One of the Summer of 2015’s most anticipated films, ‘Jurassic World,’ took the box office by storm on Friday night, earning an estimated $82.8 million during its debut (that number includes $18.5 million from late-night screenings on Thursday). Those impressive numbers make Colin Trevorrow’s film the third biggest opening day of all time, behind only ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2’ and ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron.’ It is sure to be a record setting weekend for the behemoth of a film!
Icon Vs. Icon’s Kate Vendetta and Hank Butterfield made their way to the theater this weekend to take in the larger than life flick. After sucking down a few sodas, tossing back some popcorn and soaking in some of the coolest AC known to man, the couple were cool enough to offer up their takes on the runaway hit. Check it out below!
Hank Butterfield’s take on ‘Jurassic World’:
I enjoyed ‘Jurassic World.’ Let’s be honest-like the thousands of patrons flocking to John Hammond’s dream realized, the average moviegoer is coming to see hot dino action. ‘Jurassic World’ delivers that in spades. In a welcome bit of self-parody, the corporate honchos that run the, ahem, park must come up with bigger, badder, scarier dinosaurs to keep patrons coming back. Stegosauruses and Tyrannosauruses just won’t cut it any more. Enter Indominus Rex, a genetically-engineered Tyrannosaurus Rex infused with other animals’ DNA, designed to be the latest and greatest attraction. The dinosaurs look great, and the CGI was only noticeable on one or two occasions. As much as I enjoyed the hot dino action, the story felt like a Swiss-cheese rehash of Jurassic Park. The plot can be summed up as follows – Corporation creates dinosaurs. A corporate head has young family members visiting. Dinosaurs escape, despite the hubris of the park overseers thinking they have everything under control. Dinosaurs kill people Kids escape and run around on the island. Someone wants to steal dinosaur embryos for nefarious and profit-driven purposes. Eventually, dinosaurs retake the island, ostensibly to be left to their own fate. It wouldn’t have bothered me as much if I didn’t have so many questions left unresolved at the end of the movie. What happened to the dinosaurs from Isla Nublar and Isla Sorna? Did they all die? Did they bring them to Jurassic World? How did Chris Pratt’s character know how to wrangle raptors? Wasn’t he in the Navy? Why would anyone go to Jurassic World knowing what happened at Jurassic Park and after a Tyrannosaurus Rex ran wild in San Diego? When did InGen become a private military corporation? I’m nitpicking, but those plot holes could have been explained in the time wasted on the kids talking about their parents getting a divorce or a ghost in the garage (WTF, are there ghosts in the Jurassic Park/World universe too? Did InGen use Boo Berry’s DNA?) , which added nothing to the story. It’s also clear there will be at least one sequel, so perhaps I shouldn’t be so hasty to get answers.
I enjoyed the movie and there were some really cool ideas, particularly the genetic engineering of dinosaurs (and other animals), but some of the plot holes and similarities to the first movie bugged me. I am intrigued by the potential for a sequel because I think it has potential to do things with the franchise that have never been done before. It’s worth seeing in the theater for the spectacle of the dinosaurs on the big screen, but don’t kick yourself if you wait to see it in three or four months on TV.
Kate Vendetta’s take on ‘Jurassic World’:
Hank already covered the main plot of “Jurassic World” so there’s no need for my synopsis. So, here’s my take.
I’m a stay-at-home mom looking for a cold soda, a dark movie theatre and some fresh popcorn. Think of me as the “Lowered Expectations” skit from classic Saturday Night Live.
I was expecting big dinosaurs and hottie-boom-body Chris Pratt. What I got was a movie going through an identity crisis. A lot of characters who aren’t fleshed out. There were the brothers Zach and Gray Mitchell (Nick Robinson and Ty Simpkins)– why was there a scene about their parents going through a divorce? I understand the need for a little background information but this tidbit was confusing. Will this come out later? Did it add to the plot? No. As Hank mentioned, the ghost in the garage story was confusing at best. Tidbits like these were thrown in throughout the movie, including such gems as Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard) and Owen Grady (Chris Pratt) having gone on a date before but it didn’t work out because she’s so high strung – we need all that yet you don’t explain how Owen is more Raptor Whisperer than ex Navy? Claire hasn’t seen her nephews in seven years yet their mother lets them visit for a weekend? Vic Hoskins (Vincent D’Onofrio) and Owen square off and share odd dialogue yet we never know how InGen became evil or what happened to the John Hammond’s dinosaurs?
It was a lot of tell, not show, as if us viewers are stupid. Show the older horned up teen, Gray, hitting on girls and ignoring his brother and we have enough brains to know they don’t get along. When they live through a T-Rex attack, have them hug it out. We will understand! We don’t need odd dialogue shoehorned into the plot. Cut out the talk about Claire and Owen having dated and spend more time on how he became the Raptor Whisperer. Include their kiss mid-movie and, at the end of the film, have him look up from the elderly man, lock eyes with her and smile. That’s all we need.
I think the basic plot is interesting, especially the need for genetic engineering because Americans are so easily unimpressed and have short attention spans, but please provide a better storyline next time with better dialogue!
Jason Price founded the mighty Icon Vs. Icon more than a decade ago. Along the way, he’s assembled an amazing group of like-minded individuals to spread the word on some of the most unique people and projects on the pop culture landscape.
