WARNING: THIS REVIEW INCLUDES MINOR SPOILERS!

The moment we’ve been waiting for is finally here: after a long absence, the dinosaurs of the succesful Jurassic Park franchise make their triumphant return to the silver screen. Many years after the eccentric John Hammond’s attempt to open a prehistoric zoo, Jurassic World is finally open to the public. Thousands of tourists visit the park I could only dream of as a child on a daily basis. The park is open. But how firmly is man actually in control?

Synopsis Brothers Zach and Gray go on the trip of a lifetime and visit Jurassic World, where there aunt Claire works as park operations manager. Claire is to busy to spend time with her cousins, though, because the park is about to unveil its latest attraction: the genetically modified Indominus Rex.

When Owen Grady, the park’s raptor trainer, inspects the new dinosaur’s paddock, things go wrong: the beast escapes.

The management’s futile attempts to capture the Indominus, who proves to be the perfect killing machine, fail and the renegade dinosaur goes on a murderous rampage throughout the park.

Claire heads into the park with Owen to rescue her cousins, but when the pteranodons escape, the house of cards comes crashing down and nobody is safe anymore.

Vic Hoskins, the sinister head of security, decides now is as good a time as any to test if dinosaurs prove to be good weapons of war and takes Owen’s raptor pack to hunt the Indominus Rex. But is that really such a bright idea?

Whether you call it flogging a dead dinosaur or sticking to your guns, the fact remains that the main plot of Jurassic World is hardly innovative. Sure, the park is open and the number of potential casualties is a lot higher, but the essence remains the same: man is too proud and gets punished for it. After they finally managed to be in control of an entire theme park filled with prehistoric animals, investors and visitors want more: a spectacular dinosaur, bigger, louder, with more teeth. Hubris at its finest.

But that which gives Jurassic World just that little bit of added depth is the subplot featuring Owen Grady’s (Chris Pratt) raptor pack. After extensive training, he has succeeded in establishing a bond of mutual respect with the lethal raptors and managed to become the pack’s alpha male. Trained velociraptors offer perspectives, at least as far as Vic Hoskins (Vincent D’Onofrio), head of park security, is concerned. Weaponizing dinosaurs is an idea that has been circulating for years as a main plot point for an eventual fourth installment of the Jurassic Park franchise, and it’s nice to see how director Colin Trevorrow manages to insert this into his movie without resorting to the ridiculous ideas of dinosaurs carrying firearms or half man, half dinosaur hybrids that used to circulate on the internet.

The characters of Jurassic World are enjoyable, though not without flaws. Chris Pratt plays the tough but witty Owen Grady, who hunts the Indominus Rex with his raptor pack. He is an ideal protagonist, but sometimes you get the feeling this movie is just too much of a “Great Chris Pratt Show“. We’ve got to hand it to him though, there’s certainly a large amount of chemistry between him and Bryce Dallas Howard, who plays Claire Dearing. Personally, we could have done without the budding romance between the two of them, but oh well: Hollywood will be Hollywood.

Jurassic World wouldn’t be a true Jurassic-movie without children in distress. Kids of the day are Zach and Gray Mitchell (Nick Robinson and Ty Simpkins). They are somewhat more intelligent than the average Jurassic brats, but except for a moment or two that hits you straight in the feels, it’s probably better to look at them as plot objects instead of genuine characters. We know your parents are getting a divorce, but don’t let that be a surrogate for having an actual personality. And as always, they have plot armour.

Infinitely more interesting is the owner of the park Simon Masrani (Irrfan Khan), who is every bit as crazy as John Hammond ever was. At least the man has some heart: he seems to genuinely care about the well-being of the animals that most consider to be nothing more than company assets and he isn’t scared to hop into his helicopter to assist in hunting the Indominus Rex himself.

But enough about the meatbags, let’s talk about the real stars of the movie: the dinosaurs. Just a week ago, I was gushing over the animatronic dinosaurs of Steven Spielberg, but when it comes to dinosaur design, Jurassic World knocks the ball right out of the park. They may not look a whole lot different from their predecessors, but it’s when they start moving that you’re really taken aback. The fight between the Ankylosaurus and the Indominus Rex is dynamic, and the Triceratopses rushing ahead like angry bulls finally banish the image of sluggish giants from our minds. But the real highlights are the raptors: the movements of a hunting raptor are nothing short of art, true poetry in motion.

This review would be sorely lacking if I didn’t mention the general atmosphere and suspense in the movie. With the “Oh F*ck” moments in this movie, Trevorrow manages to reach the same levels of suspense as the original novel by Michael Crichton and the first Jurassic Park movie. Our jaws literally dropped when the Indominus Rex displayed the ability to change its color to blend in with its surroundings like a chameleon and a shiver ran down our spines when that very same Indominus, part raptor herself, started to communicate with Owens raptors.

The violence of Jurassic World is sometimes rather visceral. After watching all three of the original movies again in one glorious binge, I figured I wouldn’t even flinch anymore at lawyers being eaten alive or limbs being torn off, but the final struggle of one particular visitor, who gets swept off her feet by a Pteranodon, dropped in the Mosasaur tank, picked up again by the Pteranodon screeching and struggling, only to be devoured by the Mosasaurus, is particularly brutal. Damn nature, you SCARY!

Atmosphere and suspense are just a few of the things Trevorrow gets exactly right. Unlike Joe Johnston, the man responsible for the farce that was Jurassic Park III, he manages to find the perfect balance between nostalgia and innovation. Because of this, the movie feels like a natural progression of the story instead of a reboot or a standalone feature. Observant viewers can spot delightful little easter eggs hidden throughout the movie, which connect it to the original trilogy: we see the old visitor center of the original park again, as well as the iconic jeeps and night vision goggles. The Tyrannosaurus gets lured before the visitors with a goat and a flare and Owen’s work with the raptors is based on the social behaviour displayed by the animals in the third movie. Even the petting zoo, where toddlers can ride infant Triceratopses, and the boat rides on a river surrounded by dinosaurs are directly based on concept art of the original movie. Trevorrow shows he knows the source material: the chameleon camouflage of the Indominus Rex is based on an important plot point in the original novels by Crichton. And if you pay very close attention, you might even notice Mr. DNA himself making a sneaky cameo appearance.

In conclusion… Well, that might not be the right way to put it, because Jurassic World doesn’t appear to be the end of the franchise just yet. It’s just idle speculation at this point, but this Geekster wouldn’t be very surprised at all to hear a fifth Jurassic movie is on the horizon. The plotline involving Henry Wu (B.D. Wong) is just too conspicuously unresolved. And then there is still Isla Sorna, that other island inhabited by dinosaurs…