Jurassic World

Jurassic World beat the Avengers record for opening box office takings which is actually quite a surprise.

The fact that the British public are hungry for an old-skool blockbuster based on the past (but, obviously, set in the future, like the antithesis of Star Wars) suggests that the public are slightly nauseous with the over-saturation of the superhero market.

This is a traditional, family Blockbuster with all the Spielberg traditions intact; heart, thrills and brilliant visual effects.

It's certainly the best of the series since the first one but does suffer slightly from predictability, the plot line is just the same as the first movie but with a functional theme park rather than a work in progress (some scenes are even lifted verbatim).

It's actually, and this may not be a disappointment to some, not as scary as it should be. The moments where you expect to jump out of your seat end up jumping to the punchline far too quickly and the Indominus Rex (the villain of the piece) isn't quite as horrifying or large as it's built up to be.

Despite this it's a thrill ride. Seeing a working, packed-out dinosaur theme park is awesome and the effects live up this.

The highlight comes very early on when a massive mosasaurus kept in an orca-esque tank is fed a shark in front of the crowd's punters and the whole viewing platform descends underwater to take a closer look.

The cast are all great and, despite the aforementioned predictability, you root for them. The young brothers are brilliantly relatable, Bryce Dallas-Howard goes through a classic story arc from flustered park director to action heroine and Chris Pratt cements his reputation as a brilliant leading man (and is surely in line to be the next Indiana Jones).

You've probably already seen it, if you haven't then you probably will.

It won't change the world but it's a great watch. Turn it up loud, put it on the biggest screen possible and enjoy.

4 stars ****