I know I have been scarce these last few weeks, but I promise I have had an excuse. I was busy
Having once again returned to a semblance of my saner self (if you can call me sane) I'm determined to pick up with my writing challenge and
It is like there has been a hole in me these past few months. I've tried to do a little editing here and there, but not nearly as much as my characters demand (am I the only writer who feels like their characters get angry when neglected?)
So, my first step back in.
Review A Movie/Book/Anything
This past weekend an event happened that I had been looking forward to for months.
No, I am not talking about my wedding—which happened the Saturday before— I am speaking of seeing the premiere of the film Jurassic World with friends.
Since the very first trailer, I have been anxiously awaiting this film. For those of you who do not know me, allow me to explain. There are two subjects/creatures in this world that I am obsessed with beyond all else. One of them—as you may have been able to tell by now—is zombies.
But before there were zombies, there were Dinosaurs.
My entire life I have had nothing but nightmares. It caused for a difficult childhood. The only time I wake up thinking I had an awesome dream (even though it was still scary) are the times my dreams involve Zombies or Dinosaurs. It doesn't matter how many times I get chased by a T-Rex, he never catches me and so I love him.
I never had a dinosaur dream until my mom brought home Jurassic Park on VHS for Christmas. She had seen it in the theater months earlier and thought (even though it was PG-13 and I was only 8 and my brother was 6) that it was alright for us to watch. My brother and I LOVED it. Even though I was too scared to watch Muldoon get eaten by the Raptors (for years I would walk out of the room and wait for my brother to tell me it was safe).
I've been obsessed with dinosaurs ever since. If I hadn't decided to dedicate my life to books and writing (and if science degrees didn't involve so much damn math) I would have studied dinosaurs.
It may be surprising then, that I had not read Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton until the past year. I think as a kid I was concerned because my mom had said it was "heavily scientific". Having read it now, I think I would have managed (hell I read college-level psychological thrillers in fourth grade). But needless to say, I loved the book. And I feel reading it after seeing the first 3 movies gave me a new appreciation for the films (yes, even JP3). There was so much in that book that wasn't able to be covered in the movie. So many scenes and images that were so awesome. Like the T-Rex licking someone through the waterfall (shown in Lost World) or the Pterosaur aviary (shown in JP3).
In each of the three movies there is a little of that first book.
The same goes for Jurassic World. The filmmakers did a wonderful job of incorporating scenes from the book, while giving a courteous nod to the original film. The plot is reminiscent in a honorable way, bringing enough new to keep audiences interested without messing with tradition.
As an added bonus, for those who might notice/care about such things, they kept with the continuity of not only the films, but video games as well. From the original actor, BD Wong, playing Dr. Henry Wu, to scars on the T-Rex from her fight with the raptors in the first film (implying that the new park handlers had to re-capture her!). The Mosasaur may seem a little out of the blue for many, but for those who played the Telltale Jurassic Park Game (which I highly recommend for those—like me—who have been kept awake at night by the question "What happened to Nedry's Barbasol can of embryos?!") it is yet another cameo of a dinosaur from the original park. In the game the Mosasaur was big enough to be scary, in the movie she's HUGE! Showing her growth over those 20+ years.
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| The human (girl approx 5.5") in this picture is approximately the same ratio of size |
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| To the Great White (avg between 13-16ft) in this picture. That implies the Mosasaur has doubled in size! |
Continuity is not something that always crosses the minds of movie-makers, so it shows the loving hand used when making this film.
As for the action? It's a Jurassic Park movie, come on! The beauty of the point Dr. Wu makes about this new hybrid dinosaur ("You wanted it bigger, scarier, more teeth") is that that was what they tried to do in JP3 with the Spinosaur—
Some may think:
"But aren't they just doing the same thing, only with a fake dinosaur?"
The answer is yes, and no. Yes, they introduced a new dinosaur which is bigger, scarier, and has more teeth than the T-Rex. But the way they deal with it in this film is much more honest. They genetically created this animal, manipulated every fiber of its DNA. Which was one of the points in the book which the movies were never really able to bring up. Dr. Wu finally tells it here. None of the dinosaurs in the park are true clones. None of them are accurate. They were all altered, by adding genes where ones were incomplete or, as in the book, manipulating growth rates. This was a HUGE point in the book. Not just the idea of bringing back extinct creatures, but the DNA manipulation required to do it. It was a Pandora's box concept, and admittedly would have been too much in the first movie. But by bringing it up now, when everyone understands the basics of DNA, and real world de-extinction is on the horizon (Woolly Mammoths anyone?) it is the manipulation of such DNA that we need to be thinking about.
So all in all, Jurassic World is an awesome movie, for both the intellectual who would dissect its every meaning (like me) and the casual movie-goer who wants to see some great special effects, cool dinosaurs, jump-scares and thrilling action, or Chris Pratt leading Raptors into battle! (also me)
