Jurassic World (3D)

Cineworld Bolton - 11th June 2015

With Guest review from Beewell

I am a huge Jurassic Park fan, I remember back in 1993 queuing numerous times to watch the film over and over again.  The awe and spectacle of seeing the giant, towering Brachiosaurus and fearing the dreaded T-Rex and Raptors, all accompanied by the joyful music of the greatest composer of our time, Mr John Williams.

Then a few years later, despite some questionable scenes , Jurassic Park: The Lost World did it all over again, it all started with ooh's and aah's followed by screaming (in relation to ridiculous acrobatics).  Jurassic Park III however, did not follow suit.

So, when the announcement of Jurassic World was first heard, and the first trailer seen, I was anxious. Wanting a return to form, willing the director to take me back to that childish nostalgia and boyish awe.  I was excited every time the quintessential score was played, ever so slightly slower and eerier. Jurassic World could not follow in the footsteps of it's last adventure, could it?

During a 3D showing of Mad Max, the trailer was shown once again, however this time it was in the extra dimension, both Clare and I looked at each other after this teaser and said, "I think that is how we should watch it", and so we did

Donning the colour reducing, headache inducing, perspective increasing eyewear, we settled in to be amazed.

After 20 minutes, I kept wondering why everything looked so small.  The Jurassic World Main Street looked like a toy town, the helicopter in which Simon Masrani (the new John Hammond) arrives in looked minute.  In retrospect I put this down to the extreme perspectives given in 3D and feel that this extra depth reduced the awe of the film.

There are some very, very entertaining parts of Jurassic World, mainly down to the fan favourites, the Raptors.  I was a little concerned from the trailer that they were merely Chris Pratt's puppets, but the film holds a little surprise back in that respect.  There were some great little nods to the original film, and the new dino has some qualities that fill you with dread like the original T-Rex, but there is also a lot wrong with it.  There are some real dull bits, the kids are annoying, the dialogue seems clunky in parts and the continuity is laughable.  At one point, seen in the trailer, the kids jump off a waterfall into a muddy lake, yet moments later, their clothes are dry, hair and make up done.  Also, why oh why is the most awe inspiring music, which in JP was used to bring in the wonder of the dinosaurs, why is it being played whilst we fly over and through gift shops, sweet shops, merchandising and the Jurassic World Main Street, you kind of missed the mark with that one.

Jurassic World was my second most anticipated film of the year, so Mr Abrams, you have more pressure on your shoulders now!

It was not a bad film, like Jurassic III, not an awesome film like Jurassic Park, but definitely on par with The Lost World.  Some great moments amidst lots of filler.

I understand as well that the late, great Stan Winston could no longer be part of the special effects team due to his moving to another plane of existence, but why sully his work with excessive CGI when the practical effects worked so well?

Beewell's Review

To me a trip to the cinema is a bit of a mixed experience, I do enjoy the huge screen and the superior sound quality but the experience is usually marred by other people, I don’t really understand why people are happy to pay money to talk through a film or fidget in the seat or spend their time checking various social media sites.

There are, however, certain movies that you just have to experience on the big screen, certain films that are worth subjecting yourself to the uncomfortable seats and the proximity of people who can afford cinema tickets but are seemingly reluctant to spend 99p on a can of lynx.

As I have always been a fan of the Jurassic Park franchise then there was no way that I was going to let the latest Dinosaur epic pass by without seeing it in the way it was meant to be seen.

So we booked our Tickets and off we went to see Jurassic World.  The plot of the film is nothing new, if you have seen any of the Jurassic Park movies then you will 

know what to expect.   

The Jurassic World theme park attendance has been in decline so a new attraction is needed.  This is delivered in the form of a Brand new species of Dinosaur,  The pedigree of which has been kept under wraps by the scientist who created the creature.

At this point 2 quotes from the previous Jurassic park movies were going around my head as they gazed on the new creation with wonder and delight.

John Hammond: Don't worry, I'm not making the same mistakes again.

Dr. Ian Malcolm: No, you're making all new ones.

And 

Dr. Ian Malcolm: Oh, yeah. Oooh, ahhh, that's how it always starts. Then later there's running and um, screaming.

What follows is a roller coaster event where we see that this intelligent new breed of Dinosaur has a vast array of tricks up its sleeve to enable it to break free from the enclosure before the attraction has even been opened to the public.

The casting of Chris Pratt as the reluctant hero of the hour is pretty much a part he was born to play.  His character is attempting to train Raptors and while this seems to be going well we are also given a glimpse into the wild side of the creature when he has to intervene in the rescue of an inexperienced employee.  So we see early on that this is the man who will be there to save the day.

There are obvious comparisons to the original movies throughout Jurassic World and we even get a glimpse of the old, redundant park.

If you are a fan of the Jurassic park franchise then I would heartily recommend that you witness this film at the cinema.  There are plenty of Jumpy moments and at certain points during the show my wife clamped her hand firmly in mine as if this was going to save her from the screen monsters.