Jurassic World

Apparently Howard insisted on keeping the heels, despite the director's protests. According to an interview I read a few days ago his original intent had been to get her out of the shoes before she had to go running through the jungle, but she insisted that Claire would keep them on, come hell or high water, and eventually he gave up.

I was prepared to hate that part, but given that it was reportedly the actor's considered choice, it was a lot funnier than sexist. The Pinup Shot (tm) I could have done without, mind you, but even that's something of a creature-feature tradition.

The best of all the sequels, and I actually liked III. (love the pterodactyls in that. LOVE.)

ETA: Aha! Found the interviews.

With the director:

http://www.blastr.com/2015-6-11/colin-trevorrow-explains-bizarre-running-heels-scene-jurassic-world

""I know. I mean, look, I had that conversation with her so many times, and she insisted on wearing those heels. They meant something to her personally. She felt like, this is her talking, that those heels were her shield in a certain way as a woman. That’s just how she felt. She felt like surrendering the heels felt like surrendering the femininity of the character, even though women are — I don’t want to say forced to wear heels — but you’re expected to wear heels in certain environments.And she felt that, even though the image of her running away from the T-Rex in heels is... honestly, maybe I feel that I’m revealing my own ignorance in not having anticipated how that was going to become a subject of discussion, the way that it has. I was thinking about it solely for her comfort, and for logic reasons — the same thing that we’re talking about: ‘Can’t we find some other way? And she’s like, ‘No, no, I’m going to go for it.’ "


And with Howard:

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articl...e-dallas-howard-on-feminism-and-footwear.html

"Howard says she saw strength in Claire’s footwear choices. “The thing that would have been considered the biggest handicap for her ultimately ends up being her strength. And that’s those heels. I really liked that.”

You know, most predators don't go around eating everything in sight, or attacking anything that moves. Even reptiles can be fairly docile when well fed. (Gators will actually walk alongside people in the glades, leading to stupid people thinking said gators are offering scaly-pony rides to their kids for a photo-op, leading to the necessity for warning signs reminding idiot parents that gators aren't in fact scaly-ponies.)

With the exception of the I. Rex, or the T-Rex and Raptors at the end, as that was a survival battle, none of the dinos really should have been chomping down like that. InGen is obviously starving their animals, making them bite out at every pulse rate they pass.

I agree that Claire should have been Lex. The last second rush to get the T-Rex would have made so much more sense in that regard as opposed to this woman that JUST learned that the dinosaurs were real animals rather than "numbers on a screen".

I loved that we actually saw all aspects of the Raptors, from their intelligence, to their speed, to how deadly they are, all in one movie.

Seeing the park through Gray's eyes in the beginning really helped bring back the sense of wonder that was missing from the other sequels. The shots of the petting zoo were just adorable. Especially the little girl hugging the Brachio.

Cyia said:

With the exception of the I. Rex, or the T-Rex and Raptors at the end, as that was a survival battle, none of the dinos really should have been chomping down like that. InGen is obviously starving their animals, making them bite out at every pulse rate they pass.

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LOL. But you make a good point. I was vaguely wondering why the dinos wanted to eat everything. It was almost a little extreme.

I've seen Jurassic World twice already and loved it! I'm a huge fan of dinosaur/monster movies since I was four y/o (like Godzilla, King Kong). I get it from my mother. It was cool to see the representations of the first movie in with this one. It made me nostalgic and, honestly, I almost cried at a certain scene.

I'll be honest, I teared up when the music swelled and Gray threw open the doors to the park.

I honestly didn't see much of an issue with the dinosaurs eating everything. You see it in regular zoo's all the time. Just because they happily gobble up every treat thrown their way, especially during a show for the public, doesn't mean they're getting starved.

And there are other reasons animals kill besides hunger. They also kill for territorial reasons, which is my view of why the T. Rex immediately went after the I. Rex. I didn't note much extraneous eating myself though.

I see from one of the above posts, that Claire's clothes were the actor's idea, but to me it would have made much more sense if she'd grabbed some of the forgotten clothes from the visitor's center. Shorts and shoes, at least, or they could have had a very funny moment at the end with the guy from the control room if he'd seen his boss wearing vintage Jurassic Park gear after chewing him out for it. One of those Lock eyes, and "Not a word," moments of warning before he could call her on her fashion choices. (especially since the guy had already misstepped with his co-worker.)

(Yes, I know I pick this thing apart, but I do that with pretty much every movie I love. I want to open it up, tinker with it, and put it back better than ever.)

Oh, yeah. Territory would be a huge issue. Forgot about that instinct.

I was going to edit my earlier post to agree with the petting zoo. The little triceratops prancing around in the back was too cute!

I really want to visit that petting zoo.

Totally brought out my inner 5-year-old.

Alyssa L. said:

LOL. But you make a good point. I was vaguely wondering why the dinos wanted to eat everything. It was almost a little extreme.

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Well, the Indominus Rex was an intelligent animal raised and kept in isolation. When you look at most Pitbull and other "fighting dog" incidents, those dogs have been poorly socialized. They were also isolated from a young age, and never learned that other beings are not their enemies. This is frequently the reason for un- or barely provoked attacks. I guess it's the same with this dinosaur.

I think everyone can relate to the little kid running up to a big dog or something and just throwing their arms around it while the animal just sits there accepting it while at the same time looking around at every adult for help. That was exactly what I saw in the baby Brachiosaur there.

