4k-UHD/Movie Review: Jurassic Word: Fallen Kingdom

 

Fallen Kingdom is the 2018 sequel to 2015's Jurassic World. It was written by Derek Connolly and Colin Trevorrow and directed by J.A. Boyona. The movie stars Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard, reprising their roles from Jurassic World, Rafe Spall, Justice Smith, Daniella Pineda, Toby Jones, and Ted Levine. B.D. Wong and Jeff Goldblum also reprise their roles from the original trilogy. 

This is the second in the new trilogy, which is, of course, the sequel trilogy to the original Jurassic Park trilogy. This movie starts out with what is ostensibly a rescue mission because a volcano on Isla Nuba is going to erupt and kill all the dinosaurs. Of course, there is a question (which is where Jeff Goldblum makes his cameo return) about whether the dinosaurs on Isla Nuba should be saved or whether they should be allowed to go extinct again. As you would expect by now, things go sideways, and chaos ensues.

The 4k set is a two-disc set with a UHD disc and a regular Blu-Ray disc. The AV quality of the UHD disc is outstanding, especially if you have a big screen. The visuals from Hawaii are awesome, and the dinosaurs look better than they have in any of the movies, thanks to the CGI advancements. The dinosaurs in the movie are a mix of puppets built as models and CGI creations, but it is hard to tell the difference between the practical models and the CGI dinosaurs. The UHD disc contains the movies and all of the extras, which is great. The extras include several relatively short (about 5 minutes or so) behind-the-scenes and making-of featurettes. All totaled, the extras add up to about an hour's worth of material.

Chances are, if you liked the first movie in the new group, you will like this one. If you thought they should have just left the franchise alone, then chances are you will still feel that way watching this one. All of the ethical questions from the previous movies, such as humans playing god, whether humans and dinosaurs can co-exist, etc, come back in this one. It is definitely an action movie, but it is also one that does try to make you think. In this one, more than in any of the other films (at least in my opinion) the dinosaurs are as much of, if not more, sympathetic characters as they are the scary monsters. If you are a fan of the franchise, this is worth watching.

 

Blu-Ray/Movie Review: Jurassic World

 

Jurassic World is the 2015 reboot of the Jurrasic Park franchise starring Bryce Dallas Howard, Chris Pratt, Nick Robinson, Ty Simpkins, Katie McGrath, Irrfan Khan, Judy Greer, and BD Wong (reprising his role from the original movie).  In an era of reboots for both movies and TV shows, it was really only a matter of time before it happened to Jurassic Park. In this movie, the site of the original park on the island of Isla Nubar is rebuilt and opened as Jurassic World. Apparently, nobody learned at InGen a lesson from the events of the first three movies and are hell-bent on creating a dinosaur zoo, which goes about as well as you expect it to. The only legacy character that appears in the movie is BD Wong's Henry Wu, who is still making new breeds of dinosaurs, which again, goes about as well as you would expect. 

The crux of the story is that Park Operations Manager Claire (played by Bryce Dallas Howard) needs to "reinvigorate the public's interest" in the park. Her nephews Gray (Ty Simpkins) and Zach (Nick Robinson), fly over to visit her and get a tour of the park, but she is too busy and passes them off to her assistant (played by Supergirl and Merlin's Katie McGrath) and, of course, they get in mortal danger when things hit the fan. Chris Pratt plays the male lead, Owen, who is a velociraptor trainer, who butts heads with everyone in charge at the park, including Claire. None of the other legacy characters like Alan Grant, Ian Malcolm, or Ellie Sattler appear, although one of Ian's books is on display in one of the early scenes. The movie does have some nice tie-ins that pay homage to the original movie, some that are very obvious, and others you have to be kind of sharp-eyed to spot.

For those who get the blu-ray set, the movie looks and sounds great, as you would expect. The A/V quality is wonderful. The extras include deleted scenes, a featurette titled "Chris and Colin Take on the World" is an in-studio conversation with actor Chris Pratt and director Colin Trevorrow, a featurette titled "Dinosaurs Roam Once Again" about the updated special effects used here, a thirty-minute making-of documentary titled "Welcome to Jurassic World" that includes interviews with executive producer Steven Spielberg and producer Frank Marshall, a featurette titled "Jurassic World All-Access Pass" takes a closer look at the design of the park itself, Chris Pratt gives a brief tour of the park's visitors' center, and finally a featurette titled "Jurassic's Closest Shaves" that include attack scenes from all of the movies in the franchise.

Overall, the movie is good. It is not as good as the original 1994 movie, but I think it is somewhere between Jurassic Park II and the original movie in terms of quality. The characters make a lot of bad decisions, as they always seem to do, and there is the really goofy scene of Bryce Dallas Howard running from a dinosaur in heels. Even though you have to give her credit for being able to sprint in heels, it is pretty cheesy. And, of course, the movie continues to play into the myth that a T-Rex (yes, the T-Rex makes an appearance) cannot see you if you stand perfectly still. But there are a lot of good action scenes, Howard and Pratt have really good chemistry, and if you do not nitpick it to death and just enjoy it, it is well worth watching.

Blu_ray/Movie Review: Jurassic Park: Ultimate Trilogy

 

This is a three-disc set with the first three Jurassic Park movies that starred Sam Neil, Laura Dern, and Jeff Goldblum. The first movie, which of course, is the iconic movie that started it all and was directed by Steven Speilberg starred all of them, the second movie, The Lost World starred Goldblum, and Jurassic Park III brought back Neil and had Laura Dern in what amounted to an extended cameo. I will not spend a ton of time reviewing each movie because chances are, anyone reading this by now has seen them all more than once. I think most people will agree with the notion that the original film is the best of the group, by far, and that the other two, while good, were not great. Jurassic Park III gets dumped on, I think unfairly, did have some good moments, but was a bit cookie-cutter. The CGI quality gets better (obviously) with each movie as the first was made in 1993 before CGI was really revolutionized by movies like The Matrix, Harry Potter, and the Star Wars Prequels. The third installment was made in 2001, so there was a big leap in special effects technology by that point.

Really, the big reason to get this set is the bonus material. There is a ton of bonus content for each movie. The big one is a "Return to Jurassic Park" documentary that has at least one installment for each movie (the first movie has three chapters of it, the second movie has two, and the third movie has just one chapter). There are also deleted scenes, and a lot of behind-the-scenes material for each movie, including archival footage for the original film, the theatrical trailers, and a commentary track on the third movie with the special effects team. So, if you like watching the bonus material, you get hours worth in this set.

Overall, the movies range from good to great. They are definitely not always historically accurate (the thing about a T-Rex not being able to see you if you stand still has been totally debunked, but it makes for good drama) but the movies are not trying to be a nature documentary about dinosaurs. They are well-acted and mostly well-written. The set that I have packages the movies in a folding case with each disc in its own holder. The movies look and sound great in HD. Of course, now they are being released in 4K so if you do not already own them, you may want to opt for that. But, if you have not upgraded to 4k, this is a great way to see the movies. I definitely recommend it.