Jurassic Park Series (1993 - present)

145791014

Comments

  • Posts: 3,333
    Yes, you're right, it was recycled and Disneyfied in The Lost World @BAIN123. As I recall, in the book it runs up her arm and bites her face off!
  • CraigMooreOHMSSCraigMooreOHMSS Dublin, Ireland
    Posts: 8,009
    bondsum wrote: »
    An interesting titbit, I was watching James Cameron's Story of Science Fiction where he was interviewing Spielberg about the first Jurassic Park and it came to light that Cameron himself had also tried to buy the rights to Michael Crichton's book (after being sent an early advance copy of the book) but to only discover that Spielberg had already beaten him to it by just minutes. However, he did admit that if he had he made the movie version, Jurassic Park would've been a hard-R rated movie and not the family-friendly version Spielberg made.

    Personally, I much prefer Cameron's take as it's closer to the source material. I'm sure Cameron would've also included the opening scene whereby a young American girl on vacation at a beach shore with her family in Central America gets attacked and gorged by a Procompsognathus while her parents are not looking, plus the bit where the children are being chased by the Tyrannosaurus Rex down a river on an inflatable raft, which was also dropped from the film.

    The kids being chased down the river was ruled out because at the time, it was simply not achievable visually. To attempt to fully realise it would have been a massive undertaking in a film already full of them. I don't think it would have been any different if Cameron was at the helm, considering he would have been working with ILM just like Spielberg.

    I'd have been interested to see a Cameron-led hard-R version of the story. Though it must be said that Spielberg changed many of the characters for the better, especially John Hammond.
  • WalecsWalecs On Her Majesty's Secret Service
    edited June 2018 Posts: 3,157
    BAIN123 wrote: »
    The Lost World had an opening where a young girl gets attacked by a group of Procompsognathus. Presumably this was meant to be a watered down version of the opening in the original novel @bondsum.

    In the film the family on holiday is British and the girl apparently survives.



    Spierberg wasn’t above killing off kids though as Jaws demonstrated.

    The young girl survives in the book as well.

    I love Jurassic Park as it is, but at the same time I'd be very curious and excited to see what an R-rated version would be.
  • DCisaredDCisared Liverpool
    Posts: 1,329
    Theres a scene in fallen kingdom that had there been any blood would surely have upped the age rating. Its quite brutal that scene for a 12a.
  • edited June 2018 Posts: 6,844
    I caught Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom over the weekend (it just opened here in the US). I enjoyed myself for the most part, apart from some dry stretches in the middle, but unfortunately it just didn't have the same magic or excitement for me that the first Jurassic World did, and I found there were far too many seriously obtrusive screenwriting problems for me to just completely shut off my critical eye and enjoy the ride.

    I understand they were trying to make this The Lost World to Jurassic World’s Jurassic Park. I like that they went dark with things, but setting roughly the final two thirds of the film in a dreary manor and/or holding cell dungeon really killed whatever the film had going for it up to that point. The Dracula-esque Indo-raptor brought back the excitement factor a fair bit, but it still didn’t feel like a climax worthy of a Jurassic Park film. I must not have been too conscious of how the time was passing because I really was expecting some additional segment (like The Lost World’s San Diego chaos) to provide the real climax of the film.

    As for some of the screenwriting issues I simply couldn’t avoid interfering with my enjoyment, well, I better use some spoiler tags here:
    1. Dinosaurs fighting with other dinosaurs and/or fanatically trying to eat humans despite an erupting volcano sending them all into run-for-your-life mode. Sorry but this is not how animals would really act. I get that it’s a movie and this one probably falls under the category of don’t think about it too hard and just enjoy the spectacle, but it pulled me out of the film just the same. As fantastical as Spielberg's JP films got at times, he still adhered to a pretty realistic degree of animal behavior.

    2. The good guys not acting like good guys, despite this being a very, very black-and-white film as far as the good guys and the bad guys are concerned. So Claire is there on the island to save the dinosaurs, yet after escaping with her painfully unfunny techie buddy from that maintenance room, she locks the baryonyx in with the pouring lava, sealing its doom. I don’t know, did that seem kind of heartless to anyone else? I know Grant used a shotgun against raptors in the first Jurassic Park, but still this felt a bit different from that. There was all kinds of chaos going on outside. She didn’t have to actually lock the hatch, ensuring the animal would die down there (though to be fair, I guess they pretty much all died anyway?). But another more pronounced instance of the good guys not acting like the good guys was when the paleo-vet and aforementioned techie unleashed Blue on the guards with the shock prods, basically murdering them via raptor. Has there ever been an instance of a good guy in another Jurassic Park film actually killing someone else? Especially when their lives weren’t immediately in mortal jeopardy? This one was definitely a questionable screenwriting decision.