The I-Rex is actually a pitiable character. First off, she's a juvenile, not full grown because full grown she would have dwarfed the T-Rex. It's a hybrid, so she could have conflicting instincts. There are no others like her, so (until the raptors) she had no one to communicate with (and it's possible that hearing the raptors is what made her want to escape). She had no parental guidance, like the show established for other hunters, like the T-Rex in part 2.

It entirely possible that she was trying to play, and ended up killing her toys, like a dog with a grasshopper.

(Random thought, but aren't great whites protected? What's up with feeding them to the Mosasaur? I know it was an homage to JAWS, but still...

A great homage would have been for the people running from the pteranodons to run for the lagoon and jump in, not thinking about what lurked below the water. An underwater swimming shot from the hunter's POV would have been very JAWS. (or the idiots could have just gone inside one of the like 5 hotels)

The pteranodon sequence was actually the only one I really hated. Claire's assistant (pardon the pun) was overkill. Seeing her picked up would have been enough.)

Yeah, of the whole movie, the flyers sequence was completely unnecessary. There was no reason for them to start swooping down and attacking people. The Dimorphodon was a fish-eater, so there was no reason at all for it to be snapping at Chris Pratt's face. Even the bigger Pteranodons wouldn't have been swooping down and trying to pick up prey as big or bigger than they are.

Cyia said:

The pteranodon sequence was actually the only one I really hated. Claire's assistant (pardon the pun) was overkill. Seeing her picked up would have been enough.)

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While the movie wasn't scary or gruesome enough for my taste and I appreciate that woman's horrible demise for that reason, I think it's disgusting how Hollywood clichés of deserved death are perpetuated: she's mean and not caring enough, so let's kill her horribly. Like in horror movies when the girl who had more than 1 sex partner gets horribly murdered first. I hate that, honestly.

But thanks for reminding me she was Claire's assistant; I kinda remembered she was her sister. Still, it made no sense and felt inappropriate that Claire didn't stop to mourn her or at least get upset.

Cyia said:

(Random thought, but aren't great whites protected? What's up with feeding them to the Mosasaur? I know it was an homage to JAWS, but still...

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The sharks are also clones.

kuwisdelu said:

I don't get the fascination with the kid from the dig. I don't really care about seeing him again.

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It's cosmic, man. That kid had one of the best walk-on lines in these movies, with a perfectly gormless delivery. To couple that with cinema history's most delayed payoff would bring the wheel full circle. (Plus, Google the actor. He's now some kind of unconventional post-hipster sex bomb. How did that happen?)

The other return this franchise sorely needs is Samuel L Jackson, missing an arm and with a story to tell.

ShaunHorton said:

I loved that we actually saw all aspects of the Raptors, from their intelligence, to their speed, to how deadly they are, all in one movie.

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Yes, raptor time is the best part of these movies. Despite my mid-life conversion to feathered dinosaur evangelism, Spielbergian 'velociraptors' are still some of my favourite mythical movie monsters.

So I just discovered and hadn't noticed that the guy that saves the margaritas during the pteranodon attack scene was Jimmy Buffett which honestly makes that event like 1000xs better.

I love it. I'm actually having trouble deciding if I liked this one or the first one better. Yeah, it was kind of hokey at times, but I'm into that sort of thing. It seemed at times to hearken back to those old time movies--like the kiss scene. It had all the ingredients that make a movie enoyable for me. I liked how they threw in little things from the other movies. Did anyone else catch Jimmy Buffet cameo? One of the restaurants in the park was a Margaritaville restaurant. He was in front of it during the pterodactyl attack. Great movie!

I thought it was great. Kids loved it. Gave it 3.5 out of 4 stars, detracting 0.5 for the clothing choices of Claire (especially the shoes). Couldn't she have stumbled at least once?? I agree, Claire being Lex would have been a fantastic tie-in.

Favorite line "Your boyfriend's a badass".

Saw it with the family last night.

If you had told me I would leave the movie theater with my 12-year-old son crying like a baby over velociraptors, I would not have believed you.

I'm very glad there is no danger of him bringing one home thinking to train himself a new pet.

WildcatJim2112 said:

Favorite line "Your boyfriend's a badass".

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That was actually one of my pet peeves, but not until I saw the "Can we stay with you? NO HIM!" bit after literally seeing their aunt shoot a pteranadon in the face to save Mr. Bad-ass.

The heels would have been a lot better if someone had made at least one Ginger Rogers-style remark from Owen (or someone!) (Claire does everything I do, but backward and in heels!)

So am I the only one who didn't totally love it? I mean, it was fun, the visuals were great and I'd watch Chris Pratt read the phone book, but I wasn't exactly overwhelmed.

(Maybe it was because for a long time the only characters who were in imminent danger were those stupid kids. The movie started out with the kids and I was immediately disappointed because I knew the kids wouldn't get eaten by a tyrannosaurus. It's hard for me to get over being disappointed like that.)

Gonna see it Thursday night if there's not a game 7 in the NBA finals.

Cyia said:

That was actually one of my pet peeves, but not until I saw the "Can we stay with you? NO HIM!" bit after literally seeing their aunt shoot a pteranadon in the face to save Mr. Bad-ass.

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Yeah, that line seemed totally off. It was fine for what the audience had seen of him, but at that point the kids had only seen Claire rescue him by shooting that dimorphodon in the face. Didn't make any sense at that point.

Anybody else feels the movie was too mean with Claire? Like, I felt she was getting some flak from the universe for not being motherly.