Has anyone seen "Jurassic World"?

[Alex K]

Yeah I'll give a few quick comments here.

Good:
1. 1.85:1 aspect ratio.
...

If the best thing you can say about a film is that you liked its aspect ratio, it must be a total piece of crap.

Lol. I wouldn't have minded 21:9

[Alex K]

---

Yeah I'll give a few quick comments here.

Good:
1. 1.85:1 aspect ratio.
2. Avoided detailed discussion on the sci-fi "science" this time.
3. The child actors were as good if not better than the actors in the 1993 film: in particular Ty Simpkins delivers a more believable scared child than Joseph Mazzello.
4. Plenty of nice references to the original film(/park).
5. It is set on Isla Nublar, the original island planned for Jurassic Park.
6. There are two kids that play a major role in the film - not just one.
7. It was nice to see B D Wong reprise his role from the original film.

Bad:
1. The main character from JP/TLW - Ian Malcolm - isn't in this film.
2. Biosyn is not in the film either.
2. TLW makes it clear that InGen went bankrupt following the events of JP. This is not mentioned in TLW:JP (the 1997 film adaptation), however it is very unlikely that the company would survive.
3. How did they make Isla Nublar safe? For example - towards the end of JP, Grant and co find a colony of velociraptors in a huge underground building. Not only have they been breading there, but it allows them to go outside of their enclosure. How many other caves and underground areas are there for dinosaurs to nest in? How did they get rid of them all and secure the island?
4. Wu makes a "new dinosaur" for a "new attraction". Why??? Why couldn't they have kept to the original concepts that are in the books, and even Wu himself says in JW: none of the InGen dinos are real dinosaurs. They're all created by splicing genes together and hoping for the best; there are all kinds of valid reasons why Wu and his team would be changing the genetics - they want more predictable dinos, perhaps more docile dinos, perhaps more manageable dinos, perhaps they want healthier dinos, etc. This would not have threatened the integrity of the film, in fact it would have been a much better plot device.
5. The kids go run about on their own, lose with a killer dino on the loose. Yeah - WHY??? The whole point of JP was that the kids were guided by Grant - they survived the whole ordeal together, and made their way across the island on foot, and they bonded. In JW you have some of the most ridiculous things - for example, the kids find some Jeeps that have been sitting in an old InGen building for 22 years, and they manage to start one and drive away. WHAT?!! And WHY? Why did InGen not service those Jeeps and use them? Why are their old buildings wasting away unused for 22 years??
6. Oh yeah, we get to see a T-Rex, and just... wow. Underused, and completely stupid when it is used. Spielberg, everyone owes you a huge apology: letting a T-Rex loose in San Diego in TLW:JP wasn't the worst possible idea for the use of a T-Rex in a film after all. And I just echo what Clueless Morgan says about the T-Rex - it just happens to be exactly where it's needed exactly when it's needed and does exactly what's needed for the story to proceed - despite the fact that its enclosure could have been elsewhere on the island making it impossible to use it for the purpose it's used for. And in fact it's enclosure should be further away from the main area where people gather, where the cafes and petting-zoo is. And why does it do what it does - what motivation does it have? I mean I understand WHY, I just don't believe that it will do it. It's a hunter dinosaur, like a Tiger. You can scarcely expect a tiger to attack a lion just because you tell it to go and eat it!
7. Why is the killer dino rampaging anyway? I mean, in JP the T-Rex they're all scared of is just doing what it does - hunting for food, but this dino goes around killing everything just because it can.
8. The rampaging dino claws out the tracker that's implanted in it. Again - WHY? That's just not realistic.
9. Owen Grady is the protagonist who protects all the main characters, what a guy! Hoskins, who wants to use the raptors as a weapon - that makes him a "bad guy". But there's a scene where Owen could have saved Hoskins' life (or at least tried), and instead he just lets him die!!! WOW, so much for being a good guy.
10. The raptors - where are their feathers from JPIII? And OK, no feathers, but why do they behave in a way that defies belief at the end of the film?? WHY???
11. Why not use all the GREAT material left over in JP and TLW that wasn't used in the first two films? There's plenty of it that would have worked so well with the JW story.
12. Wu's darker character was overall great. However, what motivation is there to keep what genes are spliced together a "secret" from the executives? That just doesn't make any sense. That whole part of the story could have been done better, and it could still have lead to the so-called "twist" in the story that happens later on.

---

I wholeheartedly agree with everything.

But am I the only one who found Vincent dOnofrio entirely unconvincing in this role? Not serious or sinister enough to be a military guy or a weapons dealer. Could not carry the big bad role. Felt more like I was watching some shady mafia guy in a funny Burn Notice episode.

---

@Pyrrho,

It is also my impression that movies insult our intelligence because too often those making them are not intelligent, or at least uneducated. JW was the first time in the movie theater after a 2 year break for me, and I more and more lose interest in movies as a medium. Very few are made that cater to my interests *and* are smart.

