Monster showdown

PART sequel and part homage, Jurassic World is almost too self-referential for its own good. But only almost. It is 22 years since Jurassic Park stomped onto the big screen, rewriting the rule book for making special-effects-driven thrillers as one of the first big flicks to extensively use CGI.

Sadly, it was a franchise that experienced a severe case of diminishing returns, with a so-so sequel and an utterly disastrous third instalment.

Jurassic World virtually ignores the two previous sequels (good) and picks up the story of Isla Nublar 22 years after the initial dinosaur disaster of Jurassic Park.

As we return to the scene of the crime, as it were, the dream of turning the dinosaur cloning experiment into a functioning theme park has finally been realised.

Jurassic World attracts 20,000 visitors a day, coming to see real dinosaurs living in the wild but, naturally, there is trouble brewing.

In the modern age of constantly escalating technology and short attention spans, mere dinosaurs are no longer “wow” enough to pull the big crowds.

So the genetic lab has cooked up something special: a hybrid that is bigger and scarier than anything else in the park: Indominus Rex. I mean, what could possibly go wrong, right? In answer to that question, we have brothers Zach (Nick Robinson) and Gray (Ty Simpkins), nephews of the park’s director Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard), who are visiting for the first time.

And naturally enough, they get caught up in the middle of a dino-rampage.

Now, the joy of the original Jurassic Park, aside from its revolutionary special effects, was that it was actually a fairly good science fiction story that just happened to be wrapped up in a gorgeous action/adventure film.

Both the book and the film were products of a time when genetic research and cloning really were the next big frontier of science.

But now that such things are almost commonplace, it is probably a natural evolution for Jurassic World to have left any pretence of science fiction behind, instead giving us a straightforward monster movie.

And this is the best way to watch Jurassic World: as a B-grade monster flick.

All the tropes and cliches are there: the knowledgeable loner (Chris Pratt as velociraptor trainer Owen) who is the park’s only hope, the hardened cynic who discovers her humanity amid the crisis (Howard), the tech nerd working behind the scenes, and so on.

The plot itself is also horribly predictable, right down to who-dies-when and even the final dino-showdown, and the first act is essentially half an hour of clumsily plonking down the dominoes ready to be knocked over later on.

The central plot, involving a plan to militarise the resurrected dinosaurs, is an utter dog’s breakfast, poorly explained and full of holes big enough for a sauropod to walk through.

But Jurassic World screams along at such a roaring pace that I never even had a second to worry about any of that until the final credits rolled.

When I finally did start to think back over it all afterwards, I had a few “hey, hang on” moments where things either made no sense or were just plain silly, but the fact that I never noticed at the time, and everything still made narrative sense, says a lot for the film.

And we get some solid acting performances, too. Much better than you’d have any right to expect from most monster movies.

Pratt is great fun as Owen, a roguish ex-navy guy who trains velociraptors for a living.

Howard is simultaneously infuriating and likable as Clare, a cold businesswoman who suddenly has to stop seeing the dinosaurs as numbers and think about them as real living things.

The two brothers have a great dynamic and while they really only exist to serve the narrative purpose of giving us outsiders’ eyes to look through, they are still well rounded characters.

And Vincent D’Onofrio proves once again what an excellent villain he can be, but is underused.

If Jurassic World had tried to be anything more than it is, it would have failed horribly — and laughably.

But by staying steadily on-target as a straight-up monster schlocker with sensational special effects, it does a marvellous job.

And a swag of references and homages to the original 1993 movie are well placed — particularly Howard’s hilarious costuming moments (hello there, Laura Dern).

I could continue picking faults with the thin story, shoddy plot and shameless product placement forever. But even I would feel like a killjoy for doing that.

To adapt a common internet meme: here is a velociraptor riding on a T-rex, your argument is invalid.

Jurassic World is now showing at Village Cinemas and Cmax, rated M. RATING: