I had an enormous good time with Jurassic World. I liked the plot and the characters, the pace was very good and suspenseful, and the film culminates in an awesome way that I did not see coming.
Why, then, was I not as scared as I was by the other films? I watched the first movie about a week ago in preparation for this one, and I couldn't block out one question; why does Jurassic World feel less real? The animation is too fluent. A large factor can be blamed on that. Real animals don't move every single joint with every step, like robots. We seem to have a reached a point where too fluent animation results in less connection to reality. Because the dinosaurs don't feel real, they're not as scary. Some animatronics by Stan Winston would've helped. There is even a particular, groan-inducing moment where a character bangs on a window from the outside and leaves his bloody hand imprint on it. That is a B-movie sign right there.
And that's a shame, 'cause Jurassic World is not a B-movie. But the dinosaurs, the way they move and - most crucially - the way they eat people isn't as chillingly real like it felt in Jurassic Park and the unfairly maligned The Lost World.
And you know what the result of that is? You don't fear the dinosaurs like you did in the first movies. The big evil dinosaur in Jurassic World causes a lot of destruction, but it doesn't scare you like the T-Rex did.
In wake of 2014's Godzilla, where they brought a colossal monster to life, Jurassic World has no excuse. I wanted to love it, but it only manages to place third in rank of the four Jurassic Park movies.
Why, then, was I not as scared as I was by the other films? I watched the first movie about a week ago in preparation for this one, and I couldn't block out one question; why does Jurassic World feel less real? The animation is too fluent. A large factor can be blamed on that. Real animals don't move every single joint with every step, like robots. We seem to have a reached a point where too fluent animation results in less connection to reality. Because the dinosaurs don't feel real, they're not as scary. Some animatronics by Stan Winston would've helped. There is even a particular, groan-inducing moment where a character bangs on a window from the outside and leaves his bloody hand imprint on it. That is a B-movie sign right there.
And that's a shame, 'cause Jurassic World is not a B-movie. But the dinosaurs, the way they move and - most crucially - the way they eat people isn't as chillingly real like it felt in Jurassic Park and the unfairly maligned The Lost World.
And you know what the result of that is? You don't fear the dinosaurs like you did in the first movies. The big evil dinosaur in Jurassic World causes a lot of destruction, but it doesn't scare you like the T-Rex did.
In wake of 2014's Godzilla, where they brought a colossal monster to life, Jurassic World has no excuse. I wanted to love it, but it only manages to place third in rank of the four Jurassic Park movies.