Jurassic World

The idea that one's brain must be switched into sleep mode in order to appreciate a film is silly and offensive, but that shouldn't prevent a fully switched-on brain from enjoying a deeply stupid movie like Jurassic World. Director and co-writer Colin Trevorrow injects the moribund Jurassic Park franchise with new life by pairing the usual dinosaurs-running-amok formula with a seductive, Westworld-style story hook. In a canonically respectful present, John Hammond's dream of a dinosaur-themed amusement park has come to fruition, with thousands of thrill-seeking families streaming through the Isla Nublar gates every day. Unfortunately, corporations are inherently evil (this message brought to you by Coca-Cola, Verizon, Samsung, Brookstone and Mercedes-Benz), and soon enough the park's newest, genetically enhanced “attraction” gets loose and starts—wouldn't you know it?—running amok. Jurassic World offers one-dimensional characters, misused actors, nonsensical motivations, retrograde gender politics, insipid pseudo-science and a whole lot of fun. D.B.