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JURASSIC PARK 3
Ah yes, humans will never learn... don't mess with Dinosaurs. I'll say
right away, I found this one a lot better than the 2nd one.
The movie starts off with the disappearance of a child and stepfather on
the jungle island as they are parasailing over it, trying to spot some dino
action. Cut to Dr Grant and his attempts to get continued funding for his
site digs, all the while insisting that it's the only true science in the
way of studying dinosaurs and that Jurassic Park was just an
abomination of nature. He ends up getting hired by a seemingly rich eccentric who
wants to fly over the island and have a tour guide who knows what he's
talking about. In return, he'll fund his research with a very large check.
What happens at this point, is exactly what you'd expect. The plane ends
up being landed on the island, and mayhem ensues.
There aren't a lot of surprises, but it is fairly entertaining. There are
some good chuckle breaks ( that don't just deal with a "we're all gonna
die" bit from Jeff Goldblum ) and some interesting twists regarding the
high intelligence of the raptors. There's also a really GREAT fight scene
between a Tyrannosaurus and a Spinosaurus. Bottom line is, it IS a
Jurassic Park movie, so it's a movie with lots of Dinosaurs, and people running
away from them and getting eaten. It doesn't surpass the originality of
the first one, but it far surpasses the Lost World in my book.
PLANET OF THE APES
Planet of the Apes, the remake. Tim Burton. Nobody better could be
suited to render a NEW vision of this classic story. It's more than a remake of a story
that's already been told, itÂ’s a reinvention.
The story starts off similar enough, Mark Wahlberg is an astronaut who
goes after an "experimental" monkey who got lost in a space storm and
ends up disappearing himself. He crash lands on a planet in the future and
finds himself part of the minority on this planet dominated by Apes. In
this case, the humans are still intelligent and there are other
differences which I'll leave to the future viewer to find ( question of
not putting any spoilers in here ). There's even a couple of lines that
are direct tributes to the original movie.
Although Tim Burton has embarked on a more action oriented style of
movie than he's used to, his influence is still seen to those who know
what to look for. For starters, there's a great Danny Elfman sound track,
typical of Tim Burton, and even though the look of the movie is more
"sci-fi" oriented, you will see a few gnarled trees and dark twisted
shapes here and there. And the visual effects were just outstanding! The
ape makeup has come light years from the original series ( Not to know
the original series, as I think, that that makeup still holds the test of time
very well ). One other thing that is very subtle and probably won't be
noticed, is the film style. Something about the film that was used makes
the movie look more epic, not so "year 2000 Hollywood shiny" ... Hard to
explain.
The actual story has enough twists and turns and even comedic relief in
key spots to let you forget about the couple of plot holes you'll find in
the whole story ( especially regarding the "science" behind the time
travel ). But let's keep in mind, it IS only a movie and there is no such
thing as actual time travel. All in all, I think this is one of the great
blockbusters of the year. Suffice it to say, I can't wait to see what Tim
Burton has up his sleeve next.
Stephane Morrell
Laurier CIM Group
MCSE,CCA
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