Movie Review :: Jurassic World is the best one yet!

Our whole family went to see Jurassic World opening weekend at our local theater and boy, was it a packed house! It seems like there are a lot of fans of this fun movie franchise – and for good reason! Steven Spielberg returns to executive produce the long-awaited next installment of his groundbreaking Jurassic series, starring Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard. First off, I must admit I have a bit of a celebrity crush on Chris Pratt. I really loved him as Starlord in Guardians of the Galaxy, thought he always stole the scenes in Parks and Recreation and he definitely is fun to watch in Jurassic World.

“Twenty-two years after the events of Jurassic Park, Isla Nublar now features a fully functioning dinosaur theme park, Jurassic World, as originally envisioned by John Hammond. After 10 years of operation and visitor rates declining, in order to fulfill a corporate mandate, a new attraction is created to re-spark visitors’ interest, which backfires horribly.”

What we experience as the audience is a fun and action-packed movie that is filled with realistic looking dinosaurs – so much so you actually believe for a moment that Jurassic World really exists. I thought more than once during the beginning of the movie that I would love to visit a Dinosaur-themed park and hoped that someday in the near future this could become a reality. I mean – why not? With all the genetic and medical advances we have seen the past few years – why couldn’t and shouldn’t we create something like Jurassic World!

Well, about halfway through the movie I thought “Nah, maybe that wouldn’t be such a great idea after all!” The dinosaurs are wild creatures after all and they do what dinosaurs do – hunt and kill. Mind you, not all of them are carnivores and I did find myself get a little teary-eyed in one scene when a Triceratops was killed by the crazy dinosaur that the Hammond Creation Lab created. But I don’t want to give out too much information if you haven’t seen the movie yet!

Is this movie too scary for kids? “Not really” says my eight year old. She loved the realistic dinosaur chases, the feisty tween and teen brothers who find themselves in situations that makes us hold our breaths. The plastic car they rode around in while taking a tour of the park was “sick” (translation: cool) as my daughter said. The special effects were pretty fantastic and you really feel like you are taking a tour of Jurassic World with the boys.

Bryce Dallas Howard was great – what’s not to like about this feisty redhead! Though I don’t know how she survived filming this movie in those heels for months on end. And Vincent D’Onofrio is one of my absolute favorite actors. I loved him in Men in Black as the farmer turned alien and he is great in this movie as well! The story was well done in my opinion and the movie is just plain fun – for everyone in the family.

If you want to check out the real Jurassic World you can gain access to the park on their website here.

And here is a fun Fandago Family video mash-up of all four of the Jurassic movies. I bet this will bring back memories! Do you remember the first time you watched Jurassic Park?

And take this quiz via Fandango Family to find out What Type of Dinosaur Are You? I took the quiz and am Dino from ‘The Flintstones’ (1994)! I am so fierce!

Read about the history of dinosaurs in Hollywood here.

Enjoy this simple craft to get the kids even more excited about watching Jurassic World! Enjoy!

Dinosaur Necklace:

For a full tutorial go to the Fandango Family page.

In celebration of movies and as part of the Fandango Family we have a $50 Fandango Gift Card and a T-rex Smithsonian Museum Craft Kit from Skullduggery for one lucky winner!

Note: We are part of the Fandango Family and provided gift cards to review movies throughout the year but this does not affect our opinions in any way.