Jurassic World

Released by: Universal Studios
Released on: October 20th, 2015
Directed by: Colin Trevorrow
Cast: Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Vincent D'Onofrio, Ty Simpkins, Nick Robinson, B.D. Wong, Judy Greer
Year: 2015
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The Movie:

Zach {Nick Robinson) and Gray (Ty Simpkins) Mitchell have been shipped off to visit Aunt Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard) at Jurassic World, a popular tourist trap that features live dinosaurs on an island off the coast of South America. When the boys get to the park, however, their aunt is busy and they're ostensibly stuck with a babysitter. Ditching her, they hijack a gyrosphere, ignore an evacuation order, and wander into a restricted area—just as Claire and her former boyfriend (Chris Pratt), a dinosaur trainer named Owen, accidentally help a large and genetically modified dinosaur, the Indominus rex, to escape its holding pen. Not to worry too much: Zach and Gray come across the Indominus themselves… and barely escape with their lives. It isn't long before the ferocious killing machine is wrecking all sorts of havoc in the theme park, including inadvertently freeing the park's deadly pterosaurs, which swoop down on the park's visitors. With conventional weaponry having little success against the prehistoric denizens, Owen sets his pack of Velociraptors after the Indominus, unaware of the animals' close connection to one another.

Jurassic World set worldwide records when it opened to packed houses in the summer of 2015, and it isn't difficult to understand why. A reprise of a Steven Spielberg-initiated series that had proved mega-successful in the 1990s (a series based on a bestselling Michael Crichton novel influenced by the giant monster movies of the 1950s and '60s), Universal and Amblin Entertainment capitalized on the now-adulthood of the original film's audience—and their current children—for box office success. The gamble paid off. Between the original production budget and the dollars dumped into advertising, Jurassic World was a $200 million investment with a $1.6 billion return. It quickly became the biggest film of the year and was propelled into third place in all-time domestic and international highest-grossing film charts.

The direction is surprisingly clever, with Trevorrow crafting a taut thriller with comedic asides. In some ways, the images he panders are little more than big-budget, CGI-laden versions of the type of thrills found in Terence Fisher and John Carpenter films. Our heroes possess the foreground of the frame, taking up about one-third of the screen, with the horror—of which the heroes are often unaware—behind them, silently dominating the image despite making up a much smaller part of it. While much of the film owes a great deal to its forebears, Jurassic World improves on the previous films, despite the similar approach. The dinosaurs are bigger and meaner and faster, and the kids are less annoying. Add to the mix a scene in which innumerable pterosaurs attempt to feast on human prey and you have a pretty solid winner, a special-effects fest invested with heart and humor.

Adding to the appeal are naturalistic performances by almost everyone involved (Vincent D'Onofrio and Judy Greer excepted). Chris Pratt proved himself a major box office draw for the second year in a row, following on the success of his portrayal as Star-Lord in James Gunn's Guardians of the Galaxy, which proved to be 2014's biggest film. Famed actor and director Ron Howard's daughter Bryce Dallas also acquits herself well; in fact, her performance is so naturalistic that it's almost invisible, blending into the rest of the film and taking a backseat to the film's real draw: the gloriously domineering and highly fictional Indominus rex.

Not that the film wasn't controversial in some quarters. Paleontologists bristled at some of the portrayals of the antediluvian beasts of the shadowed past. Among Jurassic World's prehistoric participants were Velociraptors, Triceratops, Pachycephalosaurus, Apatosaurus, Pteranodons, Dimorphodons, Mosasaurus, Stegosaurus, Ankylosaurus, Tyrannosaurus rex, Gallimimus, and Edmontosaurus, among others. Yet, the raptors are clearly modeled after Utahraptors rather than Velociraptors and are missing the downy fur and feathers that we today know they bore, while the Mosasaurus is actually the much larger marine reptile Tylosaurus (a type of mosasaur apart from Mosasaurus). Trevorrow responded to the criticism by pointing out that the film was science fiction rather than a documentary (an argument many of us have used to justify the inclusion of people alongside dinosaurs in Hammer's classic One Million Years B.C., 1966). The controversy didn't hurt the box office any; audiences flocked to see it regardless, ensuring a sequel or two, the first of which has been announced for 2018.

Video/Audio/Extras:

Universal's Blu-ray release of Jurassic World 3D features the film in a number of formats: Blu-ray 3D, Blu-ray 2D, DVD, Digital HD, and Ultraviolet. The review here is primarily concerned with the two Blu-ray and one DVD presentations. Universal has placed the 3D version of the film on a single 50GB disc with an MPEG-4 MVC encode in 1080p high definition. The aspect ratio replicates the film's original theatrical ratio of 2.00:1, a fairly standard OAR for the studio. The image is clean and crisp, with some stellar 3D. As with the special effects for Walking with Dinosaurs (2013), the three dimensions result in dinosaurs that are staggering in their realism, even when, in 2D, they flow a little too freely. The best example of this in World is the herd of Gallimimus (in a scene that recreates a moment from the original film). In 2D the animals look entirely CGI, with little depth and color that shimmers a tad too much. In 3D, the animals look astounding, with real texture and reptilian skin tones. Of course, the dinosaurs aren't the only things to benefit from the 3D technology. The gorgeous Hawaiian locations are given a major boost. Individuals leaves of trees and blades of grass pop off the screen, as do Chris Pratt's muscles, Bryce Dallas Howard's feminine traits, and Mosasaurus's gigantic teeth. The effects often look best when things are flying, whether they be helicopters or pterosaurs, and the attack on the theme park by flying reptiles looks particularly harrowing. Some critics have complained that the imagery isn't as spectacular as in some other modern films, yet a careful examination of the picture reveals that depth is greatly improved when compared to the 2D version. Here is a film in which the three dimensions sink back into the frame as much as they leap off of it; Man of Steel (2013) and Mad Max: Fury Road (2014) achieved a similar look. The film was shot on different cameras and in a number of formats, and film grain is present. It appears organic rather than fake, and it never overtakes the imagery, instead laying the groundwork upon which the images rest. Colors are sharp, with greens and browns predominant. This is also true of the 2D Blu-ray, which features the same specs as the 3D version except for one: it features an MPEG-4 AVC encode. Otherwise, and despite the lack of 3D, the images are extremely sharp, with terrific detail, an appropriate amount of grain, and vivid colors. The DVD, which features the film in standard definition, also looks quite good, particularly when played on a Blu-ray player where it gets upconverted. The DVD may not look as sharp as the BD, but it still looks sharp. In all, there is nothing to complain about in any of Universal's video presentation of the film.

