Really, how does a sailor get to be the go-to guy for animal wrangling? How many jobs do they have in the US Navy that even involve animals? Dog handlers? Maybe a select few horse experts? Some veterinarians and assistants? The original Jurassic Park, directed by Steven Spielberg and released in 1993 with its stellar cast and a window into a recreated bygone age, dazzled filmgoers that year. I was working for a movie theater at the time and still would have sat through multiple viewings even if I did not get free movies as a fringe benefit. The fully realized dinos charmed and awed an audience who previously had only seen stop motion versions of these creatures. Nascent computer generated imagery and animatronics brought them to life in a way that still stuns today. So, how do you top that, since topping it you must do?
Well, you create a bigger park. It is no longer just a Jurassic Park (which still exists as a neglected ruin on Isle Nubar). The island is now home to a bigger, more lavish and even more high tech and elaborate attraction. This time, both the Jurassic World management, park manager Claire Dearing (played by Bryce Dallas Howard) claims they have it all right. And in her meticulously managed world with no room for living systems or chaos, she believes they have a handle on this. So she is fully ready for a visit from her nephews, Nick and Ty, even to the point, she pawns off their first day at the park on her assistant. Too busy, dontcha know. The one cast member from the first film, Dr. Henry Wu, makes his return, in charge of Jurassic World's dinosaur lab. He is responsible for the new round of creations, including a frankenstein-like beastie that never existed in the real world, dubbed Indominous Rex. It is a combo of Tyrannosaurus Rex and...classified DNA. Hm. I'm sure that won't be a problem. Oh wait, it is. And when things do go scaled bellies up, are Chris Pratt's ex-Navy dino expert Owen Grady, bringing wisecracking charm and steely resolve to the mix, along with Vincent D'Onofrio, also former military, with an ambition to prove weaponized dinos as a concept.
Like the first Jurassic, what keeps this movie above just a pretty scifi actioner, besides a really terrific cast, is some underlying philosophy. Jeff Golblum's Ian Malcom, the chaotician from the first film and the original novel, made the point that, "Your scientists were so concerned about whether they could do this thing, they never stopped to ask themselves if they should." Henry Wu, on the other hand, in an expanded role in Jurassic World, when berated on about the freak factor of Indominus Rex, points out that all the dinos are freak creations. That modern science had to take shortcuts to bring any of them to life. And this does not seem to matter to him. He is the personification of Malcom's cautionary note. That science alone is not enough. If it does not have a sense of values and humility tempering its ambition, bad things can happen.
It is not so much a matter of forbidding you meddling in God's domain. Just keep in mind in your meddlings whose domain it is and having some humble circumspection while you are stumbling in the dark.
That may have been a very large dino footprint you just tripped in. Try not to scream.
