Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015) Review

Star Wars: The Force Awakens is the most anticipated movie of 2015. It is the beginning of the franchise's third trilogy, and tells a new story in the universe of Star Wars. It maintains the old and gritty style of the original trilogy; there's very little CGI and much of the scenery and fighting looks old fashioned and authentic. This appeals to old fans of Star Wars and makes it aesthetically unique in a time when CGI saturated films are a dime a dozen.

I was concerned about the old cast returning. Last summer's Jurassic World created a new story for a new generation, as the story is what people come to see. I feared that The Force Awakens would fail to create that story by simply paying homage to the original cast. It was actually all balanced really well. The new cast (Finn, Rey and BB8) stole the show and told a wonderful new story, while the old cast were blended in and given due homage while still being kept relevant to the story, apart from Leia maybe.

The acting was superb, particularly from John Boyega, Daisy Ridley and Adam Driver. They're a young and relatively unknown cast, and I can't help but feel that these actors will reprise their roles for another trilogy in thirty years, because this film cements Star Wars as the number one franchise in the film industry. The story is great as well; it doesn't feel thrown together for the sake of the film, like I thought it would. It's engaging and balances action and emotion almost perfectly.

BB8 symbolises this film really well; it's old fashioned but it's also new and original. He is a great mascot, and he'll spearhead the merchandising to further increase the profits that The Force Awakens makes. The original trilogy finished up just over thirty years ago, and that means that people who grew up on Star Wars can now bring their kids to see the new ones. There's something really satisfying about that, and it's something that will likely continue for generations.

I'm not a huge fan of Star Wars, but I watched it and enjoyed it from start to finish because it's so accessible to fans and non-fans. They have blown their market wide open and in the process, made an excellent film. Believe everything you hear.

6/7

The Good Dinosaur (2015) Review

The Good Dinosaur is Pixar's latest film, which tells the story of Arlo the dinosaur finding his way back home with the help of his dog-like human friend, Spot. The incredibly realistic scenery steals the show throughout the film, and the caricature dinosaurs and human almost become uninteresting in front of the background, as seen in the photo above. Pixar have spearheaded the animation industry since the release of Toy Story in 1995, and they continue to showcase the evolution of animation. The main problem in terms of animation is the blandness of the dinosaurs. 

This story of the protagonist trying to find their way home has been done to death by Pixar. It's the plot of all three Toy Story films, Finding Nemo and most recently, Inside Out, which was released just five months ago. The audience knows they're going to get there, so any threat to the character not getting home just feels formulated. Emotional moments in this movie feel formulated as well, probably due to the characters not really warranting empathy. 

The poor timing of the release has plagued The Good Dinosaur and prevented it from following the natural development of a Pixar film's release. It's partly their own fault, as it's their second original release this year. They didn't release any film last year, and this film was scheduled to be released last year. While I understand that rushing a release does more harm than good, they should have postponed it until next year, as they are releasing a Finding Nemo sequel next year, but no original films. We've already seen a dinosaur film this year in Jurassic World, and The Good Dinosaur has been release three weeks before the highly anticipated Star Wars: The Force Awakens. All of these aspects combined has made for a very underwhelming release of this film, and that is reflected in the box office earnings. It will likely lose money, and that's a first for Pixar.

Pixar create great protagonists, and they make great antagonists to counteract them. At first glance, The Good Dinosaur doesn't have an antagonist but after thought, it has one of the best antagonists of any Pixar film; nature itself. Nature takes Arlo away from home, and does things that if done by a character, would be unforgivable. Nature is relentless, and yet the audience (and Arlo) can't help but admire its beauty. Nature is treated like a character, and this was executed really well. 

There are some redeeming qualities, and Pixar will probably never make a bad film, but this was nowhere near their high standard. A higher quality of characters and a better timed release would have made this film successful, and hopefully the company will learn some important lessons from this rather than begin to fear the risk of original films. 

3/7

Jurassic World (2015) Review

Jurassic World is going to be the biggest film of the summer, and will compete with Star Wars for the biggest film of the year. Jurassic Park fans like myself have waited with bated breath for this film as it has been teased for the past five years (at least) and with that anticipation comes a huge responsibility to not disappoint. The original film holds a special place in many hearts as a childhood film, as do many Spielberg films, and even though he is still making films, Jurassic Park feels like his last true classic. It was really important for Jurassic World to avoid dwelling too much on the nostalgic factor. The truth about the Jurassic Park films is that the story does not need to follow certain people to keep fans interested, the concept itself is the headline and can be utilized with different characters. Director Colin Trevorrow made a great decision to not feature the old cast, and while there are multiple nods to the original, he does a wonderful job of creating a new atmosphere. 

The old cast of the original Star Wars will feature in the new film, and Harrison Ford was still playing Indiana Jones in 2008. Jurassic World could have so easily fallen victim to this trend, but thankfully it did not. Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard perform their leading roles excellently. Chris Pratt reminds me of a modern day Harrison Ford. He has a certain presence that brings a sense of importance to his role in the film. Another actor in this role probably would have made the entire film feel flat. Vincent D'Onofrio plays the bad guy really well, similar to his character in Daredevil. The only issue I have in terms of characters are the two kids. The story follows them and that allows the film to show off its attractions, but it was hard to care about them because I didn't have a reason to. The kids in Jurassic Park were much more integrated into the story and warranted empathy, but in this film I just wanted to see what happened with Claire and Owen. 

Product placement distracted the first hour of the film. I can recall eight brands I saw throughout. Trevorrow has insisted that the use of product placement is a satirical depiction of the corporate exploitation of popular entertainment, but that sounds like a poor excuse. If he really wanted to make such commentary, overexposing fake brands would have been much more effective. They should have focused on selling me Jurassic World, not Starbucks and Coca Cola. 

The plot of the film made sense aside from a few holes. It certainly didn't feel like it was written just for the sake of churning out another franchise film, and the different stories intertwined really well to create an exemplary climax. My main issue in terms of the plot (possible spoilers) is why the Velociraptors attacked Owen at the start but then didn't attack him later when they had the chance. The circumstances didn't change. Such issues didn't affect my overall enjoyment of the film though.

On a final note, this film isn't as quotable as the original film, and the imagery isn't quite as memorable but it comes pretty close. A lot of care was put into the production of Jurassic World and it certainly pays off. It is definitely worth watching whether you like the original or not, because it is a lot of fun. It is head and shoulders above the other two sequels and has set the standard for sequels to classic films. Star Wars, do your worst. 

5/7