Sometimes I think people dislike kids in movies simply because there are kids in said movies.
I saw the movie with my younger brother and we share a similar age gap to the kids in the movie so those characters and their relationship really resonated with me
Sometimes I think people dislike kids in movies simply because there are kids in said movies.
I saw the movie with my younger brother and we share a similar age gap to the kids in the movie so those characters and their relationship really resonated with me
Sometimes I think people dislike kids in movies simply because there are kids in said movies.
I saw the movie with my younger brother and we share a similar age gap to the kids in the movie so those characters and their relationship really resonated with me
I had almost that same relationship with my brother when I was in my teens. He's 7 years younger than me, which meant when I was in high school, he was in elementary school. Being a moody angsty teen myself at the time, I thought everything my brother did was dumb and I hated looking after him; hanging out with your kid brother isn't exactly a chick magnet. But during really hard times I made sure to take care of him as best I could. It's not exactly unique or limited to hollywood lol. I thought the portrayal was perfectly fine.
I feel like I'm one of the few who do. Trevorrow has a penchant for comedy (he worked for SNL at some point I believe), and looking at the cast, he clearly likes working with funny people. Watching Safety Not Guaranteed, it shows that's what he's comfortable with; and it shows in Jurassic World too. I don't think Trevorrow and Connolly wrote dialogue for these characters thinking they were making something profound. There's earnestness and humor woven into almost everything in JW, even when it's not "ha ha" funny. It doesn't go beyond just a few winks but they clearly know when a line or situation is cheesy -- but they don't care because they're going for whatever they feel is right for their film.
Sometimes I think people dislike kids in movies simply because there are kids in said movies.
I saw the movie with my younger brother and we share a similar age gap to the kids in the movie so those characters and their relationship really resonated with me
While I think there is some truth to the idea that some people just don't like kid characters or child actors I feel that there is a good reason for why many people (including some who are singing this film's praises) aren't very fond of those two characters.
The younger brother is basically a very underdeveloped rehashed Tim expy and the older brother is a creepy aloof patronizing jerk who (quite creepily) stares at giggling girls for half the film; these qualities all range from boring to just plain unlikable, and it doesn't really help that the two actors who play them are absolutely wooden (The older boy looked like he was falling asleep half the time.)
From a narrative perspective, the only reasons for these kids existence is a very underdeveloped and cliche "loosen up the workaholic" subplot, and as an excuse for the Claire character to latch onto Jurassic Pratt's adventure.
If they were taken out of the film, the writers probably would have had to find a more creative and organic way to throw Clair and Jurassic Pratt into the adventure.
I feel like I'm one of the few who do. Trevorrow has a penchant for comedy (he worked for SNL at some point I believe), and looking at the cast, he clearly likes working with funny people. Watching Safety Not Guaranteed, it shows that's what he's comfortable with; and it shows in Jurassic World too. I don't think Trevorrow and Connolly wrote dialogue for these characters thinking they were making something profound. There's earnestness and humor woven into almost everything in JW, even when it's not "ha ha" funny. It doesn't go beyond just a few winks but they clearly know when a line or situation is cheesy -- but they don't care because they're going for whatever they feel is right for their film.
This is exactly how i feel about it to, i watched it yesterday and found it just OK and about on par with the 2nd and 3rd movies (the nostalgia with the music etc really does help a lot). It was more than OK to watch for big dinosaurs running amuck (kinda like Transformers is just OK to watch just to see big robots kicking the crap out of each other), but it really wasn't all that great and some parts/plot lines are strait up stupid.
Still, its nice to have dinosaurs on the big screen again, and after all that is exactly what i was expecting.
I had almost that same relationship with my brother when I was in my teens. He's 7 years younger than me, which meant when I was in high school, he was in elementary school. Being a moody angsty teen myself at the time, I thought everything my brother did was dumb and I hated looking after him; hanging out with your kid brother isn't exactly a chick magnet. But during really hard times I made sure to take care of him as best I could. It's not exactly unique or limited to hollywood lol. I thought the portrayal was perfectly fine.
