Jurassic World

A sequel set twenty-two years after the first film. The park finally opened. The island is a resort; hotels, restaurants, boat tours and twenty thousand visitors a day. The problem is interest. Visitor numbers are falling and the company wants a new attraction every few years. A new animal is made in the laboratory. Genes from several species were mixed and the records do not fully say what is in it. The animal gets out. From there the film is an evacuation. Two boys are lost in the park, their aunt is in management, and a trainer understands the animals' behaviour. What the narrative is interested in is not dinosaurs but satiety: the film says the audience and the visitor are no longer astonished, and describes its own position; that is its cleverest part. The military line is its weakest. The idea of using the animals as weapons is not convincing and the character is one-dimensional. Training the raptors is the idea at the centre and the last section depends on it. The effects are almost entirely digital; computers replaced the mechanical animals of the first film, which was often criticised in comparison. Some scenes refer directly to the first film: the old visitor centre, a T-shirt and a piece of music. It had one of the fastest openings at the worldwide box office to that date. Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Vincent D'Onofrio, Irrfan Khan and B. D. Wong are in the cast. Colin Trevorrow directed. Who it is for: anyone who wants large-scale adventure. Who it is not for: anyone expecting the tension of the first film; the narrative is louder and the characters are thin.