By “Cinema” Dave
cinemadave.livejournal.com
Twenty-one summers ago, I quit my social studies teaching job to pursue full-time my Information Science degree from Florida State University. It was my personal renaissance. I really appreciated the “science” movies that summer like Men in Black, Contact and The Lost World: Jurassic Park. I used many of the vocabulary words that I heard from those movies and incorporated them into many of my research papers.
Much scientific and philosophical debate takes place in Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, which opened to better than expected box office gross.
This film is fun and combines jungle adventure with haunted mansion drama featuring a scary monster. There are heroes and villains. There are moments of jolting scares and deep belly laughs. There is science fiction query that raises the question about the meaning of life. Fortunately, none of these scientific distractions get in the way of telling a good story.
It has been three years since the disastrous events from Jurassic World. The abandoned island is suffering from volcanic activity and Professor Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum — reprising his character from the first two Jurassic Park movies) is brought in to testify about rescuing the dinosaurs stranded on the island. When Congress votes to terminate the dinosaurs, a wealthy capitalist, Sir Benjamin Lockwood (James Cromwell) finances a rescue expedition and recruits the two heroes from the last movie, Owen Grady (Chris Pratt) and Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard).
While Owen and Claire debate who dumped who in the last three years, the two are in synch when it comes to rescuing the dinosaurs and in particular, a velociraptor named “Blue” who Owen raised from an egg. It turns out that Lockwood’s underlings have nefarious intentions for Blue and his unique DNA code.
Director J.A. Boyana tells a difficult story, the middle part of a proposed trilogy. Nonetheless, the director fills the two-hour plus screen time with Indiana Jones like thrills.
Like his previous movies The Orphanage and A Monster Calls, Boyana excels with claustrophobic scares. One stand-out scene features Grady and Clare in a cage with a waking Tyrannosaurus Rex. This dark scene balances danger and humor with sophistication.
Certain films need to be seen on the biggest screen imaginable. While it does cost a bit more, this film will be playing at the largest screen in South Florida until the 4th of July, the Ft. Lauderdale Museum of Discovery & Science IMAX. More so than any movie this summer, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom is the movie to see for Saturday matinee popcorn-eating fun.
If you attend an early show, take advantage of the package which allows entrance to exhibits too. Besides catching there is an exhibition that focuses on the effects of a hurricane. You can walk into a wind machine and endure 100 mph winds in a secure environment. Fun is where you find it and, if you are not careful, you might learn something…