Yup. My bro and i are ten years apart (I'm 23, he's 13). He's matured a bit, but if I was stuck babysitting during a vacation weekend when he was younger, that would have been torture.
So yeah, the movie's portrayal was fine. I could totally relate to an older brother being dismissive towards an annoying younger brother, but in the end, still being close and looking out for eachother
While I think there is some truth to the idea that some people just don't like kid characters or child actors I feel that there is a good reason for why many people (including some who are singing this film's praises) aren't very fond of those two characters.
The younger brother is basically a very underdeveloped rehashed Tim expy and the older brother is a creepy aloof patronizing jerk who (quite creepily) stares at giggling girls for half the film; these qualities all range from boring to just plain unlikable, and it doesn't really help that the two actors who play them are absolutely wooden (The older boy looked like he was falling asleep half the time.)
From a narrative perspective, the only reasons for these kids existence is a very underdeveloped and cliche "loosen up the workaholic" subplot, and as an excuse for the Claire character to latch onto Jurassic Pratt's adventure.
If they were taken out of the film, the writers probably would have had to find a more creative and organic way to throw Clair and Jurassic Pratt into the adventure.
Come on, what was the last time you saw JP? Lex and Tim had no development. They had less character or development than the brothers here. Hell, if you read the making of JP book, the actress for Lex was mainly chosen because of her screams (best screams since King Kong's Fay Wray during auditions according to the book). She's the nervous and whining older sibling who doesn't like dinosaurs and being a "hacker" is mentioned for a second so her saving the day in the end could make sense. And Tim is the excited dinophile and teasing younger brother. They were merely there to add to Grant's and Hammond's characters.
Come on, what was the last time you saw JP? Lex and Tim had no development. They had less character or development than the brothers here. Hell, if you read the making of JP book, the actress for Lex was mainly chosen because of her screams (best screams since King Kong's Fay Wray during auditions according to the book). She's the nervous and whining older sibling who doesn't like dinosaurs and being a "hacker" is mentioned for a second so her saving the day in the end could make sense. And Tim is the excited dinophile and teasing younger brother. They were merely there to add to Grant's and Hammond's characters.
I'm in full agreement with you, I don't think Tim and Lex were very developed either. They were honestly just about as one-note, wooden, and pandering as the two brothers were in this film.
And as far as I can tell they're a bit of a base breaker duo for most fans.
It's honestly kind of sad that this 20 something year old franchise still struggles with child/teen characters, it needs some writers who actually know what makes children endearing.
They need to watch Steven Universe or something.
I'm in full agreement with you, I don't think Tim and Lex were very developed either. They were honestly just about as one-note, wooden, and pandering as the two brothers were in this film.
And as far as I can tell they're a bit of a base breaker duo for most fans.
It's honestly kind of sad that this 20 something year old franchise still struggles with child/teen characters, it needs some writers who actually know what makes children endearing.
They need to watch Steven Universe or something.
Eh, still, thought the brothers were fine and better than any child characters from the previous movies. Trust me, that relationship between the brothers was completely realistic and relatable.
I don't get how the older brother was unlikeable. Because he was more interested in girls than watching his younger bro in some park? Which he then rectified by trying to give his younger bro a special experience after realizing how sad his brother was.
Seeing a brother relationship like that made the movie so much better to me. Especially their talk near the end. Alway got to stick together. Even when my bro is literally the most annoying person in existence (and a pre-teen can be insanely teeth-grindingly annoying), we're always close and look out for each other because we're brothers
Eh, still, thought the brothers were fine and better than any child characters from the previous movies. Trust me, that relationship between the brothers was completely realistic and relatable.
I don't get how the older brother was unlikeable. Because he was more interested in girls than watching his younger bro in some park? Which he then rectified by trying to give his younger bro a special experience after realizing how sad his brother was.
Seeing a brother relationship like that made the movie so much better to me. Especially their talk near the end. Alway got to stick together. Even when my bro is literally the most annoying person in existence (and a pre-teen can be insanely teeth-grindingly annoying), we're always close and look out for each other because we're brothers
I have an older brother who I grew up with, and I didn't find the brothers' relationship in this film relatable or well-written.
