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Oakland native Colin Trevorrow directed "Jurassic World," the fourth film in the Jurassic Park franchise. Trevorrow previously directed the highly acclaimed independent film "Safety Not Guaranteed" in 2012, which was awarded an Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature. It was because of this movie that Steven Spielberg offered Trevorrow the opportunity to direct "Jurassic World," and resurrect what is quickly becoming a failing franchise. We all would agree the first film, "Jurassic Park," was an instant classic. It was new, fresh and it took filmmaking to a new level but since then the two sequels just didn't take us there.
I would have to say that Trevorrow, who also co-wrote the script, makes a solid attempt at reviving the Jurassic Park magic. This time the dinosaur amusement park is the biggest attraction in the world, with over 20,000 dinosaur lovers a day visiting its location in Costa Rica.
Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard, "The Help") and her two nephews, Gray (Ty Simpkins, "Insidious") and Zach (Nick Robinson, "The Kings of Summer") run the park. Gary loves dinosaurs and he is in heaven in the Sea World--like amusement park, which even has a Shamu type exhibit.
To keep the park going, Claire's team creates a "super-predator" called Indominus Rex. Claire realizes that Indominus Rex will bring in more corporate sponsorship and keep the money rolling in. It is the greed of creating bigger and stronger dinosaurs that creates destruction in the park and on the island. When Claire realizes that the new hyper dinosaur is getting out of control she reluctantly contracts her ex, Owen (Chris Pratt, "Guardians of the Galaxy").
This is when the nightmare begins.
Overall, I found "Jurassic World" a major improvement over the previous two films (J2, J3), but it does not deliver the uniqueness of the original. "Jurassic World" is rate PG-13 for intense sequences of science-fiction violence. Parents should know that it is much more violent than the original. "Jurassic World" has a TRT (total running time) of 2 hours and 4 minutes.
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Lamorinda Weekly, Moraga CA