Critic’s Rating : 2.5 Star.
 
Cast: Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Vincent D’Onofrio, Ty Simpkins, Nick Robinson, Omar Sy, B. D. Wong, Irrfan Khan.

Direction: Colin Trevorrow
 
Producer: Frank Marshall, Patrick Crowley
 
Written: Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver, Derek Connolly, Colin Trevorrow
 
Genre: Adventure
 
Duration: 124  Minutes.

Because humans do not learn from their mistakes and public memory remains sketchy, the dinosaur theme-park is thrown open for enthralled visitors. Insert scenes of an oohing-aahing crowd as they sight the first of the ongoing verdant foliage at Isla Nublar’s Jurassic World. It is a resort, a museum with holograms, rides and a menagerie of dinosaurs to keep the tourists occupied.

Heading the operations is Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard), who really shouldn’t because neither her choice of attire or characteristic intelligence (or lack thereof) make her suited for the job. Intended to be uppity but essentially insufferable, you know the only reason the ditzy ginger has not been chomped upon by the park attractions is because she is protected by plot armour and the ever-bankable Chris Pratt.
He plays ex-Navy man Owen Grady, who trains Velociraptors and is the deus ex machina that saves a few to-be-victims from the wrath of the creatures. Owen is wry, tough, smart and ethical, which makes him the antithesis to the prim Claire, in turn, making their relationship history and attempts at chemistry feel lousy and forced.

A parallel track (that eventually converges) features Claire’s nephews Zach (Melissa and Joey’s Nick Robinson) and Gray Mitchell (Ty Simpkins), who have been sent to Jurassic World. Claire is too busy an executive to attend to them till she must because crisis strikes.
The Indominus Rex, a genetically-modified dinosaur, escapes from captivity, running amok through park and people like sport. This requires all hands on deck, a pile of dead bodies, an overzealous security head (Vincent D’Onofrio) who does not have anything under control and Owen scowling until he manages to save the day.

There is all the impressive dinosaur CGI to go on, but Jurassic Park falters in the absence of a compelling plot. Stand-alone, it could have been a serviceable studio product but its throwbacks to the original film only prove to be a constant reminder on how it fails to measure up.
Unlike the earlier characters who were fleshed out well enough to have the audiences root for them, Jurassic World’s lot seem best fit for animal fodder. Zach is a catatonic teenager. The tightly wound Claire chooses to continue with an unclear phone line to warn Zach and Gray, instead of disconnecting and sending them a text message. For the operations manager to go screaming their names into the woods seems like a terrible decision. One would think she had a fair idea of the nuances of dinosaur behaviour and their advances senses. Thank goodness for Owen, who almost ruins everything with a terrible pick-up line towards the climax.

Irrfan Khan has a supporting role as well-meaning billionaire Simon Masrani, which is let-down by average writing in spite of having good screen-time.

Overall, the film is uneven with poor pacing (the action takes longer than necessary to build-up) when it comes to balancing the family drama, the all-out rampage amidst clichés like the reasoning hero and the unyielding authorities. Other than Owen, none of the characters get to mouth any snappy lines, leaving only cardboard cut-outs of the parts sans dimensions.

Jurassic World may work for you if you have little expectations and a lot of nostalgia for the ’93 classic. But club it with the series and you will realise that it is disappointing despite the hype.