 ***PLEASE NOTE: A Blu-ray 3D disc is only compatible with 3D Blu-ray players.*** Tagline: The park is open. Twenty-two years after the events of Jurassic Park, Isla Nublar now features a fully functioning dinosaur theme park, Jurassic World, as originally envisioned by John Hammond. Storyline: 22 years after the original Jurassic Park failed the new park (also know as Jurassic World) is open for business. After years of studying genetics the scientists on the park geneticly engineer a new breed of dinosaur. When everything goes horribly wrong, will our heroes make it off the island? Reviewer's Note: Reviewed by Martin Liebman, October 20, 2015 -- "Nature always wins." Or, perhaps better said in Jurassic Park lore lingo, "life finds a way." Sometimes, however, "life" isn't just natural selection, out in the wild, biological makeup, or instinct. Sometimes, "life" is man's own avarice, his blindness to reality, his failure to learn from past mistakes, his devotion to money and stature rather than common sense and the fundamental ways of the world. Jurassic World takes that lesson to heart, a lesson that's not at all dissimilar from the common theme shared with the first film, but it's only accentuated here considering the hard facts that must have been foremost on the minds of the men and women who decided it would be a good idea -- read, great for the bottom line -- to go a second round with nature and mess with history. Oh, life finds a way, alright, and the filmmakers have found a way not to reinvent the wheel but make it slicker, more efficient, more dynamic. This fourth film in the Jurassic Park franchise is easily the second best in the series and not too far behind the first. It's a thrill ride worthy of the Jurassic name and one of the most purely entertaining movies of the last several years. Jurassic Park has been reopened and rebranded as "Jurassic World." Fences are higher, walls are stronger, security is tighter, technology is smarter, and the park is packed with patrons eager to spectate and participate in all wonder. The attractions are a major hit and it's everything John Hammond could have envisioned, and more. Amongst the park's guests are Zach (Nick Robinson) and his younger brother Gray (Ty Simpkins), two children whose aunt Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard) runs the park. They've been given all-access passes and are passed on to the care of a surrogate baby-sitter (Katie McGrath). Park owner Simon Masrani (Irrfan Khan) brings in a man named Owen (Chris Pratt), who has been training a pack of velociraptors, to inspect the holding cell of a new hybrid dinosaur, genetically built from the ground up, that promises to be the park's main attraction. But things go unexpectedly awry. The new hybrid escapes confinement, shutting down the park and leaving thousands of visitors vulnerable. Meanwhile, Zach and Gray find themselves caught out in the open and in the path of a fierce new dinosaur that knows only one thing: killing. There's no mistaking that Jurassic World isn't much more than Jurassic Park slicked up for a new generation of audience. It's essentially the same movie both in terms of its dramatic narrative and stylistic execution. There's a little less lore and character building here and a slightly reduced sense of pure awe, but at its center is a film that wouldn't be mislabeled as a "re-imagining" with a few little tweaks and leaving behind some of the winks and nods and characters and key moments that hearken back to the original classic. That said, Jurassic World is still a total blast of a movie, and that it can thrive on essentially rebranding the original and still work this this well is a testament to the core idea that makes it work, both from the late Michael Crichton's source novel and, of course, Steven Spielberg's masterwork popcorn movie. It's best described, then, as a hybrid sequel-reworking. It's bigger, though not necessarily better; slicker, though not necessarily more precise. But the movie doesn't really have any major warts, either. It's a freshened up take on a simple idea that manages both familiarity and novel excitement at the same time. In other words, it's darn near the perfect sequel. The question, then, is how do the storytellers raise the stakes? Simple. They go back to the well but mess with nature in a whole new way. That begs another question: what's the angle? Why in the world did the park reopen in the first place, who was dumb enough to think it a good idea, who was naive enough to trust that, this time, it would work? The movie answers these questions satisfactorily, if not a bit generically, particularly as it pertains to the latter, the reason why it's all been set in motion again. For a movie that could be critiqued for its lack of originality in the core plot -- dinosaurs escape, humans go on the run and on the defensive from a prehistoric rampage in the modern world -- it's the explanation that threatens to ruin it. And, regrettably, it's Vincent D'Onofrio's character who suffers the most in the film, who feels almost tacked on rather than organically mixed up in the mayhem. His performance seems stifled as a result, a shame because he's a great actor but one who, here, cannot escape the clutches of his poorly written villain-in-human-form. Contrast his performance with that of returning cast member BD Wong, whose work is terrific and, arguably, the film's performance highlight. His evolution from the first film to this one is, well, evolutionary to say the least. Both the character and the actor elevate the movie a fair bit, even considering that it threatens to get lost in the mayhem and behind the top-billed performers. All of the film's primaries are terrific, particularly Chris Pratt in a hybrid Alan Grant/Robert Muldoon role and Bryce Dallas Howard who isn't afraid to get dirty and who performs the film's best wink to the original with aplomb. Last, but certainly not least, comes a mention of the film's visual effects. They're expectedly fantastic, very organic in movement and texture to the point that it's sometimes difficult to tell the difference between practical models and animatronics and digital creations, beyond, of course, several key scenes that are more obviously digital due to the nature of the moment rather than the quality of the effect. The effects aren't revolutionary, as they were in the first film. Here, they're less a leap forward and more a refinement, which is testament to how great Spielberg/ILM's effects were two decades ago. Nevertheless, the entire movie feels naturally organic. Every movement, bit of debris, collapsing structure, tossed and turned human, leaping dinosaurs, all of it integrates with an incredible seamlessness that only enhances the movie many times over. Jurassic World is a complete package, arguably the definition of a classic popcorn munching movie done almost perfectly. Jurassic World is easily the best of the series since the original. It retains that same magic, that sense of scope and awe, that feeling of novelty and adventure, even as it's little more than that first film repurposed, jazzed up with better visual effects and a mild reworking of the core story. The movie never slows or sputters and only disappoints in a couple of areas, but the sum is a breathtaking, wild, fully engaging and exciting movie that's much closer to a true sequel to the original than either The Lost World or Jurassic Park III. Universal's Blu-ray 3D presentation of Jurassic World isn't at all bad. The 3D effects satisfy but sometimes leave the viewer wanting a little more than raw depth. Sound is terrific and supplements are fine. This is the package to own for 3D owners, though the 3D novelty will probably wear more quickly than one's enjoyment of the film, which plays just as well, if not a bit better, in traditional 2D. Cast Notes: Chris Pratt (Owen), Bryce Dallas Howard (Claire), Vincent D'Onofrio (Hoskins), Ty Simpkins (Gray), Irrfan Khan (Simon Masrani), Nick Robinson (Zach), Jake Johnson (Lowery), Omar Sy (Barry), BD Wong (Dr. Henry Wu), Judy Greer (Karen), Lauren Lapkus (Vivian), Brian Tee (Hamada), Katie McGrath (Zara), Andy Buckley (Scott), Eric Edelstein (Paddock Supervisor). IMDb Rating (11/28/15): 7.1/10 from 324,778 users IMDb Rating (06/14/15): 7.7/10 from 57,664 users
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