Returning to Isla Nublar

     Hearing the beginning horns of the Jurassic Park theme as the universal logo slowly twisted out brought goosebumps to my skin. I was reliving one of my favorite movie franchises of all times. There has been quite a bit of hype for Jurassic World, and while it correlates with the Jurassic Park verse and is not a remake or reboot the story stays very genuine even with the return to the island of the five deaths. While I’m writing this review I am going to try and keep it as spoiler-less as possible though it may pop up from time to time. As the movie starts, there really isn’t any kind of backstory the return to Isla Nublar, or why InGen had decided to keep it at the island location where as in the The Lost World movie (Definitely not the book) they decided to try and build the park in San Diego. None the less, the back story really isn’t needed for movie but it would have been nice, perhaps just a bit knit picky on this point. I was curious to into what characters were going to be returning to the Jurassic franchise after seeing in the credits that read ‘based on characters created by Michael Crichton’. However, the only returning character to this franchise was that of Dr. Henry Wu. Which, I guess I find kind of ironic because if anyone had read the books we all know the fate of Dr. Wu. Again, I am trying to keep as many spoiler-less points for this review but still give an honest one at that. The one thing I thought was very fun about the entire movie was the constant reference to the original film. Some of the shots of the movie the same, some lines had doubled up and were being heard again, vehicles from the first movie reappearing, hell at one point you get to see a very ramshackle Visitor’s Center accompanied with a very sad, and mournful soundtrack from the first Jurassic Park.
     I know that there was one thing scoffed at in the movie, that was kind of a double edged sword. Many people were not impressed with the whole ‘Hybrid Dinosaur’ idea that was seen in the initial previews. That now, InGen was making mutated dinosaurs. To me, that seemed like a bit of a genetic horror movie involving zombies, living dead, or something along those lines. This movie definitely involves the Genetic horror of things and the fact man is trying to play God to make a few bucks. That of course the reason for toying with nature is to make more money and bring in more attendance. I won’t go into the exact details of things, but really the monster of this movie does play out like a Frankenstein, or a creature that was created and out of control to begin with ‘seeing the world for the first time’ sort of scenario. The other half of this whole thing is how the climax of the movie turned out. The ending I think could have been a bit better when pertaining to a very key player. Let put it this way, to keep the spoilers out of it. They were catering to a dead man the entire movie. Again, to those who’ve read the novels will understand exactly what I am meaning by that statement. While I can see that they were interested in doing another movie, I am hoping that the path they are trying to take will not stray from the original verse created by Michael Crichton. His concept and novel both were revolutionary and opened many doors especially when it comes to genetics, and genetic engineering. I hope that the franchise doesn’t turn into a Survival Horror type series like ‘Resident Evil’ (AKA Biohazard), with an evil company running rapid in the shadows creating freaks of nature for military projects etc.
     The other thing I know that was scoffed at was Chris Pratt’s ‘Raptor Pack’ that you see in the previews with him training them and basically controlling them. At first, I’ll even admit that I winced and wondered what exactly they were going to do with this and where were they going to take it? As the movie progresses and the story keeps trudging forward all things are revealed including the intended use for these Raptor’s. While some scoff, the idea is really not too far off. Any kind of animal when raised from a young age that doesn’t know better you can train them and ALMOST domesticate them. Some examples of this would be wolves, bears, raccoons, etc. I say almost domesticate because animals have that instinct in them regardless of the scenario or situation. I really dug the idea and even thought it was well played and the imagination was there! The CGI affects I think were great, the overall visuals for the movie were very stunning. I am glad that we didn’t wait and see it in 2D like the missus and I had intended on doing. One thing that I’d always wished you’d see more of in the JP movies was dinosaurs. This movie certainly was not disappointing with dinosaurs. There was a vast amount of species seen in the movie. While I watched this movie something popped into my mind that I kind of wondered if they weren’t trying to make maybe an alternate universe type movie.
     You know, that this is the story that would have happened if all of the original scientists from ‘Jurassic Park’ had signed off on it. What if the dinosaurs hadn’t burst out of their cages, or eaten people? What if this is the aftermath of a successful park for almost twenty years and this incident happened? It could have very strongly been that case if the old visitor center, and old vehicles from the first park had never been seen. There is really no reference to Isla Sonra, BioSyn, etc. I am glad that they decided to make another Jurassic Park instead of rebooting it or remaking it. While the story for Jurassic World was great, I think the story with the two kids could have been left out or maybe the kids could have played less of a role in it. Obviously, the park employees preoccupied the story more than the kids but it was with good reason. Overall, I think that this movie was great. I would recommend it to anyone who is a Jurassic Park fan either having seen the movies that’ve spanned over twenty something years, or the book that was released sooner than that. It was very fascinating that they released this movie on the anniversary date of the first movies release. I think for me that it just adds to the nostalgia of it.