Wednesday, November 4, 2015

"Blu-ray or Bust" - JURASSIC WORLD




"Blu-ray or Bust"
JURASSIC WORLD (2015, PG-13, 124 minutes, AMBLIN ENTERTAINMENT/LEGENDARY PICTURES)

When I first saw this film, I was in a very crowded theatre, sitting next to Andre the Giant’s bigger brother.  Well no, I don’t know that for sure, but I hate basketball, and I can’t think of any other super tall dudes for a comparable behemoth.

When I originally reviewed this one, I mentioned that it had the power to (mostly) suck me out of my social anxiety disorder long enough to enjoy the film.  Now, in the privacy of my own home (okay, it’s really the front bedroom of my mommy’s house, but I’m a single parent, so bite me), I have the opportunity to pick this summer popcorn flick to pieces, like a less educated and less eloquent Roger Ebert.  A Roger Ebert that was high on methamphetamines and Cherry Coke.  Yeah, that sounds about right.

I was totally prepared to just lay into this sucker the second time around… however… dang my low expectation monitor, I LIKED IT EVEN BETTER THE SECOND TIME AROUND.


If you have seen any of the prior films, or saw the trailers for this one, you already know what it is about: kids go to park with real living dinosaurs, the biggest one breaks loose and starts eating people, chaos ensues.  Only this time around, there is a bit more humor, and a bit more attention on the characters themselves.  The biggest charm of JURASSIC PARK was its grounded feel; the characters you saw on-screen seemed like normal people.  That changed some with the next two films, both of which seemed more intent on upping the dinosaur factor and trying to out-do the last.

Have no fear: there is one big, new, badass dino on the loose.  And the special effects here are done convincingly enough.  But it is the almost loving development of every character, and the perfect casting, which steals the show.  Even though sometimes the detail of the sets is more distracting than the dinosaurs are… which gives us a nice segue into the bonus features…

…the first of which is star Chris Pratt (Star Lord) and director Colin Trevorrow “interviewing” each other—pretty cheesy, but Universal more than makes up for it with the second feature, a half-hour “show” that takes you behind the scenes and offers segments on almost every step of the process involved in making this humongous film.  By including interviews with the cast and Steven Spielberg himself, we are treated to certain aspects of filmmaking you don’t normally get to see.  Like what it is like to work with a thousand screaming extras, and how big some of those sets really were.  The studio has done rather well with the special features lately, and here the information is detailed and well worth the watch.


The next Jurassic film is due in less than three years.  The most hopeful thing about the sequel?  Not only will Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard be reprising their roles, but Trevorrow and writer Derek Connolly will be back as well.  For the sake of entertainment and a dang good time, let’s hope they keep the momentum going.
           
Grade: A
Special Features: A
Blu-ray Necessary: Uh, let’s think about this for a minute… IT’S FRICKING DINOSAURS, OF COURSE IT IS NECESSARY.

-- T.S. Kummelman

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