Jurassic World Rebirth

What a huge missed opportunity. It’s well known that Hollywood denizens are generally not the sharpest knifes around but it is still a disappointment when they give a fairly high budget movie, and a well known franchise as well, to some low IQ writer hack that just ruins it. The dinosaurs and special effects related to the dinosaurs were actually quite good. I liked the visual aspects of the movie even if they took a bit too much liberties with reality/physics on some of them. Like the absurdly long tails of the Titanosaurs for example. The story had the usual big-companies-are-bad clichés in it of course but it could have worked. It was not too bad but then Hollywood has been setting a pretty low standard for some time now. However everything was so low IQ that it was unbelievable and effectively ruined the movie. Already at the start it was just what the f…? If ignore the pure nonsense of someone actually eating candy bars in a hazmat suit the ide that a candy wrapper can get sucked into a vent, short circuit something and bring down the entire containment system for T-Rex class dinosaurs is just laughable. The rest of the movie was filled with nonsense like that. Everything, electricity, music, power generation, flashlight batteries etc. was working perfectly after having been abandoned for 17 years. Seriously? Oh, there was one single piece of equipment that did not work and that was of course the one piece of equipment that our team of fumblers needed to escape. Absolute nonsense. Then we have the usual nonsense that Hollywood always puts in their movies. Like a number of characters that just stares at things for minutes before deciding that they should actually do something, like run damned it. The acting was barely passable as well. Scarlett Johansson was supposed to be this kick-ass experienced hunter or whatever. She was a disappointment in that area and it felt like she was just reading lines from a crappy script (which it was) without really caring about delivery. Overall this could have been a good, or at least decent, movie but it was brought down by Hollywood’s abysmal stupidity and lack of respect for the audience thinking they are as stupid as certain Hollywood script writers.

**_More of the same, just with ScarJo and mutated dinos_** Shot in the summer of 2024, this is the seventh film in the Jurassic Park franchise, which borrows from the iconic first film, but there are also bits reminiscent of the Pteranodon scenes in “Jurassic Park III.” While the Quetzalcoatlus is similar to the Pteranodon in that third part, its wingspan is twice as long, and the creature is over four times heavier. If you want the horror of colossal creature attacks and jungle adventure in the mold of the King Kong flicks, the movie delivers. ScarJo is a plus, but I prefer curvy Bryce Dallas Howard from the previous three films. My favorite in the series is the compelling “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom” from 2018 due to Bryce, the “Raiders of the Lost Ark” vibe, and the cool, gothic chateau in Northern California. Unfortunately, at 2 hours, 13 minutes, it’s overlong by 30-40 minutes. The proceedings got tedious in a been-there, seen-that manner. Less is more for these kinds of flicks. It was shot in England, New York City, Malta (for the scenes involving the Mosasaurus), but mostly Thailand (more specifically, Khao Phanom Bencha National Park in Krabi, Ko Kradan at Hat Chao Mai National Park in Trang, and Ao Phang Nga National Park in Phang Nga). GRADE: B-

I do enjoy the interaction between our characters and the dinosaurs, and it's quite fun to watch the drama unfold. I will admit, though, I do enjoy the commradarie and levity in the face of unknown danger and terrifying situations. The Jurassic Universe still knows how to engage you with having emotions for the characters, as the many horrorific events are unfolding.