    3. Only the bad guys die. Seriously, only the bad guys were eaten by dinosaurs. Not a single good character became dino chow. And you knew none of the good characters were going to be eaten either. It’s like they gave up completely on trying to make the audience feel any sense of real jeopardy for their core cast of good characters. And not only that, but the villains were the most comic-booky evil villains we’ve ever had in a JP film. They were unrealistically, cartoonishly evil. We’ve really fallen a long way from the originals, where a Muldoon or an Eddie Carr could get devoured in graphic fashion, or where you at least thought a character like Malcolm in JP or Roland Tembo might get taken down too. Nowadays I guess there aren’t really even any characters you care enough about to worry whether they might become dino chow. Except Blue, I guess. Blue is cool, and I did fear for her life. I’ll give them that. Oh, and I should mention Wu too. I really hate Wu in the JW films. He played such a small, uninvolved part in the original and now he’s some kind of recurring villain type? I also don’t like Wong’s emotional acting. He was fine under Spielberg’s direction when he just had a few straightforward lines, but Wong really isn’t a very convincing dramatic actor.

    4. I guess the other big thing that I’d mentioned already is simply how badly the film loses its way in the middle section. Dinosaurs (and our lead characters) sitting in jail cells. Our comic book villains holding some kind of comic book auction with comic book representatives of all the world powers. And all of this conveniently under the roof of a mansion that also has some of the characters’ bedrooms and a whole dinosaur museum. It all just felt very sloppy and unconvincing from a screenwriting point of view. I had the same issue with the bit where the girl gets separated from Owen and Claire and runs and hides in her bed, and the Indo-raptor, I forget how exactly, has to stop chasing her and go outside, only so it can dramatically creep across the roof and reenter through her bedroom window like Dracula. A very cool sequence of course, but it’s downright painful how contrived it was for them to interrupt the chase sequence and reset the pawns of their characters on their filmic chessboard to set up that next cool sequence. So little of it felt organic, and that’s what takes you out of the excitement of the film.

    5. The nostalgic nods, while I liked them in Jurassic World and thought they were for the most part spot on, really became a bit much here. Perhaps the best example of this is that one sleazy bad guy (don’t even know the character’s name) getting ripped apart in the same exact manner as Eddie Carr. Why? It’s a brutal death, yes, but Eddie’s death was heroic and awful to watch. So why equate this guy’s demise with Eddie’s? Why not just come up with an original and equally visceral way of killing him? Kind of like what they actually did for the ultra-evil Roland Tembo knockoff?

    6. Human cloning. It was definitely a bit of a weird moment, but at the same time I guess I figured that with enough JP films they would get around to that eventually. When I was younger, I wrote various versions of JP sequel screenplays and introduced the idea of human cloning in one of them. So it wasn’t so much the fact that they went there as that they brought it up, barely, moments before the end almost and then didn’t do anything with it. I guess they’ll do something more with it in the next one? Maybe? Who knows.

    There’s fun stuff in this film. I really wanted to like it. I did like it—the parts that I liked. But as you can tell from the above, I had a massive amount of issues with the film. Enough to seriously hamper my enjoyment of what should essentially have been a thrilling roller coaster ride. I wasn’t crazy about Jurassic World when I first saw it. I thought the characters and story were pretty weak (and still think that), but after watching it again and again I came to really love the film. It’s one helluva fun roller coaster ride jam-packed with excitement and nostalgia and fun. I’ll revisit Fallen Kingdom when it comes to disc, hoping for a similar reappraisal, but given the depth of my issues with the film, I fear this may not be one I revisit too often down the road. Still better than JPIII though, of course.
  • And one other thing: where were the bloody
    dilophosauruses?
    They actually built one and released a photo of the model during the earliest stages of the film's production:
    183363.jpg
    So why weren't there any in the film? Maybe it was originally supposed to be in the scene now occupied by the baryonyx? At any rate, they need to make a comeback. With raptors the new rexes (villains turned heroes),
    dilophosauruses
    could easily become the new raptors.
  • DaltonCraig007DaltonCraig007 They say, "Evil prevails when good men fail to act." What they ought to say is, "Evil prevails."
    Posts: 15,686
    Jurassic World 3 to begin filming in Spring 2020 at Pinewood Studios.

