I did not intend to go see Jurassic World this weekend. In fact, I sort of planned on going to see Inside Out. During the course of the weekend, however, circumstances, the need for a nap, and an invitation that included a free ticket changed all those plans.
Anyway,
it was hot outside and I had just changed into cooler, more comfy shopping clothes when my phone
rang. It was my friend Donna who, I’m
VERY happy to say has recently moved back to the Tri-State area from living
like one block from the beach in the Charleston SC area. Now the part of me that firmly believes I was
switched at birth from the seaside dwelling parents who were supposed to get me
to the land-lubbers who actually raised me has a problem understanding why she’d
move away from the beach. But the part
of me that when she moved away from home only moved 3 MILES AWAY FROM HOME
totally understands it. Either way, I’m totally
happy to have her back.
Back
to the story, Donna was calling at 1:30 (from Boonville) wanting to know if I’d
like to go see Jurassic World with her… she had free tickets, and the movie
starts at 2 at AMC. I’m like, “Sure!” No problem for me, I could walk to the
theater and still get there in plenty of time.
Not that I’m that stupid – it was hot out there! The issue was that it really takes more than
a half hour to get to the Westside of Evansville from Boonville, but Donna got
there exactly at 2! I’ll assume that the
Lord was her co-pilot because I’m pretty sure I would have gotten stopped by
the po-po, but….
The
movie.
I’ve seen the original, Jurassic
Park. But it was probably 20 years ago. I know I’ve seen parts of it multiple times
over the years on TV, but while I remembered it, I’m thinking it would have
been good to view it again before watching.
I remember Sam Neill being all hunky and being happy when the bad guys
got eaten. But other than general plot
points, I couldn’t remember details.
First,
let me say that I enjoyed this movie a lot!
It was action-packed, funny, scary, it even made me tear up at one point
although at the moment I can’t quite remember what the reason was… hmm.. So anything I proceed to say are just
observations, and in no way affected my enjoyment of the movie as a whole.
First,
product placement. I don’t consider
myself very observant. But the product
placement was very, uh… direct, let’s say.
I can clearly say that Mercedes Benz, Coca-Cola, Starbucks, Margaritaville,
and Pandora jewelry all sponsored this movie.
Unfortunately for at least the last three on that list, their stores
within the park were decimated. But not
before we got a clear look at their logos.
And every vehicle that was driven around the park? You guessed it, Mercedes. Product placement doesn’t really bother
me. In fact, I’m usually excited that I catch
it. I suppose the fact that I noticed it
so clearly in this movie speaks volumes.
Humorously, there’s one part in the movie where the main female character
is working with Verizon Wireless to sponsor the new dinosaur attraction and
another character jokingly asks “Why not just call it the “Verizon Wireless
(something, Rose doesn’t do dinosaur names)-adon?” and “What’s next? The ‘Pepsi-asaurus’?” Cleverly skewering the characters within the
movie for doing what the movie was doing as a whole.
B: predictability. Again, I don’t consider it to have been a bad
thing, and maybe it’s just that I’ve seen a lot of movies like this, but I
found it amusingly predictable. At one
point, our hero, played by Chris Pratt (more on him later), and some other man
entered the containment area for THE main dinosaur… I really ought to know what
it was. Hold on, let me Google it. It’s an Indominus Rex. Anyway, the two men enter the containment
area and I leaned over to Donna and said, “that guy might as well be wearing a
red shirt.” Just a minute later, yup, he
was toast. I can’t detail the other
items because doing so would definitely qualify as spoilers. Just let me say that there were several
instances of “Uh oh, he’s gonna die” or “He sounds sneaky… I just bet he’s a
bad guy” and “oh Lord, I can see a bunch of dinosaurs making short shrift out
of that!” Actually, I think it would
have been fun if they’d dressed some of those miscellaneous characters in red
uniforms.
Lastly,
PG-13!? Mid-way through the movie, I
leaned over and asked Donna if the first movie was this graphically
violent. She said yes. I just can’t remember. There
were just a lot of violence and dinosaurs jumping out at us. Watching it in 3D may not have helped. I really have to remember that I prefer 2D
movies. And don’t even ask me about what
happened at the petting zoo! I had to
close my eyes several times during the movie.
Yikes! There’s a difference
between watching a movie in the safety of your well lit living room on a small
screen and watching in the dark (in 3D… I’m thinking that really made the
difference) on a big screen.
As I said earlier, I enjoyed this movie a lot! It was action-packed, funny, scary, it even made me tear up at one point. And it even has a hot/cute hero. It was like the people who made it read my mind!
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