It was a very stereotypical and hollow portrayal that only seemed interested in depicting one small aspect of sibling relationships for most of the film while failing to earn any of it's ham-fisted "You're my bro, of course I love you!" moments.
And honestly, him awkwardly staring at girls was completely unnecessary and forced. why did he even need to do that when he's got a girlfriend...I mean, I'm not saying you can't check out other chicks, but it just wasn't necessary from a narrative perspective.
It's a prime example of a badly written character quirk.
Part of JPIII's benefit to me is that the kid isn't annoying—he's not on screen for nearly half of it anyhow. The faults of that movie aside, I don't think the kid is one of them; if anything Tea Leoni reacting to him is (but then again, part of whether you get onboard with that film over TLW is if you can understand parents being that manic to launch the scheme that kicks off the movie in the first place.)
I have an older brother who I grew up with, and I didn't find the brothers' relationship in this film relatable or well-written.
It was a very stereotypical and hollow portrayal that only seemed interested in depicting one small aspect of sibling relationships for most of the film while failing to earn any of it's ham-fisted "You're my bro, of course I love you!" moments.
And honestly, him awkwardly staring at girls was completely unnecessary and forced. why did he even need to do that when he's got a girlfriend...I mean, I'm not saying you can't check out other chicks, but it just wasn't necessary from a narrative perspective.
It's a prime example of a badly written character quirk.
Teens check out other members of the opposite sex. They are generally not that great at hiding it. Nothing there surprised me or offended me. My issue with him was that he felt like he went from being bored or "too cool for school" in the park to suddenly wanting to get away from the hot assistant and go offroading with dinosaurs, and I never saw those as being compatible depictions. If the idea was that he was really as into dinosaurs as his brother but felt like he couldn't show it because he'd look stupid or something like that I could have bought it a little more.
I can't believe how okay I am with not seeing this film in theaters. There is literally no hype for this movie from me, which is odd as I LOVE JP and Chris Pratt. If enough friends go to see it, I'll tag along. But for some reason I'm not itching to see this right away, and its a bummer.
Hope its better than 3!
And I hope Christ Pratt actually turns out to be that chubby kid from the first one that Sam Neil scares to death with the raptor claw!
I grew up with JP and I cannot understand how anyone could think this was as good as the original, hell The Lost World is far better as well. The characters in this were so absurdly cookie cutter with no depth or any kind of motivation.
So I've been a fan of Jurassic Park since I saw the first one in the theaters. It's one of my favorite movies.
I was really excited for Jurassic World, saw the trailers and have been reading through this thread, watched the movie Saturday night.
I may be in the minority here, but the movie actually saddened me. I know it may sound silly to some, but the amount of dinosaurs
being killed, used as kiddy petting zoo type rides, the dinosaur vs dinosaur Godzilla type action really upset me. The scene of the one dying, all of them dead in the field, the raptor getting blasted to the head in the grass, the whole ending with the Rex's and the raptors was just unnecessary to me.
I felt really bad for the dinosaurs and it made me hate all of the human characters. I felt no pity for them whatsoever.
I liked the nostalgic bits -
the music, finding parts of the old park
- but that was about it. I appreciate what they were trying to do with the film, but for me it was just gratuitous animal violence. It made me feel the same way those animal cruelty commercials do that they show on TV all the time.
There was no awe or wonder at the dinosaurs being around, and I understand that the society depicted in this movie had been used to the idea that they were, but there was no lead up - everything was just there and it made me feel numb to the fact that in this movie, wow dinosaurs exist!
I'm really not a fan of action movies of late with so much going on all the time with little room to breathe, so maybe that's my issue too. I like movies that take their time, building up some tension, telling a story.
I'm seeing a lot of focus group complaints. I'm wondering if these people are upset because they're no longer the target demographic for the focus groups. It's been around when your classics came out too, you know.
