Story
Karen (Judy Greer) sends her two sons, 10-year-old Gray (Ty Simpkins) and his teenage brother Zach (Nick Robinson), to visit their Aunt Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard) at the Jurassic World dinosaur park off the coast of Costa Rica. Claire is the resort manager.
Not long after the boys’ arrival, a new experimental hybrid dinosaur, Indominus Rex, escapes its enclosure. It goes on a rampage, killing many of the park’s dinosaurs. Unfortunately, Gray and Zach are out exploring the park. Indominus Rex attacks them, and they only just escape with their lives.
Desperate to save her nephews, Claire calls in a velociraptor trainer, Owen (Chris Pratt), to help. Claire and Owen head off into the forests of Jurassic World. Meanwhile the owner of Jurassic World, Simon Masrani (Irrfran Khan), sends in soldiers to destroy the rogue dinosaur. This has disastrous results. A band of mercenaries tracking Indominus also come to a bad end.
After rescuing the boys, Claire and Owen return with them to the resort. Here they find Indominus and a flock of pterodactyls attacking resort guests. The situation looks dire until unexpected help arrives to save the day.
Themes
Violence
Jurassic World contains intense, and sometimes sudden, scenes of violence and peril. There are many gruesome deaths, including those of some important support characters, with sounds of screaming and people being eaten, images of limbs being ripped off, and some blood and gore. For example:
- A whimpering man crouches down behind a vehicle. Indominus Rex, which has blood covering its face and teeth, picks up the vehicle in its jaws, tosses it aside and closes its jaws over the upper torso of the screaming man, lifting him into the air. The lower half of the man dangles from the dinosaur’s mouth, and there are the sounds of bones crunching as the scene cuts. A short time later the same dinosaur kills and eats a second man.
- A helicopter with soldiers and automatic weapons flies after Indominus Rex as a gunman fires at the dinosaur. The dinosaur crashes into an enclosure, which allows a flock of pterodactyls to escape. The pterodactyls fly into the sky and begin to harass the helicopter. A pterodactyl snatches a falling soldier while a second pterodactyl attacks the helicopter. It thrusts its beak through the windscreen and impales the helicopter’s copilot through the chest (some blood is shown). The helicopter goes out of control, and crashes in flames, killing all on board.
- Total chaos erupts when a large flock of pterodactyls attacks a crowd of people at the resort. The pterodactyls swoop down, grabbing people in their claws and flying off with them. They drop some victims, who fall to the ground. They swoop down and land on their victims, pinning them to the ground as they feed on them.
- Pterodactyls attack a children’s petting zoo, grabbing hold of baby dinosaurs with children riding on their backs. They lift both dinosaurs and children into the air and let them fall to the ground.
- A pterodactyl drops a woman into a pool then recaptures her. Then a plesiosaur (a large crocodile-like dinosaur) suddenly leaps out of the water and attacks them.
- In one scene a man shouts angrily at a second man and then punches him in the face, knocking him to the ground.
- A few scenes show perilous car chases. In one of these, velociraptors and Indominus Rex chase a car with two adults and two children.
- There are many scary scenes that show velociraptors attacking soldiers and civilians, with screaming, sounds of bones being crunched, images of limbs being torn off and blood and gore. Dinosaurs also eat live animals including a pig, a goat and smaller dinosaurs.
- Three velociraptors attack Indominus Rex, jumping onto its neck and back and biting it. Indominus throws one of the velociraptors into a kiosk, and the dinosaur and kiosk explode in flames.
- A tyrannosauraus and Indominus Rex are fighting savagely near a large pool of water when a plesiosaur leaps out of the water and grabs Indominus Rex by the throat.
Content that may disturb children
Under 8
In addition to the violent scenes mentioned above, Jurassic World has many scenes that are likely to scare or disturb children under eight years. For example:
- Like previous movies in the Jurassic Park series, Jurassic World features many scary dinosaurs, which are likely to terrify young children.
- As well as scenes of dinosaurs eating live animals, there are also scenes of a dead shark, frozen rats and a side of beef being eaten.
- In one perilous scene Gray and Zach drive a gyrosphere through the park. The boys stop their vehicle among a herd of club-tailed dinosaurs, which is suddenly attacked by a large dinosaur. The club-tails stampede, smashing into the gyrosphere. The large dinosaur then attacks the gyrosphere with the two boys inside, piercing its screen and smashing it against the ground until it breaks open and the boys fall out. The dinosaur chases the two boys through the jungle until they reach a clifftop. The boys jump off the cliff and plummet down a waterfall into a pool of water below.
- In a distressing scene, a man and woman find a large plant-eating dinosaur, which has been badly injured by Indominus Rex. There are bloody gashes on the dinosaur’s head and body. The man and woman hold the dinosaur’s head, stroking it as the dinosaur moans and its breathing becomes more and more laboured until it dies. A short time later we see the land littered with dozens of dead and dying dinosaurs, all of which have been savaged by Indominus Rex.
- In an emotionally intense scene Gray becomes upset while talking to his older brother about his parents getting a divorce. He starts crying.
From 8-13
Children in this age group will also be disturbed by the violent and scary scenes described above.
Over 13
Younger children in this age group might also be disturbed by some of the scenes described above.
Sexual references
Jurassic World has occasional low-level sexual innuendo and references. For example:
- A man talking to a woman refers to there being an attraction between them. He asks the woman if she would like to ‘consult him’ in his bungalow. The woman says no.
- Gray tells his older, teenage brother to stop staring at girls in the park.
- A man uses his fist in a suggestive way when talking about dinosaurs mating.
Alcohol, drugs and other substances
Jurassic World shows some use of substances. For example:
- A man refers to a dinosaur being ‘stoned’.
- Characters drink socially.
Nudity and sexual activity
Jurassic World has some low-level sexual activity. For example:
- A teenage boy hugs a girl and she says, ‘I love you’.
- Teenagers flirt throughout the movie.
- A man kisses a woman passionately on the lips.
Product placement
There is frequent product placement in Jurassic World. Products featured include MacBook computers, Apple iPhones, Mercedes Benz cars, Jeeps and Coca-Cola.
Coarse language
Jurassic World has some coarse language.
Ideas to discuss with your children
Jurassic World is a science fiction action adventure targeting older teenagers and adults, particularly those who were fans of the previous Jurassic Park movies.
Jurassic World deserves its M rating. It has bigger and scarier dinosaurs than Jurassic Park and more gruesome deaths and blood and gore. It is likely to terrify and disturb children under 11 years, for whom it isn’t suitable, and we don’t recommend it for children under 14 years. We also strongly recommend parental guidance for children aged 14-15 years.
These are the main messages from this movie:
- Siblings need to stick together to give each other strength and support.
- Genetic modification can be dangerous and unpredictable, and result in disastrous consequences.
You could also talk with your children about the ethical issues surrounding genetic manipulation and cloning.