    https://hnentertainment.co/exclusive-jurassic-world-3-confirmed-to-shoot-at-pinewood-studios-uk/
  • Posts: 1,964
    Any word if Sam Neil will make an appearance in the 3rd JW?
  • DaltonCraig007DaltonCraig007 They say, "Evil prevails when good men fail to act." What they ought to say is, "Evil prevails."
    Posts: 15,686
    fjdinardo wrote: »
    Any word if Sam Neil will make an appearance in the 3rd JW?

    According to recent rumours, JW3 could feature Jeff Goldblum, Sam Neill and Laura Dern.
  • WalecsWalecs On Her Majesty's Secret Service
    Posts: 3,157
    fjdinardo wrote: »
    Any word if Sam Neil will make an appearance in the 3rd JW?

    According to recent rumours, JW3 could feature Jeff Goldblum, Sam Neill and Laura Dern.

    That's the only thing that would make me watch it, at this point. JW and TFK were awful.

    Colin Trevorrow directed a 10 minute film which is set between TFK and JP6.

  • MajorDSmytheMajorDSmythe "I tolerate this century, but I don't enjoy it."Moderator
    Posts: 13,882
    So that's it, then? The genie is now out of the bottle. Were TLW vibes intentional?
  • Fire_and_Ice_ReturnsFire_and_Ice_Returns I am trying to get away from this mountan!
    Posts: 23,102
    I like the idea of Planet of the Dinasaurs
  • Posts: 12,506
    I did think it was clever how the planet Earth turned into the JW logo. :-bd
  • Walecs wrote: »
    fjdinardo wrote: »
    Any word if Sam Neil will make an appearance in the 3rd JW?

    According to recent rumours, JW3 could feature Jeff Goldblum, Sam Neill and Laura Dern.

    That's the only thing that would make me watch it, at this point. JW and TFK were awful.

    Colin Trevorrow directed a 10 minute film which is set between TFK and JP6.


    I really enjoyed this. I like it more than Fallen Kingdom anyway! :O
  • Fire_and_Ice_ReturnsFire_and_Ice_Returns I am trying to get away from this mountan!
    Posts: 23,102
    I was more engaged in the Short than the awful Fallen Kingdom, the Dinasaurs were mostly animatronic in the Short film, with a few CGI tweeks according to reports.

    The Pangea like Dinasaur image on the Universal logo was cool.
  • DaltonCraig007DaltonCraig007 They say, "Evil prevails when good men fail to act." What they ought to say is, "Evil prevails."
    edited September 2019 Posts: 15,686
    Confirmed: Jeff Goldblum, Sam Neill & Laura Dern are back in sizeable roles in Jurassic World 3.

    https://deadline.com/2019/09/jurassic-world-3-laura-dern-sam-neill-jeff-goldblum-reprise-jurassic-park-roles-1202744117/
  • WalecsWalecs On Her Majesty's Secret Service
    Posts: 3,157
    Good, now they've got my interest.
  • BennyBenny In the shadowsAdministrator, Moderator
    Posts: 14,811
    Confirmed: Jeff Goldblum, Sam Neill & Laura Dern are back in sizeable roles in Jurassic World 3.

    https://deadline.com/2019/09/jurassic-world-3-laura-dern-sam-neill-jeff-goldblum-reprise-jurassic-park-roles-1202744117/

    I'm happy that Sam Neill is back, and hope that Jeff Goldblum has a bigger role than he did in JW2.
    To be honest I'm not really bothered about Laura Dern returning, but I guess we get some continuity story wise.
    Thanks for sharing @DaltonCraig007
  • Posts: 12,506
    Confirmed: Jeff Goldblum, Sam Neill & Laura Dern are back in sizeable roles in Jurassic World 3.

    https://deadline.com/2019/09/jurassic-world-3-laura-dern-sam-neill-jeff-goldblum-reprise-jurassic-park-roles-1202744117/