Saw this yesterday and it delivered. Loved it. We were in a Sunday 3:45 showing and the theater was PACKED. Entire audience was clapping enthusiastically at the end.
They did a fantastic job of making you care about the characters and the dinosaurs. And my god was this movie tense. They played up the horror aspect very well, which I believe to be a strong theme in this series. Can't wait to hear news of a sequel. There's a lot of room for them to play around with the remnants left on the island.
I may be in the minority here, but the movie actually saddened me. I know it may sound silly to some, but the amount of dinosaurs
being killed, used as kiddy petting zoo type rides, the dinosaur vs dinosaur Godzilla type action really upset me. The scene of the one dying, all of them dead in the field, the raptor getting blasted to the head in the grass, the whole ending with the Rex's and the raptors was just unnecessary to me.
I felt really bad for the dinosaurs and it made me hate all of the human characters. I felt no pity for them whatsoever.
Actually, I kinda felt the same way as well. Still really enjoyed the movie
and the epic fight scene, though.
Anyway, one of the things this movie did best was to make us feel sympathetic with the dinosaurs. For the first time in the franchise, I was actually saddened by the
death of the Velociraptors because they were not only portrayed as killers, but animals. Also, if it makes you feel better, Delta might have survived as well since we only see her get thrown off screen but I can't confirm this.
Other than that, the dinosaurs in the park seemed to be kept in good condition, even Mazrani seemed to care for the dinosaurs.
Actually, I kinda felt the same way as well. Still really enjoyed the movie
and the epic fight scene, though.
Anyway, one of the things this movie did best was to make us feel sympathetic with the dinosaurs. For the first time in the franchise, I was actually saddened by the
death of the Velociraptors because they were not only portrayed as killers, but animals. Also, if it makes you feel better, Delta might have survived as well since we only see her get thrown off screen but I can't confirm this.
Other than that, the dinosaurs in the park seemed to be kept in good condition, even Mazrani seemed to care for the dinosaurs.
Thanks for this! You have good points. I agree it made me sympathize with the dinosaurs (maybe too much) and it was effective, however why make us sympathize with no redemption?
The humans still came out on top, the survivors. I suppose there is that deeper message here about the choices we have and what we decide to do with technology, and that it can affect living, breathing things in a terrible way even if we at first only consider some as killers. The running theme of the entire franchise, right? If that's what JW was going for in an even more direct way, then I guess it worked because I felt pretty shitty afterward.
I saw it as a fifteen year old, so while I had a fantastic time with the first movie, I may have been too old for it to have the impact it obviously had with some of you guys and gals. There was zero nostalgia bias in effect for me while watching World.
Owen having military background. It's like they can't just have a regular guy be a protagonist anymore. Of course he was in the Navy. Reeked of pandering to the US audiences.
Other than that I enjoyed his character very much.
Owen having military background. It's like they can't just have a regular guy be a protagonist anymore. Of course he was in the Navy. Reeked of pandering to the US audiences.
Other than that I enjoyed his character very much.
it's touched upon but not really something they drive home. And honestly, he's a guy who trains fucking Raptors, it's hard to say he's a "regular guy" at all on that alone
Thanks for this! You have good points. I agree it made me sympathize with the dinosaurs (maybe too much) and it was effective, however why make us sympathize with no redemption?
The humans still came out on top, the survivors. I suppose there is that deeper message here about the choices we have and what we decide to do with technology, and that it can affect living, breathing things in a terrible way even if we at first only consider some as killers. The running theme of the entire franchise, right? If that's what JW was going for in an even more direct way, then I guess it worked because I felt pretty shitty afterward.
Yep, pretty much this and the film makers excelled at the message since some of us, including you and me, felt sorry for the dinosaurs. I really hope this theme is further expanded in the inevitable sequel.
The dinosaurs should not only be depicted as merciless killing machines, but also as animals with emotions.
Yep, pretty much this and the film makers excelled at the message since some of us, including you and me, felt sorry for the dinosaurs. I really hope this theme is further expanded in the inevitable sequel.
