Amy, Nick, Jack and I enjoyed this sequel to the 1993-1997-2001 series in which a beautiful workaholic manager and a handsome scientist try to save her nephews and everyone else when all hell breaks loose at the dinosaur theme park. Lots of action, a high body count, some laughs, high tech special effects, and plain old corn are par for the course for a Steven Spielberg-driven project (he directed the first two and his Amblin Entertainment put out all four, with more on the drawing board).
Bryce Dallas Howard (last blogged in 50/50) is suitably Type A as park manager Claire who can run like the wind in her Jimmy Choos and Chris Pratt (most recently in Guardians of the Galaxy) should have been given more comedy but is getting better and better at this leading man stuff. Irrfan Khan (last in The Lunchbox) moves away from his stereotypical poverty roles and this time plays the wealthy owner in a gorgeously tailored suit. BD Wong (covered in Focus) reprises his role of Dr. Wu from the 1993 movie, and who better than Vincent D'Onofrio (most recently in The Judge) as the angry and reckless head of security? Jake Johnson (last blogged in Safety Not Guaranteed) and Lauren Lapkus (small part as a prison guard in season 2 of Orange is the New Black) have some good moments as computer geeks and it's nice to see Omar Sy moving to this side of the pond from his French roles (most recently The Untouchables), here as a guard.
This movie was our annual splashy pre-fireworks date, so, while we were stuck in traffic downtown, I read to Jack some of the trivia (there's a lot and we didn't get through it all, so I can't properly warn you about spoilers). We liked knowing beforehand that Jimmy Buffet is the guy holding two margaritas in the Margaritaville restaurant, the little boy hugging the giraffe is Howard's own son, and that Jimmy Fallon reads the safety instructions on the Universal Studios tram tours. I appreciated that Howard's all-white wardrobe is an homage to the white suits worn by Richard Attenborough, who had her role in the original. Jack liked that Pratt got to keep the motorcycle.
The director/co-writer this time is Colin Trevorrow, in his second feature gig after the afore-mentioned Safety Not Guaranteed, a small independent movie with little in common with this one other than Jake Johnson, a science fiction theme (albeit low-budget), and writer Derek Connolly. The husband-wife team of Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver (Rise of the Plant of the Apes) are also credited as co-writers and for the story. And of course, the late Michael Crichton wrote the 1990 novel on which all of this is based.
Cinematographer John Schwartzman (profiled in Saving Mr. Banks) shot the lovely and scary pictures, while prolific and admired composer Michael Giacchino (last scored Tomorrowland) provides the soundtrack, which I found surprisingly unmoving for someone of his talent. Listen for yourself.
Bryce Dallas Howard (last blogged in 50/50) is suitably Type A as park manager Claire who can run like the wind in her Jimmy Choos and Chris Pratt (most recently in Guardians of the Galaxy) should have been given more comedy but is getting better and better at this leading man stuff. Irrfan Khan (last in The Lunchbox) moves away from his stereotypical poverty roles and this time plays the wealthy owner in a gorgeously tailored suit. BD Wong (covered in Focus) reprises his role of Dr. Wu from the 1993 movie, and who better than Vincent D'Onofrio (most recently in The Judge) as the angry and reckless head of security? Jake Johnson (last blogged in Safety Not Guaranteed) and Lauren Lapkus (small part as a prison guard in season 2 of Orange is the New Black) have some good moments as computer geeks and it's nice to see Omar Sy moving to this side of the pond from his French roles (most recently The Untouchables), here as a guard.
This movie was our annual splashy pre-fireworks date, so, while we were stuck in traffic downtown, I read to Jack some of the trivia (there's a lot and we didn't get through it all, so I can't properly warn you about spoilers). We liked knowing beforehand that Jimmy Buffet is the guy holding two margaritas in the Margaritaville restaurant, the little boy hugging the giraffe is Howard's own son, and that Jimmy Fallon reads the safety instructions on the Universal Studios tram tours. I appreciated that Howard's all-white wardrobe is an homage to the white suits worn by Richard Attenborough, who had her role in the original. Jack liked that Pratt got to keep the motorcycle.
The director/co-writer this time is Colin Trevorrow, in his second feature gig after the afore-mentioned Safety Not Guaranteed, a small independent movie with little in common with this one other than Jake Johnson, a science fiction theme (albeit low-budget), and writer Derek Connolly. The husband-wife team of Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver (Rise of the Plant of the Apes) are also credited as co-writers and for the story. And of course, the late Michael Crichton wrote the 1990 novel on which all of this is based.
Cinematographer John Schwartzman (profiled in Saving Mr. Banks) shot the lovely and scary pictures, while prolific and admired composer Michael Giacchino (last scored Tomorrowland) provides the soundtrack, which I found surprisingly unmoving for someone of his talent. Listen for yourself.
You already know if you're going to like this, regardless of Rotten Tomatoes' critics (71%), audiences (82), or us. Just think carefully about which kids you bring because we found it quite violent and occasionally terrifying. PG-13 is probably about right.
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