Jurassic World starring Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard.

When will they learn? Dinosaurs and humans cannot co-exist in happy harmony! But they keep trying, and it certainly makes for an entertaining movie. Twenty-two years after the failure of the original park, “Jurassic World” is now the exciting theme park John Hammond (the founder of “Jurassic Park” in Spielberg’s 1993 film) always dreamed of. Akin to a SeaWorld or Animal Kingdom, kids and adults alike get to gawk and marvel at the Earth’s biggest creatures, and literally have front row seats as the dinosaurs roam their surroundings or eat their prey. Naturally, after a few years of this, the allure has slightly worn off, as Jurassic World’s profits seem to show. They need a new attraction! Enter, the Idominus Rex, a genetically modified dinosaur made up of genes from multiple sources.

Given the history of the Park, and the greed of the people involved, this clearly doesn’t end well for the tourists who happen to be visiting the day the Indominus Rex breaks free. However, before the chaos ensues, we get to take a look at what the park was always meant to be: a fascinating tour back to the Jurassic period, complete with cutting-edge technology and a much cooler mode of transportation than the jeeps used in the original park. As the island’s history teaches us, there are always some bad apples to contend with. So, in a side-story, there is also a sketchy military man who is hell-bent on weaponizing the velociraptors, who seem to have formed an interesting bond with their keeper. As everyone can guess, that is also a really bad idea.

To give credit where credit is due, Jurassic World does a really good job playing off of the audience’s love for the original movie, and fits in just enough nostalgia to bring smiles to people’s faces before the action takes over. And there is a lot of action… and a surprisingly high body count, too.

The main characters in the movie are the Park’s chief director Claire, played by Bryce Dallas Howard (Ron Howard’s daughter); her two nephews, played by Nick Robinson and Ty Simpkins (previously seen in Iron Man 3, stealing scenes from Robert Downey Jr.); and Owen, the raptor trainer (Chris Pratt). Claire is an uptight workaholic who sees the dinosaurs as assets and Owen is the free spirit whose love and respect for the animals is on display at every opportunity – a perfect match.

For those who find Chris Pratt annoying, he is surprisingly (and thankfully) tame in this movie and his humour is kept dry and only used sparingly. The real comic relief comes in the form of a park operator, and even he is only used when absolutely necessary. The rest is pure entertainment in the form of dinosaur chases, dinosaur fights, and a significant amount of death. Every now and then there is a brief moment of nostalgia or even sadness, but for the most part, Jurassic World is an edge-of-your-seat adventure….with a lot of teeth.

Critics of the film may groan at the lack of character development, poor plot, or palaeontological inaccuracies – but who cares! As box office numbers seem to prove, the majority of people just want to see some CG dinosaurs and watch them as they take out the humans, one mouthful at a time.

Jurassic World is now playing in theatres everywhere.