    Fantastic news! Really looking forward to what the final film will deliver to us all? :-bd
  • Posts: 1,964
    Confirmed: Jeff Goldblum, Sam Neill & Laura Dern are back in sizeable roles in Jurassic World 3.

    https://deadline.com/2019/09/jurassic-world-3-laura-dern-sam-neill-jeff-goldblum-reprise-jurassic-park-roles-1202744117/

    WOOT WOOT! They will blend well with Chirs Pratt and Ron Howards daughter.
  • DaltonCraig007DaltonCraig007 They say, "Evil prevails when good men fail to act." What they ought to say is, "Evil prevails."
    Posts: 15,686
    Mamoudou Athie (The Front Runner, Sorry For Your Loss) joins Jurassic World 3.

    https://deadline.com/2019/10/universal-jurassic-world-3-mamoudou-athie-1202762545/
  • JamesCraigJamesCraig Ancient Rome
    edited October 2019 Posts: 3,497
    I'd love to see a mini series more true to the novel. :-B
  • ShardlakeShardlake Leeds, West Yorkshire, England
    Posts: 4,043
    JamesCraig wrote: »
    I'd love to see a mini series more true to the novel. :-B

    Definitely agree with that, one of the big boys like HBO, Showtime etc throws in with this I'd be up for that.

    It took me quite a while to make my peace with the film when I first saw it as I was so enamoured with the book and the potential. It was more like Aliens in it's tone and approach, whereas the film was family entertainment.

    It is what it is but JP can't hold a candle to Jaws.

    Have Hammond like the nasty piece of work he is in the book, I've never liked Attenborough's casting. Spielberg was going for a cuddly grandfather type when the Hammond of the book is a real bastard.

    Would have been a peach of a role for Connery, wouldn't have had to put on the accent like Sir Richard did.

    Peter Mullan would make a good Hammond.

  • DaltonCraig007DaltonCraig007 They say, "Evil prevails when good men fail to act." What they ought to say is, "Evil prevails."
    edited February 2020 Posts: 15,686
    Omar Sy and Jake Johnson are returning for Jurassic World 3.

    https://collider.com/jurassic-world-3-jake-johnson-omar-sy-return/
  • WalecsWalecs On Her Majesty's Secret Service
    Posts: 3,157
    Omar Sy and Jake Johnson are returning for Jurassic World 3.

    https://collider.com/jurassic-world-3-jake-johnson-omar-sy-return/

    Oh yeah, so Johnson's character can spill out lots of pointless memberries and distract the people from the movie's awful plot like he did with the first movie.

    I'm honestly intrigued by how much this trilogy resembles Star Wars' sequel trilogy. First one is a remake of the first movie, second one tries to do something different while still shoehorning some memberries here and there and also setting up very little for the final movie*. Then the third one is once again directed from Abrams/Trevorrow and lots of memberries will ensue.

    The only difference being that Rian Johnson managed to make an interesting middle chapter with The Last Jedi whereas Fallen Kingdom bored me to death. Jurassic World and The Force Awakens, on the other hand, are pure garbage and I expect the last Jurassic movie to be garbage as well.

    *TLJ set up the war between the resistance and the First Order but felt very conclusive whereas JP5 supposedly set up a world inhabited by dinosaurs even though only three of them escaped the manor.
  • DaltonCraig007DaltonCraig007 They say, "Evil prevails when good men fail to act." What they ought to say is, "Evil prevails."
    edited February 2020 Posts: 15,686
  • Posts: 12,506
    Looking forward to the next instalment of this franchise. :-bd
  • DaltonCraig007DaltonCraig007 They say, "Evil prevails when good men fail to act." What they ought to say is, "Evil prevails."
    Posts: 15,686
    Jurassic World: Dominion is the official title of the new film ; principal photography has started yesterday.

    https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/jurassic-world-3-title-is-dominion-1281086
  • NickTwentyTwoNickTwentyTwo Vancouver, BC, Canada
    Posts: 7,518
    Jurassic World: Dominion is the official title of the new film ; principal photography has started yesterday.

    https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/jurassic-world-3-title-is-dominion-1281086

    Would be cool if they went back to the old style logo as per this clapperboard.
  • Posts: 12,506
    Jurassic World: Dominion is the official title of the new film ; principal photography has started yesterday.

    https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/jurassic-world-3-title-is-dominion-1281086

    Interesting title? :-?
Sign In or Register to comment.