The audio presentation is every bit as sharp as the video. Universal has opted for lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 as the primary English track, with secondary tracks in French and Spanish DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1. The surround is highly direction, with individual sounds coming across loud and clear, whether they be comprised of the park's visitors or the ambient sounds of nature in the jungle sequences. Now, the film isn't simply made up of such sounds; this is a big-budget summer blockbuster, and it's full of exactly the type of sounds you would expect to hear, from dinosaurs' roars to spectator's screams; from fiery explosions to rampant gunfire. Despite the stark differences, with loud bursts frequently disrupting the quieter moments, the sound is mixed well, and dialogue is always easy to make out. For the deaf and hard-of-hearing, English subtitles are included, and standard subtitles are included in Spanish and French.

Universal has released Jurassic World with a slew of extras. Only two of these extras appear on the 3D disc, whereas all of them appear on the 2D disc. None are included on the DVD. The 2D disc also contains 50GB of information, which allows for the extras without resulting in too much compression, despite the film running a little over two hours. On a positive note, all of the extras appear in 1080p with DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 sound.

There are over six minutes of deleted scenes, which are placed in a single file and therefore cannot be accessed individually. Most of these scenes do little to further the film's ends and thus the film hasn't been damaged by their removal. One, however, is important: an explanation for how Indominus is able to hide from heat-sensitive detection devices in its pen. Another involving the use of dino dung to cover up human scent is cute but probably went too far for executives' comfort.

“Chris & Colin Take on the World” is approximately nine minutes in length and casts star Chris Pratt and director Colin Trevorrow on opposite sides of the fourth estate. They interview each other, discussing their memories of seeing the original films, Pratt's 2009 prediction that he would star in Jurassic Park 4, Trevorrow's motivation and manners in directing the film, how it felt to be a part of the film, and the iconic kiss between Pratt and Howard.

“Welcome to Jurassic World” is the longest featurette, clocking in at just under 30 minutes. It features interviews with and clips of Steven Spielberg, Colin Trevorrow, producer Frank Marshall, producer Patrick Crowley, co-writer Derek Connolly, cinematographer John Schwartzman, production designer Edward Verreaux, stunt coordinator Chris O'Hara, animatronic puppeteer John Robert Rosengrant, and costume designer Daniel Orlandi, as well as actors Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Vincent D'Onofrio, Ty Simpkins, Nick Robinson, Omar Sy, Irrfan Khan, B.D Wong, Jake Johnson, and Lauren Lapkus. Needless to say, the program covers everything from the actors, to the sets, to the special effects, and then some.

“Dinosaurs Roam Once Again” is a 16-minute featurette focusing on the special visual effects. Pratt, Trevorrow, Spielberg, Simpkins, Howard, O'Hara, Schwartzman, Marshall, Crowley, effects supervisor Dennis Muren, ILM data wrangler Chris Moore, visual effects supervisor Tim Alexander, visual effects animation supervisor Glen McIntosh, actor Katie McGrath, dinosaur consultant Phil Tippett, and digital creature model supervisor Geoff Campbell discuss bringing the film's prehistoric beasts to modern-day life.

For “Jurassic World: All-Access Pass,” Pratt and Trevorrow return, this time to take audiences behind the scenes of the film's production. The featurette lasts a little over ten minutes and reveals how Pratt prepared for his role as an animal trainer, how the gyrosphere was reverse-engineered for realism, how Pratt dealt with riding a motorcycle, how video games influenced the “zero dark raptor” sequence, and how the final scene was perfected.

Next up, Chris Pratt takes us on a two-minute tour of the Innovation Center, revealing a number of easter-egg references to the original franchise.

And finally, there's “Jurassic's Closest Shaves—Presented by Barbasol,” a three-minute featurette that reveals some of the franchise's most dangerous moments as an excuse to hype its biggest sponsor: shaving cream Barbasol.

The Final Word:

Jurassic World may be a fairly typical example of popcorn fare, but that doesn't mean it isn't entertaining or that it lacks heart. It's a fun film, with some striking effects, especially in the 3D version. A couple of extraordinary set pieces that manage to outdo the original, along with likable characters and sexual tension between the leads, rightfully propelled the film to box office gold. Universal's BD and DVD releases look and sound great, and there are numerous extras amounting to nearly 75 minutes of additional entertainment.

Christopher Workman is a freelance writer, film critic, and co-author (with Troy Howarth) of the Tome of Terror horror film review series. Volume 2 of that series (covering the 1930s) is currently available from Midnight Marquee Press, Inc.

Click on the images below for full sized Blu-ray screen caps!