Spectacular! The combination of the super high-resolution dinosaurs with the flawless 3D created a tear-jerkingly nostalgic yet fun experience. The crowd I saw it with opening Friday night was clapping cheering and laughing at all the right moments. Not a single person in the theater was left unsatisfied.
I don’t know how the regular sized screen experience is, but for a few extra bucks, I highly recommend the larger format. IMAX screens are not only larger, they are in fact higher resolution AND much brighter. Other 3D viewing formats use filters that dim the screen a noticeable amount. However, since IMAX employs linear polarizers and maintains a highly reflective screen, the colors are bright, vivid, and true. And if you’re afraid of the experience being too in your face, sit in the back row which is usually least full and affords a view that fits perfectly inside one’s thick rimmed glasses such as my own.
My favorite 3D shot is when the velociraptor peaks his head up from a plastic tarp and cocks his head left and right. The 3D animatronic was so viceral and hauntingly real.
My favorite feature of pre-2000 movies is the infrequent use of overt color correcting and heavy filtering. Because Jurassic Park was lit realistically and the colors were left natural, the realism of the 3D brought the experience to a whole nother level.
IMAX 3D Dinosaurs are awesome!
On a side note my brother and I were trying to find something to learn from the movie regardless of the 3D. Here are some notes we’d like to share.
1) Jurassic Park introduced new “world mechanics”, a term we use to describe mechanisms or ideas that one can use to view the world differently. In this case, Jurassic Park introduced three: (A) Dinosaurs can exist today, (B) if you stay still Tyrannosaurs won’t see you, and (C) Velociraptors are smart and hunt in packs of three. When you leave the theaters as a kid, these are all fascinating ideas to toy with when playing games or imagining stories. It invites the viewer to imagine the world differently than before.
2) Jurassic Park is an escapism film. It takes you into another world complete with dire consequences as well as awe and wonder.
3) Jurassic Park is a horror movie. The first half is an adventure film, introducing you to a new world, but after Dennis Nedry shuts the power down, it because a survival film with dinosaurs as the purely evil creepy killer(s) lurking around ever corner.
4) The Ending felt abrupt because the protagonists did not earn their escape, it happened to them coincidentally. Most adventures have a hero searching for a special object or what many writers call a “McGuffin”. At the very least, the protagonist is actively working toward a goal. This film had neither. Once Dennis Nedry shut down the power, it was simply a movie about surviving. Perhaps one can argue that survival is a goal, but I don’t buy that. There was one scene with a goal or sense of direction: getting the power back on (Ellie in the bunker, Muldoon’s death). After they get the power back on, they’re running from the Velociraptors for another 15 minutes until finally the TRex saves the day. Then suddenly they’re free to go home.
5) John Williams score branded the film with a great and memorable theme song, despite the fact that I personally feel it’s a half developed theme that loops back into itself too quickly or transitions to a second melody instead of going bigger better and more developed. That’s a hard one to explain or argue, but it’s not as fun to hum as something like Star Wars or Superman.
April 6, 2013