Do I really need to justify seeing a movie with Chris Pratt and velociraptors in it?

What’s It About? The Jurassic World theme park faces a crisis when its latest attraction, a genetically-engineered super dinosaur, escapes its paddock.

STRAIGHT UP: The best Jurassic Park offering since the original. 4/5

What I Liked:

Chris Pratt as Owen Grady – Chris Pratt’s stock is trading at an all-time high, and his innate likability is invaluable to this film. Plus, his character Owen is something of a unicorn in these types of movies – a park ranger who doesn’t get overconfident in his skills/equipment and doesn’t end up as some dinosaur’s lunch.

Seeing the park – None of the previous JP features have ever shown what the park would look like if it actually got up and running. We finally get to see that here, and it’s awesome. I’d love to explore the Jurassic World exhibits more thoroughly in a video game or short film or something.

The raptors – The classic JP baddies return late in the film for some signature scenes. Also, watching Owen go hunting with his own pack of specially-trained raptors is ridiculous, but delightful.

Indominus Rex – I love the way this film handles its original dinosaur. It’s teased for just long enough to give its first appearance real impact; it adds a welcome element of horror to the proceedings; and it goes over huge in the awesome final action scene.

That final scene – It’s a multi-dinosaur melee! Godzilla doesn’t have anything on this.

B.D. Wong as Dr. Henry Wu – If I had made a short list of characters I wanted to return for this movie, this guy would have been on it. At this point, he’s secretly the main villain of this entire franchise.

Easter Eggs – Many a scene is littered with subtle references to the previous films. I was most excited to spot Mr. DNA in the new Visitor’s Center and a copy of Ian Malcolm’s book on a certain character’s desk.

What I Disliked:

Zach and Gray – These characters fill the same role as Tim and Lex in the original film. I understand why they have to be here, but I just cannot bring myself to care about them.

Vincent D’Onofrio’s Weyland-Yutani Syndrome – I’m really tired of brain-dead bad guys like D’Onofrio’s character Hoskins, who insist on “weaponizing” raptors or Xenomorphs or whatever despite all onscreen evidence proving how impossible that is.

Sadism – I don’t know how else to say this… there’s a scene where an innocuous side character is tormented by pteranodons for almost two minutes before getting chomped in half by a Mosasaur. It’s kind of uncomfortable to watch.

Messy in the margins – On the technical side, some things aren’t so tidy. Zach and Gray talk about their parents getting divorced, but it’s totally weightless; same goes for supposed romantic chemistry between Owen and his boss Claire. The dialogue features some throwaway lines and callbacks to things that weren’t introduced in the first place. Finally, outside of a few key scenes, the cinematography isn’t as interesting as it could’ve been.

CLOSING THOUGHT: My dad took me to see Jurassic Park in the theater when I was 5 years old; I think it was my very first movie. Ever since then, the Jurassic Park franchise has been kind of a big deal for me. I watched The Lost World so many times I wore out the videotape, and saw JP3 in a theater where I was the only one in the audience. I played the now-forgotten Telltale adventure game, and even suffered through Trespasser. I’ve got the bona fides, but still I have to admit – a lot of the Jurassic Park franchise just isn’t very good. Look at all the garbage in that list I just made! So, until last night, I never expected that Jurassic World would be so enjoyable, but here we are. It washed away so many years of disappointment and caused me to feel genuine wonder at the movies again. It may not be as refined as some other stuff I’ve watched this year, but I think I’ll want to go back to this one again and again.