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Jurassic World (UIP)
Director: Colin Trevorrow
Featuring: Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas
Howard Gray (Ty Simpkins), the young boy through whose eyes we all first experience the wonder of Jurassic World, shouts “we need more teeth!” when things get really carnivorous at the theme park.
The hundreds and hundreds of special effect wizards deliver just that – while director Colin Trevorrow, hand-picked by Steven Spielberg, hits every emotional and action note like the master himself.
Jurassic World is set 22 years after the events of Jurassic Park. Now the vision of John Hammond is realised – 20 000 visitors a year go to Jurassic World, where people get up close and personal with an array of dinosaurs, from gentle triceratops in the petting zoo to the T rex, which is still snatching up tethered goats for dinner (except now it is entertainment).
Dallas Howard is Claire, the manager of the theme park. She runs a tight ship and calls the dinosaurs assets. Her efficiency is matched by a complete lack of emotional connection to the animals and people.
Her main concern is to get the park ready to introduce a new asset, which was created in the lab by Henry Wu (BD Wong, reprising his role from the first Jurassic Park).
It is the Indominus rex, which is about as tall as a four-storey building and so predatory that she ate her brother.
Claire’s nephews Gray and Zach arrive just as she’s faced with a glitch in the unveiling of Indominus rex.
To fix the problem, she is advised to get help from Owen (Pratt), a former navy Seal who is training the intelligent velociraptors.
The pair’s chemistry fuels the plot and when the new dinosaur escapes from her enclosure, the two have to chase her down while trying to rescue Gray and Zach and keep the other 20 000 people at the park from being eaten. Needless to say, lots of people get munched.
The trained velociraptors also have their role to play, and they get their revenge on Vincent D’Onofrio’s character, who wants to use them to fight wars.
Jurassic World takes place pretty much a generation after all of us marvelled at Jurassic Park and it is just as much jaw-dropping fun now as it was then.
This one’s going to the top of the box office faster than an Indominus rex kills her way to the top of the food chain.
. The crew spent 33 days filming in the forests of Hawaii.
. Main Street was built in the parking lot of the Six Flags theme park in New Orleans, which was damaged by Hurricane Katrina. The size of six football fields, there were 400 craftspeople working on the site and 800 extras were used to make the scene bustle.
. The interior sets, including the genetics lab and information centre, were built on the Nasa campus where the first rocket to the moon was built.
. It took the animatronics team three months to create the apatosaurus that Pratt and Howard soothe after it is attacked by Indominus rex. The scene is a nod to the original, in which Laura Dern and Sam Neill do the same.
. The film makes numerous references to the original, including the car used in the original with the famous shuddering puddle, as well as a statue of John Hammond and a restaurant on Main Street named after special effects wizard Stan Winston.
. The budget for the movie was estimated to be $150 million (R1.8 billion)
