Jurassic World

This topic contains:

• overall comments and recommendations
• details of classification and consumer advice lines for Jurassic World
• a review of Jurassic World completed by the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 16 June 2015.

Overall comments and recommendations

About the movie

This section contains details about the movie, including its classification by the Australian Government Classification Board and the associated consumer advice lines. Other classification advice (OC) is provided where the Australian film classification is not available.

ACCM review

This review of the movie contains the following information:

• a synopsis of the story
• themes
• use of violence
• material that may scare or disturb children
• product placement
• sexual references
• nudity and sexual activity
• use of substances
• coarse language
• the movie’s message

A synopsis of the 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 Jurassic World dinosaur park off the coast of Costa Rica. Claire is the resort manager.

Not long after the boy’s arrival events take a turn for the worst when a new experimental hybrid dinosaur Indominus Rex escapes its enclosure and goes on a rampage, killing many of the park’s dinosaurs. Unfortunately, Gray and Zach, out for a taste of real adventure, have gone off to explore the park and manage to cross paths with Indominus Rex, barely managing to escape with their lives. 

Desperate to save her nephews, Claire calls in velociraptor trainer Owen (Chris Pratt) to help and they head off into the forests of Jurassic World. Meanwhile, the owner of Jurassic World Simon Masrani (Irrfran Khan) sends in a troop of soldiers to destroy the rogue dinosaur with disastrous results, while a band of mercenaries who use Owen’s velociraptors to track down Indominus also come to a bad end.

After rescuing the boys, Claire and Owen, return with them to the resort where they find Indominus and a flock of pterodactyls attacking resort guests. The situation looks dire until unexpected help arrives to save the day.

Dinosaurs; genetic engineering; animal exploitation; family relationships

The film contains intense, and sometimes sudden, scenes of violence and peril including multiple gruesome deaths, including those of some important support characters, with screaming, sounds of people being eaten, limbs being ripped off and some blood and gore. Examples include:

• A whimpering man crouches down hiding behind a vehicle and Indominus Rex, with blood covering its face and teeth, picks up the vehicle in its jaw, tosses it aside and closes its jaws over the upper torso of the screaming man, lifting him into the air. We see the lower half of the man dangling from the dinosaur’s mouth and hear the sounds of bones crunching as the image cuts. A short time later the same dinosaur kills and eats a second man.
• A helicopter manned with soldiers and fitted with an automatic weapon flies after Indominus Rex with a gunman firing at the dinosaur. The dinosaur crashes into an enclosure, allowing a flock of pterodactyls to escape. The pterodactyls fly up into the sky and begin to harass the helicopter. A falling soldier is snatched by a pterodactyl while a second pterodactyl attacks the helicopter by thrusting its beak through the windscreen and impaling the helicopter’s co-pilot through the chest (some blood is depicted). 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 staying at the resort. The pterodactyls swoop down, grabbing people in their claws and flying off with them; some victims are dropped and fall to the ground. Other pterodactyls 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, and lifting both dinosaur and child up into the air and then letting them fall to the ground.
• A pterodactyl drops a woman into a pool then recaptures her, at which point a plesiosaur (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 depict perilous car chases where we see a car containing two adults and two children being chased by velociraptors and the Indominus Rex, all snapping at the car.
• There are many scary scenes of velociraptors attacking both soldiers and civilians, with screaming, sounds of bones being crunched, limbs being torn off and blood and gore. Dinosaurs also eat a number of live animals including a pig, a goat and smaller dinosaurs.
• Three velociraptors attack Indominus Rex, jumping onto its neck and back and biting it. The Indominus throws one of the velociraptors into a kiosk and the dinosaur and kiosk explode in flames.
• A Tyrannosauraus and the Indominus are engaging in a savage fight near a large pool of water when a Plesiosaur leaps out of the water grabs the Indominus by the throat.

Material that may scare or disturb children

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes, there are many scenes in this movie that are likely to scare or disturb children under the age of five, including the following:

• Like previous films in the series, Jurassic World contains numerous scary dinosaurs of various types 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 we see Gray and Zach driving a gyro-sphere through the park. The boys stop their vehicle amongst a herd of club-tailed dinosaurs and which are suddenly attacked by a large dinosaur. The club-tails stampede, smashing into the gyro-sphere.  The large dinosaur then attacks the gyro-sphere with the two boys inside, piercing its glass-like bubble and smashing it against the ground until it breaks open and the boys fall out. The dinosaur then chases the two boys through the jungle until they reach the top of a cliff at which point the two boys jump off the cliff and plummet down a waterfall into a pool of water below.   

In addition to the above-mentioned scenes, children in this age group may be particularly disturbed by the following:

• In a distressing scene, a man and woman find a large plant-eating dinosaur which has been badly injured by the Indominus. 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 had been savaged by the Indominus.
• In an emotionally intense scene Gray becomes upset while talking to his older brother about his parents getting a divorce, and starts crying

Children in this age group will also be disturbed by the violent and scary scenes described above.

Younger children in this age group may also be disturbed by some of the scenes described above.

Product placement

There is frequent product placement including:

• MacBook computers
• Apple i phones
• Mercedes cars
• Jeeps
• Coca-Cola

Sexual references

The film contains occasional low level convert sexual innuendo and references. Examples include:

• A man talking to a woman makes reference to there being an attraction between them. He then asks the woman if she would like to “consult him” in his bungalow; the woman declines.
• Gray tells his older teen brother to stop staring at girls in the park.    
• A man uses his fist in a suggestive manner when talking about dinosaurs mating.

Nudity and sexual activity

The film contains some low-level sexual activity. Examples include:

• A teenage boy hugs a girl and she tells him, “I love you”.
• Teenage flirting throughout the film.   
• A man kisses a woman passionately on the lips.

Use of substances

There is some use of substances in this movie, including:

• A man makes a reference to a dinosaur being “stoned”
• Social drinking

Coarse language

There is some coarse language in this movie, including:

• “Don’t give me that shit”; “Oh shit (used more than once)”; “damn (used more than once)”; “Son of a bitch (used more than once)”; “Oh Jesus”; ”Bad arse”.

 

In a nutshell

Jurassic World, deservedly rated (M), is a science-fiction action adventure targeting older adolescents and adults, particularly those who were fans of the previous Jurassic Park films. Jurassic World 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, for whom it is not suitable, and it is not recommended for children under 14, with parental guidance strongly recommended for 14-15 year olds.

The main messages from this movie are:

• Siblings need to stick together providing each other with strength and support.
• Genetic modification can be dangerous and unpredictable and result in disastrous consequences. 

Parents may wish to discuss the ethical issues surrounding genetic manipulation and cloning.