The Summer of 2015 continues to deliver with this not-quite reboot/remix but affectionate refresh of a slumbering franchise that is extremely entertaining. In essence, like the Pirates of the Caribbean series, there is little new that can be done with the basic premise (dinos/humans/run/chomp), but Jurassic World is a smart reinvigoration with enough interesting twists and real urgent energy to crowd-please that works very well. The opening cleverly places the audience in the same wide-eyed viewpoint of discovery as the two brothers arrive at their Aunt-run theme park to the delight of the dino-mad youngest - the sense of scale truly works here - and as plot pieces fall into place that enable a succession of threats to escalate, a handful of truly thrilling and well-staged moments are very enjoyable. Adults in the cinema audience clearly appreciated the very dry thread of humour running through the movie, and there are affectionate nods not only to the previous JP films but a whole range of genre favourites (from Aliens to Jaws to The Wizard Of Oz, and surprisingly even a great Alien3 moment towards the end!). Whereas the children in the previous movies seemed designed to make you wish they would be eaten quickly by any available dinosaur, the two brothers here are effective and work well within the story, Chris Pratt plays it straight as an almost Carpenter-esque hero and once again proves a hugely entertaining big-screen presence, and Bryce Dallas Howard overcomes a dispiritingly stereotypically-written role to make her character arc actually come to life. The script creates a very consistent and purposeful narrative that packs in a lot of set-pieces and story threads, including the often-derided militarised-dinosaurs idea that has derailed revival plans for years but here works well. Some storylines are underdeveloped, Idiot Plot is kept to a pleasing minimum (although the poorly-functioning communication devices are an irritation), but the seed-sowing for the next movie leaves it wide open. Best of all, Colin Trevorrow creates a lot of dynamic visual interest and has a real grip on this extremely scaled-up entry into the franchise, which proves that sometimes a sequel can be worth the (long) wait if it means that the film-makers get it right to this extent.
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