Let’s face it, every kid loves dinosaurs. As a child, I was no exception. Trips to the museum were only fun if the exhibits were about the extinct, toys grew in water and battled epically on the carpet for survival, and the “Land Before Time” series played on loop all night long in my house. As I got older, my love for the massive monsters grew and it was not long before I got my hands on a copy of Jurassic Park. I loved it. It remains one of my all time favorite movies to date, so it’s safe to say I was more than thrilled when I heard of Colin Trevorrow’s new Jurassic World.

When I saw the sneak peak of Jurassic World on TV during a Jurassic Park marathon, there’s no denying I was as terrified that Hollywood would butcher one of my favorites as I was excited for seeing dinos with today’s technology, but I felt better when I realized that the movie is an addition to the older trilogy, not a remake. I entered the theater with nervous butterflies and left completely baffled. I could now understand how Jurassic World was a box office record-setter. Trevorrow excavated a cherished classic, dusted it off carefully and gave it a new life by pulling in a great cast and keeping up with audience expectations, all while staying true to the moral and overall theme of the original series for fans like me.

I was most impressed with the actors in the film. In a story about humanity’s fatal flaws, even a movie with dinosaurs has to have the perfect cast. The protagonist, Claire, played by Bryce Dallas Howard, was believable, making her an easy character to relate to. Caught up in her management of Jurassic World, a theme park built on top of the original Jurassic Park, Claire has a hard time letting go of work and spending time with family. Hoping to help, her sister sends her her two young nephews to chauffeur around the island, not knowing that all hell was about to break loose. Howard’s portrayal of the fearless female lead was phenomenal. Not only did she successfully portray the boss who’s all business, the family figure finding her own way, and the changed hero, Howard’s performance embodied her character’s emotions down to her eyes. Whether the moment was hilarious or terrifying, her acting was spot-on.

Howard’s counterpart in the film, a former military expert hired on the island to train the theme park’s ever-so-cunning Velociraptors, is played by Chris Pratt. Pratt’s character, Owen, doubles as the Alan Grant role in the new films. Knowing that control over dinosaurs and the natural world is neither moral nor feasible, Owen’s military expertise, experience with the raptors and moral compass rush to save the day in the story, while his quick wits and sarcastic humor provide much of the comedic relief in this non-stop, action film. Already a fan of Pratt’s, I was just as impressed with his performance as I had hoped to be. His character was funny, incredibly intelligent and epitomized the morals and values the movie warns viewers to remember. As a fan of the series and its lesson, it was really impressive to see the writers use his character to embody the theme of the series as a whole and not simply stick to spectacle.

The previews promised plenty of the prehistoric predators, and didn’t fail to deliver the spectacle audiences were expecting. The main female dinosaur is bigger, meaner and as the movie states several times, “has more teeth.” As a genetically engineered predator, it doesn’t take long for the new Jurassic World monster attraction to plan her escape and terrorize the island. It would seem that nearly every scene in the movie has a monster in it, whether that be human or dinosaur, and there is never a dull moment. With action, action and more action and appearances of dinosaurs both familiar and new, Jurassic World is filled with the extinct, explosions and screams with no more graphic gore than in the previous movies.

With everything both movie and dinosaur lovers expect out of a jurassic film, Jurassic World has evolved its way into my top ten favorite films. It was a brave move digging up Spielberg’s creation’s old bones, but I couldn’t have been happier with the movie’s cast, characters and ancient reptiles.