[Fake Messiah]

Well guys there are "other" movies that are made, they are just not shown in mafia held multiplexes.

Also I remember in early days of pre-production of JW it was marketed that the movie will not take place in any park but in the cities where dinosaurs roam, what ever happened to that?

[ignoramus]

Any reason why Spielberg wouldn't direct?
I take it he's got absolutely no vested interest in sequels but as Exec Producer just made plenty of easy money.

[Aoi Magi]

Any reason why Spielberg wouldn't direct?

Self-respect/dignity maybe?

[Alex K]

Well guys there are "other" movies that are made, they are just not shown in mafia held multiplexes.

Also I remember in early days of pre-production of JW it was marketed that the movie will not take place in any park but in the cities where dinosaurs roam, what ever happened to that?

I know that there was a Silver/Jaffa script which director Trevorrow then heavily rewrote when he took the helm... In retrospect he wasn't really up to it.

[Aractus]

I wholeheartedly agree with everything.

But am I the only one who found Vincent dOnofrio entirely unconvincing in this role? Not serious or sinister enough to be a military guy or a weapons dealer. Could not carry the big bad role. Felt more like I was watching some shady mafia guy in a funny Burn Notice episode.

Most of the characters were not believable. In JP, in both the book and the film Dennis Nedry is motivated by greed to smuggle out the dino embryos for Biosyn. Nedry dies as a result of his attempt to do this, being the first (or one of the first) victim after the park's security is disabled. Dodgson never goes to the island - but in TLW he goes to "site b" to steal dino eggs, and ultimately he dies. Those are the "antagonists". Now, the quintessential movie formula is to have your antagonist die towards the end in some very important moment that the film has been developing to. Plus the antagonist should have created the problem, or made it worse. It was in fact the protagonist Owen Grady who allowed the mutant dino to escape its enclosure in the first place! He was too stupid to check the other side of the wall before going in to the enclosure.

[Clueless Morgan]

Another thing that made it hard for me to maintain suspension of disbelief is the incoherent reaction of characters to catastrophe and tragedy. So she just finds out that her nephews jumped off a 1000 foot waterfall and rather than being in panicking rescue mode, the next interaction is that she is acting cute to charm main hero guy into taking her with him. Wtf?!! That pissed me off. Same in the control room when the animal escapes and some guards are eaten. There is no sense of horror in anyone, hell the main concern of control room  technician is that big baddie threw his plastic dinosaurs on the floor. Wtf! Same again when they send in the military guys. They get killed off one by one Aliens-style (which was a cool scene because it was lifted 1:1 from a classic, no original ideas here) and noone really seems to mind all that much. I've acted more horrified when my computer crashes or something.

Okay, there's another thing:  The aunt is supposedly sprinting around this island in, like, 3" spike heels.  And never trips, stumbles, sprains an ankle, nothing.  There was that stupid moment when she "adventurizes" her silly outfit, but she keeps her high heels on?

Seriously, did the director go on vacation after the first scene?

I'm not so sure he ever came home from his last vacation - maybe he did all of his direction over Skype from a beach chair in Bermuda?

Yeah I'll give a few quick comments here.

Good:
1. 1.85:1 aspect ratio.

3. The child actors were as good if not better than the actors in the 1993 film: in particular Ty Simpkins delivers a more believable scared child than Joseph Mazzello.

Disagree - I thought the kids in JW were dreadful.  I have a lot of affection for the kids in the original movie because I was so close to their ages when I saw it in '93.

5. It is set on Isla Nublar, the original island planned for Jurassic Park.

Was it just me or did the island get gigantic since the first movie?

6. There are two kids that play a major role in the film - not just one.

There were two kids in the first movie...  maybe people didn't like them (I did) but there were two.  Three if you count the big-eyed, snot-nosed twerp Allen gives the raptor lesson to in the very beginning.

7. It was nice to see B D Wong reprise his role from the original film.

But with absolutely no explanation for why he's suddenly okay with designing super-dinos, or why he's even there at all.

Bad:
1. The main character from JP/TLW - Ian Malcolm - isn't in this film.

Ian Malcolm wasn't the main character in JP, Allen was.

4. Wu makes a "new dinosaur" for a "new attraction". Why???

This was, like, the most successful commentary of the whole movie: people want bigger, badder shit and they'll lose interest in a park if new attractions aren't added.  I agree about why it had to be genetically modified super-dinos and not, like, roller coasters or something, but I sort of bought their explanation for this.

5. The kids go run about on their own, lose with a killer dino on the loose. Yeah - WHY??? The whole point of JP was that the kids were guided by Grant - they survived the whole ordeal together, and made their way across the island on foot, and they bonded.

It would have been interesting to have the main "hero" guy guiding the kids in this movie, but then the parallels to JP1 would have been just too much for me to stomach.

