‘Jurassic World’ Review

Good filmmaking, like all good storytelling, revolves around a set of themes as old as time: Among them the loss of innocence, revenge, triumph over adversity, love conquers all, good wins out over evil and humans vs. nature. If you add to the latter entry “dinosaurs eating humans,” you’ve got the reason that “Jurassic World” crushed opening-weekend boxoffice records, scoring the highest domestic, international and worldwide openings of all time. The film has taken in more than $1.6 billion globally to become the third-highest grossing U.S. and fourth-highest grossing worldwide film in history. The story is simple and predictable: 22 years after the abortive opening of Jurassic Park, an even bigger and enormously popular attraction has taken its place: Jurassic World. But there’s trouble afoot. To keep attendance high, a new dinosaur –a genetically modified hybrid, the Indominus Rex — is introduced to the park. Little do the operators know that the military has a hand in the new species, and soon Indominus Rex gets out of its paddock to wreck havoc on the island. There’s the regular cast of stereotypes to move the plot along — a pair of oblivious kids on vacation (Ty Simpkins and Nick Robinson); the park’s ethical ex-military expert in animal behavior, Owen Grady (Chris Pratt); Jurassic World’s driven careerist, Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard), who famously runs from the leapin’ lizards in high heel shoes; the nasty ex-military head of security, Hoskins (Vincent D’Onofrio), who has an ulterior motive for hunting down Indominus Rex; and Dr. Henry Wu (BD Wong), an evil scientist who created the monster. And there’s all the usual set pieces: dinos chasing cars, dinos on human killing sprees, dinos killing dinos, dinos eating the military, etc, etc. But it works. “Jurassic World” is a great fun thrill ride that — despite the fact you know who’s gonna live and who’s gonna die — keeps you on the edge of your seat. My heart was pumping. Enjoy. Vitals: Director: Colin Trevorrow. Stars: Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Vincent D’Onofrio, Jake Johnson, Nick Robinson, Ty Simpkins, BD Wong, Judy Greer, Irrfan Khan. 2015, CC, MPAA rating: PG-13, 125 min., Science Fiction, Box office gross: $639.568 million, Universal. Extras: Deleted scenes; “Dinosaurs Roam Once Again” behind-the-scenes look at the making of “Jurassic World’s” visual effects and how the dinosaurs came to life; “Chris & Colin Take On The World” in which Chris Pratt and director Colin Trevorrow interview each other and discuss “Jurassic World” as well as the other “Jurassic Park” movies. Blu-ray adds “Welcome to Jurassic World” in-depth take on the creation, look and feel of “Jurassic World” Director Colin Trevorrow and Steven Spielberg discuss how the idea of the film came together and how the casting was decided;” Jurassic World: All-Access Pass” in which Pratt and Trevorrow discuss key moments in the film, supported by behind-the-scenes footage and VFX breakdowns; “Innovation Center Tour With Chris Pratt”; “Jurassic’s Closest Shaves” with clips from all the films in the franchise showing “near death” or extremely scary encounters with dinosaurs.