Jurassic World (2015), PG-13, ★★★

Prepare for the Dinos! The park is open!

Don't you hear, the legendary composer's, John Williams' iconic score in your head after you watched the very first trailer of Jurassic World? That and along with the visually striking dinosaurs, literally and figuratively, can bring you back to the 1990s era when Steven Spielberg created his vision of how dinosaurs live on their land and with humans. That film created a sense of awe and a sense of adventurous scares. But, also filmmakers and fans focused on the detailed special effects created by Stan Winston and it was ingenious because they mostly used animatronics than CGI. Now, we had the sequels and the 2nd movie was ok at best and the 3rd movie was boring and not very entertaining. Now, 14 years later after the 3rd movie, are we tired of these dinosaurs? After the movie was over, the experience was like fixing a ride and even though there are some kinks to be worked out on that ride, the ride was fun once again.

Troubled parents Scott and Karen (Adam Buckley and Judy Greer) send their sons, Zach and Gray (Nick Robinson and Ty Simpkins) away for what is supposed to be a family vacation. The boys are taken to Isla Nublar for the veiling of Jurassic World, a new theme park where their aunt, Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard) is the operations manager. Her assistant, Zara (Katie McGrath) picks them up and watches them for some of the duration of their visit. Claire is guiding and talking to three investors who want to be "thrilled" because attendance have been going down because guests already saw all the dinosaurs.

The park's owner, Simon Masrani (Irrfan Khan), go inspect their first dinosaur hybrid, the Indominus Rex and Masrani points out that based on the cracks on its glass cage, they want to bring in Owen Grady (Chris Pratt), who is the park's Velociraptor trainer and expert. Owen and Claire have had a relationship together. Owen is with his Raptors, which they are named Blue, Charlie, Delta and Echo (the Alpha). He manages to tame them and keep them under control. However, Vic Hoskins (Vincent D'Onofrio), head of InGen security, thinks of them as nothing more than park property and they should be used as military weapons.

As Owen returns to the Indominus cage, he notices large claws on the wall. Owen and two other employees go inside the cage to investigate because of its tracker not showing on the screen monitor at its headquarters. But, she is in there at the cage the whole time. The Indominus snatches one employee as Owen and another employee runs away. But, she chases them outside the enclosure and proceeds to moving towards the rest of the park. Most of the rides start to close but both Zach and Gray are both in a gyro sphere and are attacked by the Indominus and runs away as both Claire and Owen search for them.

Let's go for a ride. 

Two questions are: Is this movie better than all of the other movies and is this movie fun? I'll start with the second question: This movie is a whole lot of fun for mostly the second half of the film where I'll save the vague descriptions. But, this sequel is the sequel we have been waiting for. This would have been a good 3rd movie. Now, is the movie better than all of the other movies? I rank it second out of the four movies because the movie is less lifeless than the previous sequels but it is not as enthralling and supreme as the original. But, how many movies are?

The first 20-30 minutes take a while to get going and some sub-plots and backstories interweave in an unorganized fashion and too many things are going on for another sequel. Also, we don't see Chris Pratt for a while and we don't see the dinosaurs for a while. It is plain talk about divorce, work, investment and gazing at other girls from the older brother's point of view. Then, the movie kicks off with the Indominus Rex on the loose.

There are also a few minor flaws throughout the movie but mostly in its characters and I will get back to that. The divorce backstory does not work in this movie because it comes and goes in the first half and we do not hear that part again because it is a tool to make the brothers get along more for them to be a team when they are in peril. The romantic subplot between Owen and Claire is so loose that its corniness is interfering with the action, especially in the sequences where the pterodactyls are on the loose in the park. Plus, even in its nostalgic part, the kids fix a 22 year-old car with some magic tools that vanish later and have some very old gasoline in that tank. I do not think that will start at all.

Chris Pratt is not a one-hit wonder especially after that year with him in the Guardians of the Galaxy and The LEGO Movie. He is a charismatic character that takes control of the situation using his skills and care for the raptors plus he delivers a few funny lines. But, he is just right, not over-the-top. Bryce Dallas Howard is stale at the beginning but she becomes a strong trooper with some stuff to do. The kids are not as annoying and Jake Johnson as the operator with a Jurassic Park shirt on is hilarious. Vincent D'Onofrio is ok but he plays a one-dimensional villain trying to take over the park using the raptors as military weapons.

However, I had a blast watching this movie as the movie sort of echoes a hybrid of the first film and its second sequel. It has nostalgia when we visit the theme park with a great score by Michael Giacchino playing in the background and a little bit of John Williams' theme playing too. Also, it turns into a monster movie that works because we have the sensational climax between the Indominus Rex and T-Rex we have been waiting for. The visual effects are pretty good but in comparison to the 1993 film, the first movie is perfect in that department because it used animatronics more than CGI. Also, the scene between Pratt and the Brachiosaurus is real effective and the training with the Raptors is not silly.

This is the Jurassic Park sequel I have been waiting for and hoping for and even though it is not entirely perfect, it is a fun ride that starts with a whimpering sorrow but finishes with a thunder of applause from myself and the audience.

Note: I know kids are going to be excited for this movie. But, a word of warning: Although, it is an exciting movie, it is also a very intense PG-13 movie. I'd say the movie is appropriate for children around ages 9 and up.

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