist Dr. Ellie Sattler (played by Laura Dern) who upon arrival at the park, are all stunned by a group of dinosaurs in the distance. All seems to go well, but little do they know that one of Hammond's employees plans a money making scheme that would as a result, cause the power in the park to go out, and would make the park, a danger to everyone in it. So this film came out at a time where CGI wasn't as big as it is now and I was among the few that missed it in its original theatrical run, so when I eventually got to see it, I liked it. the dinosaurs look great, the acting is great and several years on, the CGI looks dated, but I will accept it for what it is and as I say, its among Spielberg's best work. Nothing more to say there. 9/10
The Lost World
So after a film like Jurassic Park, you'd think that Spielberg would be able to make a great sequel. Unfortunately, like with everyone else, this isn't the case. 4 years have passed and Hammond's company InGen has been taken over by his nephew Peter Ludlow (played by Arliss Howard) who plans to travel to Isla Sorna (which Hammond describes as Site B where the dinosaurs are allowed to roam free and were nurtured there before being moved to Jurassic Park itself) and exploit it by bringing dinosaurs to the main land. Hammond calls upon Ian Malcolm to join a team of people he has hired to travel to the island and document the dinosaurs to foil Ludlow's plans. Ian declines to begin with, but learns that his girlfriend is on the island and agrees to go. Then its a case of both teams having to work together for survival with chaotic results. As much as I enjoyed this film, I will agree with the general public that its a sequel that just doesn't match up to the first. I mean seeing a world where dinosaurs roam free is fine and all, but everyone knows that when you have a plot about a money making scheme to do with using monsters that you have little to no knowledge about, it ain't going to work. In that sense, the plot can be a bit predictable and the action isn't as great as it was in the first. But all that being said, I will say that some of us will find some enjoyment in the film for what it is. Its definitely not Spielberg's worst film, but its also not his best film either. 7/10
III
Now we come to the film that many regard to be the worst film, but also the shortest. So Alan Grant has been struggling to get support for his research following what happened in the first film and it seems that the events of that film seem to be haunting him to this day. But a wealthy couple offer to give him funding for his research if he gives them a tour of the island which he reluctantly agrees to do, not knowing of their real plan to land on the island to find their son. So despite it being the worst film, at least its short, which still makes it bad. The plot is predictable again (but more so with this film than the last), full to the brim of clichés, characters that are not using their brains and finding a dinosaur to overpower a T-Rex to me sounds silly as the T-Rex is king of dinosaurs in my opinion. But you know, it may be bad, but at least its short so its not as bad as you would think. 6/10
Jurassic World
So having spent over a decade in development hell as it was originally going to be released in 2005, we finally have the long awaited fourth entry in the series and I have to say, it was certainly worth the wait. 22 years after the original film, Hammond's dream has finally come true as what was originally Jurassic Park, has turned into a fully functional theme park called Jurassic World. Brothers Zach and Gray Mitchell (played by Nick Robinson and Ty Simpkins respectively) travel there to spend time with their aunt who is the park's operations manager Claire Dearing (played by Bryce Dallas Howard) who has her assistant Zara (played by Katie McGrath) take care of them until she can free up her schedule. She is then taken by the park's owner Simon Masrani (played by Irrfan Khan) to see the park's supposed first hybrid dinosaur the Indominus Rex to which she asks for a Velociraptor trainer and expert to look for vulnerabilities in the I-Rex's enclosure. Enter Owen Grady (played by the special one and also the leader of the Guardians of the Galaxy, Chris Pratt) who gets asked about using his pack of Velociraptors as weapons, but an incident occurs and thus proves that they are not tame. And when Owen goes to see this hybrid, who knows what can happen, but believe me, it's going to get messy. Now as someone who enjoyed the first 2 films, but like everyone else didn't like the third one, I actually enjoyed this a lot. The visuals are great, the acting is surprisingly good (well except for Pratt which I know for a fact, is good anyway having seen him in other films) and all the dinosaurs look awesome, especially the hybrid and the king. But I will say, for a 12A film (in the UK, this means its a film that can be seen by anyone, but anyone under 12 has to be accompanied by an adult), there's a lot of blood. I was quite surprised. But anyway, a great film and certainly a worthy sequel to the first film that puts the first 2 sequels to shame. 9/10
So for a film series about dinosaurs in our time, its a great series. Not perfect by any means, but still its a great series. Definitely up there as one of the great and most influential of trilogies and I hope in a time where dinosaurs need to be popular again, we get more films like these in the future because when done right, they can be great and mighty. 8/10
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