(Clearly I didn't care enough about this movie to learn any character names... )

In JW you have some of the most ridiculous things - for example, the kids find some Jeeps that have been sitting in an old InGen building for 22 years, and they manage to start one and drive away. WHAT?!! And WHY? Why did InGen not service those Jeeps and use them? Why are their old buildings wasting away unused for 22 years??

An excellent example of lack of character building.  The whole movie is an example of the "ex machina" trope.  Need the kids to be able to fix a car?  BAM!  They used to work on cars with their grandpa!  Need a way to kill the fuck-you-up-osaurus?  BAM!!  Release the t-rex who was no where to be seen in the rest of the movie!!!  Need to explain why the brothers are being sent off to a dino death island all by themselves?  BAM!! The parents are getting a divorce!!

7. Why is the killer dino rampaging anyway? I mean, in JP the T-Rex they're all scared of is just doing what it does - hunting for food, but this dino goes around killing everything just because it can.

Because the dino is supposed to be "smart", and what do smart things do?  They rampage.  Clearly.  

8. The rampaging dino claws out the tracker that's implanted in it. Again - WHY? That's just not realistic.

Because the dinosaur is supposed to be "smart" - clearly smarter than the writers of this movie.

10. The raptors - where are their feathers from JPIII? And OK, no feathers, but why do they behave in a way that defies belief at the end of the film?? WHY???

HA!  I don't even remember the third movie - well, I remember something about blowing into a dino skull like a conch shell.  I love, love, love JP1 and I have a huge sentimental attachment to TLW:JP, and I think I should just leave the JP movie franchise at that.

12. Wu's darker character was overall great. However, what motivation is there to keep what genes are spliced together a "secret" from the executives? That just doesn't make any sense. That whole part of the story could have been done better, and it could still have lead to the so-called "twist" in the story that happens later on.

Except that he was completely unexplained, both in his involvement with InGen again and his weird agreement to genetically engineer super-dinos.

Any reason why Spielberg wouldn't direct?

Self-respect/dignity maybe?

One can hope.  

It was in fact the protagonist Owen Grady who allowed the mutant dino to escape its enclosure in the first place! He was too stupid to check the other side of the wall before going in to the enclosure.

Ah, that was so galling!!!  So they put all this protection around the raptor enclosure, make sure there's an air-lock-type entrance so the raptors can't escape or anything and then create the fuck-you-up-osaurus and just let the main entrance gate open into a parking lot or something??  WTF?!?!?  They knew they were creating a super-dino, why would they not build an enclosure that was, you know, just a little more escape proof???

[Cato]

Most of the characters were not believable. In JP, in both the book and the film Dennis Nedry is motivated by greed to smuggle out the dino embryos for Biosyn. Nedry dies as a result of his attempt to do this, being the first (or one of the first) victim after the park's security is disabled. Dodgson never goes to the island - but in TLW he goes to "site b" to steal dino eggs, and ultimately he dies. Those are the "antagonists". Now, the quintessential movie formula is to have your antagonist die towards the end in some very important moment that the film has been developing to. Plus the antagonist should have created the problem, or made it worse. It was in fact the protagonist Owen Grady who allowed the mutant dino to escape its enclosure in the first place! He was too stupid to check the other side of the wall before going in to the enclosure.

I remember the escape scene a little different; it was the panicked paddock operator that opened the gate in an attempt to escape after discovering they weren't alone. I fully agree that not checking the other side of the wall was somewhat baffling. Perhaps more disconcerting to me was everyone involved not realizing that had this mutant dino indeed scaled the wall that the problem would have immediately found them and not the other way around, unless the assumption was that the beast was tip toeing around the brush as if it were also bred with ninja DNA.

I thought Wu and Hoskins intentionally breeding mutants for combat was antagonistic enough. Hoskins is dispatched in traditional fashion near the end after divulging what he's been up to all along, but Wu gets off the island with embryos to set up yet another movie. Despite the silliness we explored earlier in the escape scene, Indominus doesn't escape without it's combat purposed visual and thermal camouflage so I hold Hoskins and Wu more accountable than Owen. Keep in mind that Owen did not open the gate and initially attempted to make it back to the control area of the paddock.

I thought the movie was entertaining since I went to see misunderstood jail-breaking dinosaurs tear shit up. I did not have any preconceived misconceptions about unstated promises of deep character development, non-porous plot lines, or adherence to known science.

[Faith No More]

I know that there was a Silver/Jaffa script which director Trevorrow then heavily rewrote when he took the helm... In retrospect he wasn't really up to it.

Which begs the question of how someone who only had one movie to his name was given the reins to such a gigantic blockbuster. I mean, "Safety Not Guaranteed" was a neat little movie not without its flaws, but I'm having a hard time understanding how that led to his second project being a $150,000,000 Jurassic Park sequel. There's a piece missing in this puzzle...