海角大神

The film 鈥淛urassic World,鈥� the newest in a series about scientists bringing back dinosaurs, is set to hit theaters on June 12.聽

The movie is directed by Colin Trevorrow, a relative newbie whose previous credits include the 2012 movie 鈥淪afety Not Guaranteed,鈥� and takes place in a 鈥淛urassic鈥� world where the mission of the first movie 鈥� to create an amusement park where families can come and view dinosaurs 鈥� has been accomplished. 鈥淕uardians of the Galaxy鈥� actor Chris Pratt portrays Owen Grady, who works at the park and trains dinosaurs, while Bryce Dallas Howard of 鈥淭he Help鈥� is the park鈥檚 operations manager. When those behind the park create a new dinosaur to get more people through the gates of Jurassic World, things go dangerously wrong.

The history of 鈥淛urassic鈥� as a franchise has not been a particularly auspicious one creatively. While the movies did well at the box office, neither 1997鈥檚 鈥淭he Lost World鈥� nor 2001鈥檚 鈥淛urassic Park III鈥� were well-received by critics (鈥淟ost鈥� holds a score of out of 100 on the review aggregator website Metacritic, while 鈥淚II鈥� did even worse with a score of ).听

So what sets 鈥淲orld鈥� apart from its predecessors? According to some early reviews of the film, one major plus for this film is its cast. writer Peter Bradshaw writes that Pratt 鈥済ives a tremendously likeable performance鈥� somewhere on a continuum between Harrison Ford and Tom Hanks鈥� and that Howard is 鈥渧ery good,鈥� while critic Scott Foundas called Pratt 鈥渆ffortlessly engaging鈥� and 鈥檚 Peter Travers called him 鈥渦ber-relatable鈥� [Pratt] aces it as an action hero and invests his鈥� banter with a comic flair the movie could have used more of,鈥� also calling Howard a 鈥渄ynamo.鈥� writer Daniel Krupa agreed, calling Howard "great" and writing that "Pratt is every bit the matinee idol here."聽However, critic Chris Nashawaty found the characters themselves uninteresting, writing that the film 鈥渄oesn鈥檛 have much interest聽in giving these characters third 鈥� or even second 鈥� dimensions.鈥�

Also working in this movie鈥檚 favor, according to reviewers? Trevorrow. Foundas wrote that the director 鈥済ives the movie a warmer, brighter touch, closer in feel to the original film,鈥� though Foundas thought that Trevorrow is 鈥渇ar less adept at staging big action.鈥� writer Todd McCarthy found that 鈥渢here's a certain low-key affability about Trevorrow's approach that marks him a likeable humanist rather than as a director determined to hammer the viewer into submission鈥� and Travers wrote that the movie is 鈥渁lso more than a blast of rumbling, roaring, 'did you... see that!' fun. It's got a wicked streak of subversive attitude that goes by the name of Colin Trevorrow.鈥� Krupa also praised the director, writing that "Trevorrow has been allowed to build quietly a much more thoughtful, character-driven movie than I ever expected."

And overall, it seems to be just an old-fashioned blockbuster (in a good way) with plenty of action and jaw-dropping sequences. It鈥檚 just fun, say many critics. Bradshaw called the film 鈥渁 terrifically enjoyable and exciting summer spectacular: savvy, funny, ridiculous in just the right way, with some smart imaginative twists,鈥� while Nashawaty wrote that the movie is 鈥渆asily the franchise鈥檚 most thrilling sequel yet鈥� and McCarthy found that 鈥渢he old-fashioned Saturday matinee-like pleasures stemming from resourceful derring-do in the face of mighty odds retain an appeal if done reasonably well, which is the case here.鈥� Going back to a franchise's roots seems to be the key to success for "World."