The Jurassic Saga!

 A couple of weeks ago, I saw Jurassic World in theaters. I have long since been a fan of the Jurassic Park trilogy and was extremely excited for the fourth installment. I would have made this post simply about Jurassic World, but I felt that I should include the first three as well. (There may be spoilers! I don't hit huge details really, but I do have questions that need to be answered)

Let's start with number one, Jurassic Park, which was based off the 1990 book by Michael Crichton. The film features Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, Richard Attenborough, Bob Peck, Martin Ferrero, Joseph Mazzello, Ariana Richards, Sam Jackson, BD Wong and Wayne Knight.

This one came out in 1993, a little bit before I was born, of course, but my family had a VHS copy of it when I was little, and they let me watch it when I was around five. At the time, I was amazed by the movie and all I could ask was "How did they get the dinosaurs?" It was a stupid thing to think, but then again, I was five and I didn't really understand the whole animatronic thing. Naturally, the dinosaurs in it aren't very diverse, only having the most popular dinosaurs or at least the ones that the kids can pronounce. T-Rex, Raptor, Triceratops. You know the ones. Also, it wasn't really "Jurassic Park" given that some of the dinos weren't even around in the Jurassic Period. Raptors, for instance, were alive during the later part of the Cretaceous Period. But that's just the technicalities, right?

The movie overall is pretty straightforward. Guy clones dinosaurs from incredibly ancient DNA and builds a park. Brings people in, and it all goes horribly wrong, right? That then spawns the next three movies, though Lost World and Jurassic Park III is based of the failure that spawned from the first one. I like it and all, but I have to say the only reason I watch it nowadays is to see dinosaurs eat people and Sam Jackson.

Four years later came the sequel and second installment of the Jurassic Park series, The Lost World: Jurassic Park. This one featured Jeff Goldblum, Julianne Moore, Pete Postlethwaite, Arliss Howard, Richard Attenborough, Vince Vaughn, Vanessa Lee Chester and Peter Stormare.

The film kept its technicalities from the previous film, given the time period it was created in. Ah well. No movie is perfect, right? Anyways, this is set on Isla Sorna, where two teams with very different goals arrive to see the dinosaurs in their "natural" habitat. Sarah Harding and her team are researching the dinosaurs to learn more about them, and Peter Ludlow and his team are hunting down the dinosaurs to open up a new park (bad idea), while this other guy simply wants a T-rex for his own weird reasons. They clash and the usual, running-for-their-lives-from-man-eating-dinosaurs ensues. But what makes this movie interesting is how they take the setting to San Diego (I'm pretty sure that's where they took it, it's been a while since I've seen it but they did mention San Diego) As seen in the above still, they took a Tyrannosaurus Rex to the mainland where it wreaked havoc. I think that's the only reason I even like, apart from seeing dinosaurs of course. I'm not that big a fan of the main cast, being the only one I really like in the mix being Attenborough. Plus, there are a few questions that raised when I watched the film later in life. (Spoilers! Skip to next paragraph if you haven't seen the film!) Like, how did the daughter manage to even sneak onto the trailer and travel all the way to the island without being noticed? You can't tell me she literally hid for hours without making noise or even using the bathroom. How did the T-Rex kill the entire crew, yet was not even out of the cargo hold? It took some idiot to open the door on the cargo hold for the T-Rex to escape! Also why did that one idiot feel the need to open the freaking cargo hold knowing there was an entire dinosaur inside of it? Also, what about when T-Rex actually started roaming San Diego? This isn't some kind of disease or something that got slightly out of hand and the media is trying to hush it up, this is a DINOSAUR RUNNING AMOK! I'm pretty sure the public would have been made aware of this immediately and evacuation would've ensued the minute got loose, so the scene with the kid seeing the dinosaur in the backyard and running to tell his mommy and daddy is stupid. Oh, and I understand the T-Rex being hella thirsty and going to search for water, but wouldn't the chlorine in the pool have some kind of affect on it's body? Now, let's talk about the ending. I guess we really want to have a "feel-good" moment, right? Well on The Lost World, our feel-good moment is having the parent dino letting the baby eat the bad guy as his first kill. Then we have all the dinos living "peacefully" amongst each other. Fun.

I didn't like this one as much as I do the last two, but whatever. Dinosaurs, right?

Okay so time for the third film - Jurassic Park III (2001) and I have to admit that I'm probably going to be a bit biased on this one. This used to be my favorite film as a child - so much to the point that I bought it on iTunes and currently have it on my iPod so I could watch it anytime, anywhere. I remember back when blockbuster was still open, and every time we drove by it my brother and I would beg mom to stop and let us get a movie. At first, my brother and I agreed on the film that we would get - Jurassic Park III. But eventually he got sick of the science fiction flick and we started getting separate films. Every time we walked in, I would run to the far wall and grab a copy of the movie. Pretty sure the clerk knew me by then. I would get visibly upset when the film wasn't in there. Then blockbuster closed down and I didn't see the film as much. But I still love it.

 Sam Neill comes back as Alan Grant, where he and his friend, Billy Brennan (Alessandro Nivola) are tricked into to Isla Sorna, the second Ingen dinosaur lab, in order to search for the Kirby's missing son, Eric, played by Trevor Morgan. The running theme continues as everything goes wrong when a Spinosaurus attacks. What's fun about this one is that the main threat isn't the Tyrannosaurus anymore. We still have the raptors, but we also have new dinosaurs to see in action.

The downfall of this one, though, is the really annoying woman played by Tea Leoni, who screamed the entire movie. Don't get me wrong, I too would scream if I was being chased by a dinosaur but come on! Let's talk about how ridiculous this woman was. (Spoiler Alert! Continue to next paragraph of you haven't seen the film and don't want to know how often this woman screamed!) Alright, so when they land on the island, she gets out and starts yelling into a megaphone. You don't have to be a scientist to know that yelling into megaphone on a dangerous dinosaur-infested island is a pretty bad idea. It takes Grant to come out, tell Paul Kirby, portrayed by William H. Macy that it's a bad idea, who then starts yelling at his wife, Amanda, that it's a bad idea. Then she turns around and yells, through the megaphone, "What's a bad idea?!?" Then we hear the Spinosaurus roar and she finally shuts up, however briefly. That entire scene made gave me a headache. Then how did they survive that plane crash? Through a heavily wooded area? Plot convenience, no doubt. Magic. *stares at camera like I'm on the office*. 

I have to say though, the film is worth watching, regardless of the plot holes. If you're into this kind of thing and haven't seen Jurassic Park III, then I suggest you find the nearest store and buy/rent it. It's pretty cheap at Walmart. They usually have it in a pack with the first two, so there you go!

Finally! We've reached Jurassic World, the latest installment of the series. This one takes place twenty-two years after the events of Jurassic Park. The new theme park is built on top of the original site, and it actually goes pretty well. It's all amazing, you know. Finally the park is open. BD Wong and his character, Dr. Henry Wu, are back, and this time they made a brand new dinosaur, using DNA from several difference species. This film features Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Irrfan Khan, Vincent D'Onofrio, Ty Simpkins, Nick Robinson, Jake Johnson, Omar Sy and BD Wong.

Overall, the film is fantastic. I believe at this point the film is still in theaters, and I really want to see it again, so I might in the next couple of days. I recommend that you try to see it before it goes out of theaters. Considering the film hasn't been out as long as the previous ones, I won't say as much so you guys don't get the whole idea before you get a chance to see it.