The dinosaurs should not only be depicted as merciless killing machines, but also as animals with emotions.
the question of "do animals have emotions or do we as humans read into their behavior and imbue them with things that are not there" is highly debated. Portraying the dinos with emotions shouldn't be a necessity--merely an option they could take if they wanted to.
the question of "do animals have emotions or do we as humans read into their behavior and imbue them with things that are not there" is highly debated. Portraying the dinos with emotions shouldn't be a necessity--merely an option they could take if they wanted to.
have the same type of emotional capacity as humans is debatable, however even if it isn't at our level it shouldn't be denied. My thought is that if something feels pain, then it is able to garner a certain level of emotive response from it. Does the animal think about it, does it wonder about the same things we do in regards to life, death, family, and so on? I don't know. But the sensation is there for them even if it may not be what some consider viable.
have the same type of emotional capacity as humans is debatable, however even if it isn't at our level it shouldn't be denied. My thought is that if something feels pain, then it is able to garner a certain level of emotive response from it. Does the animal think about it, does it wonder about the same things we do in regards to life, death, family, and so on? I don't know. But the sensation is there for them even if it may not be what some consider viable.
For me, it's not even about the portrayal of emotion (which animals clearly have, in some capacity), but of animal relationships--both with each other and humans.
Dinosaurs don't exist just to battle each other--they're animals. If they're not hungry, they won't eat. I know some animals seem to display enjoyment from just the thrill of hunting (orcas come to mind), but it's very boring to just see them displayed as mindless killers.
It was always so weird to me that people would accept that raptors are pack hunters, but that the dynamics of HOW a pack might work seemed ka-razy. Most reviews have vindicated Raptor Squad, though, so looks like that is one of the more effective parts of the film.
the question of "do animals have emotions or do we as humans read into their behavior and imbue them with things that are not there" is highly debated. Portraying the dinos with emotions shouldn't be a necessity--merely an option they could take if they wanted to.
Let's put aside scientific theories for a while and think about how it can be used to make a compelling plot. I don't know about you, but as I said,
I was shaken by the deaths of the dinosaurs, especially the Velociraptors. Now it surely wouldn't have been as effective if the dinosaurs were still depicted as they were in the first three films.
I'm seeing a lot of focus group complaints. I'm wondering if these people are upset because they're no longer the target demographic for the focus groups. It's been around when your classics came out too, you know.
It's because "Well I didn't like the movie, and focus groups means bad, so if I say it was focus group made then it must be bad and my opinion of the movie is justified".
It's because "Well I didn't like the movie, and focus groups means bad, so if I say it was focus group made then it must be bad and my opinion of the movie is justified".
Thought it was just ok. I'm not a big fan of the franchise and generally hate big budget special effects heavy movies, so my review probably isn't worth much. It did manage to hold my interest however so it wasn't terrible.
Two biggest takeaways from the movie for me: -first was the insane amount of product placement. Damn near every scene had some product in it, first 30 minutes felt like an extended Starbucks ad. Throw in Jamba Juice, Mercedes, Samsung, Verizon, iPads... Who knows what else. They bombard you with ads. I'd like to know if there is any movie with more product placement, cuz this has gotta be up near the top of most ads in a feature film.
- second is end spoiler
I know the movie is full of stupid movie logic but how far did the chick run from the trex paddock to the "Main Street" area? Was the trex pen really stationed next to a fuckin margaritaville ?
seriously can't movie makers do better than that?
Other notes: how does the Asian scientist still have a job splicing Dino dna after his "they are all girls, can't breed lol" from the first one?
- fuck jimmy Fallon. Dude is annoying.
Owen having military background. It's like they can't just have a regular guy be a protagonist anymore. Of course he was in the Navy. Reeked of pandering to the US audiences.
Other than that I enjoyed his character very much.
incredibly competent with firearms, tracking (search and rescue), and general tactical planning/awareness. I thought it made a lot of sense for the character to have a military background. It would have been out of place for a random zoo trainer or otherwise average Joe to do the things he did. The other option would be to make him a professional game warden like Muldoon, which would have worked for sure, but I don't think the way they did it was out of place.
