Jurassic World (2015)

They're Back!: Dinosaurs are on the loose again in "Jurassic World."

After more than a decade of rumors and false starts, “Jurassic World,” the latest in the “Jurassic Park” series, finally hit screens over the summer. This fourth installment is more of a reboot than a sequel, which explains why it always seems less like a movie than one long, extended beginning.

The seamless, computer-generated special effects are striking, but the new dinosaur epic—helmed by director Colin Trevorrow, taking over for the reins from Steven Spielberg—ultimately lands with more of a thud than a roar, done in by familiar, well-worn characterizations and a shallow screenplay (stitched together by four writers) that has some interesting ideas but lacks the ambition to pull them off.

The action returns to the remote island where the dinosaur theme park from the original has been refurbished and reopened, showing two distinct sides—the outside, where bright, sunny spaces are flooded with kids and excited crowds; and a dark, cavernous inside, where a team of employees control things through a huge electronic wall of monitors and blinking lights.

This, of course, is necessary to manage the toothy, prehistoric beasts roaming beyond the towering concrete walls. The fearsome T-Rex ruled the earlier pictures, but the star this time is the formidable and mysterious Indominus-Rex, a one of a kind species with a few tweaks—it can change color and sense heat—that suggest a massive carnivore crossed with the creature from “Predator.”

Trouble starts when the white coats underestimate the high intelligence of the Indominus, and by the time they finish connecting the dots, the Frankenstien-osaur has escaped and begun a dangerous rampage. It’s up to Navy man turned dinosaur whisperer Owen Grady (Chris Pratt), and park operations manager Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard) to save the day. Those seeking a jolt of romantic tension to go along with the mayhem, don’t worry, Claire is also Owen’s mercurial girlfriend.

For the most part, Trevorrow keeps the movie humming along like a genre machine, but certain Spielbergian derivations—like an overly sentimental subplot involving a troubled marriage, a pair of young siblings, and sappy family bonding during crisis—suggest a director playing it safe rather than expressing a style of his own.

Some of the best moments include the ostensible villain, Vic Hoskins, colorfully played by a thankless Vincent D’Onofrio. As head of security operations for the park, Hoskins seeks to harness dinosaurs, especially the powerful and versatile Indominus, as secret military weapons, a notion that strikes the animal-loving Owen as appalling and immoral.

Eventually, D’Onofrio is chomped by one of his snarling, would-be agents of war, but not before he lends a smarmy, sinister edge to a movie populated by mostly hollow, generic do-gooders. Even an evil soul is better than no soul at all.