For an entire generation, Jurassic Park is one of those touchstone films – like Star Wars and Back to the Future – that has come to represent the irresistible escapist fun that the movies can offer. In bringing dinosaurs to such vivid life onscreen, the sci-fi thriller captured the imagination of millions of children (and adults) who reveled in its sly humor (Goldblum!), memorable characters and chilling beasts. However, a pair of sequels failed to match that accomplishment, and ultimately, the Jurassic Park franchise appeared to be all but dead. Until now.Coming a full 14 years after the dreadful Jurassic Park III (and nearly 22 years to the day of the first film’s release), Jurassic World picks up in real-time as the now-open theme park – smartly rebranded following the first film’s disaster – is on the verge of unleashing its first genetically modified creature in an effort to boost dwindling attendance and public interest. It’s not much of a spoiler to indicate that not everything goes according to plan, leaving the park’s management and its guests alike scrambling to survive.

Colin Trevorrow – whose only previous feature directorial credit is indie dramedy Safety Not Guaranteed – ably fills in for franchise architect/executive producer Steven Spielberg, who hasn’t directed a film in the series since The Lost World: Jurassic Park and reportedly had tons of hands-on input in the film. It certainly shows, as Jurassic World bears more than a few footprints of Spielberg’s original classic. From direct quotes to subtle visual cues, the new film features a rich tapestry of references to that first film, ignoring its sequels, and is as much a celebration of where the series started as it is a bold step forward, thematically and otherwise.

Moreover, Jurassic World captures the essence of what attracted audiences to the franchise in the first place, striking that delicate balance between depicting its signature creatures as alternately wondrous and terrifying. The new Indominous Rex offers the bulk of the latter moments, as it conquers the island of Isla Nublar one bite and claw-swipe at a time, building to a climactic showdown that is sure to leave audiences everywhere cheering.

Along the way, the film weaves in the social commentary that elevated Jurassic Park to more than just a mindless blockbuster, while delivering one heart-stopping sequence after another. The film’s writing team include Amanda Silver and Rick Jaffa, two of the writers behind last year’s similarly stellar Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, and while the visuals in Jurassic World don’t match up to that film, its story remains true to what fans have been hoping for from the series. Even the moments or subplots that mire in cliche end up in service of the film’s nostalgic mission rather than coming across as lazy screenwriting.

As far as the cast, Chris Pratt has a good time as a dino-wrangling badass and foil to the uptight workaholic (Bryce Dallas Howard) who runs the park. The marketing has been focusing heavily on Guardians of the Galaxy‘s Pratt and his connection to the film’s raptors, and that plot element does contribute a fun new element to the film’s mythos that does pay off big-time in interesting ways throughout the film.

Even so, Howard proves yet again that she is an underrated big-screen talent, and her commanding performance anchors the film, with an arc that nicely mirrors that of the late Richard Attenborough’s John Hammond in the original film. BD Wong – the only actor to appear in both that film and this new one – also turns in a standout supporting performance in a cast of gifted performers that delivers on every level.

Audiences are bound to compare Jurassic World to the 1993 film that kicked off this whole dinosaur-centered franchise to begin with, but that match-up unfairly fails to take into account the more than 20 years of nostalgia that has built up for Spielberg’s ground-breaking release. On a surface level, Jurassic World has a harder job to do by living up to its parent film and simultaneously doing something new. The gifted creative team (shout-out to composer Michael Giacchino, who takes on John Williams’ iconic score and further cements his status as the go-to blockbuster director working today) makes the smart move at every turn, and the resulting film accomplished what many thought was impossible: the Jurassic Park franchise has finally been successfully brought back from the brink of extinction.

Rating: 4 out of 5