So this film is a remake of the Cary Grant and Irene Dunne screwball comedy, My Favorite Wife. Now you all know how I feel about remakes:
But I actually really enjoyed this one. I mean Doris Day? Young James Garner? You can’t go wrong with that.
Nick Arden’s (James Garnier) wife Ellen disappeared in a plane crash five years ago. After all the searching, wondering, and raising his daughters on his own; he decides that he has to face facts. Ellen is dead and never coming back. He needs to move on.
He decides to have Ellen declared legally dead, marry Bianca, and head out on a honeymoon to Monterey.
At the very moment those two are being married, Ellen (Doris Day) has just arrived on the California shore. It turns out she survived all those years on a desert island. They finally found her and she is eager to return home to her husband and children. However, when she gets to the house, her mother-in-law reveals what has happened.
Not good
Ellen hurries to get to Nick before he can consummate the marriage with his new wife. She gets to him in time, but Nick finds it difficult to tell Bianca what has occurred, especially as Bianca isn’t in the mood for talking.
This turns into even more hilarious hijinks as Nick discovers his wife wasn’t alone on that island but with an adonis. He tries to search out the truth, while Ellen hires a nerdy shoe salesman to pretend to be her co-survivor. Will this family be able to straighten everything out or will Nick end up with not two, but zero wives?
Most Romantic Moment: You’re My Wife and the Mother of My Children
**Spoiler Alert**
So the most romantic moment comes at the very end of the film. They have had a huge blowup in the courthouse: Nick is cleared of bigamy, Nick and Bianca are annulled, Ellen is declared legally alive, but Steven Burkett (Ellen’s co-islander) came and has disrupted the Ardens getting back together.
Nick storms out of the courthouse and after beating up Steven and driving around Ellen has returned home unsure what to do. She is distraught over how it looks like she and Nicky are headed for divorce, and still afraid about what to do with the girls. She has wanted to tell them she is their mother, but hasn’t had the courage to do it. What if they hate her? They already have said they don’t need a mother, just their father.
She heads out to the backyard to talk to them, and finds out they already know. Their father told them and he is waiting with them in the pool for Ellen.
Aw!
Now I know this may sound strange to be romantic, but it just shows how much he loves his wife and wants to be with her. I mean his kids were babies when she left, he could tell them nothing and use that lack of time together as a selling point in court to get full custody.
So not only does he want them to continue to be a family; but he also wanted to spare her any pain or rejection; instead letting the kids know who she is and getting them excited to see her.
Day 9) I is for Island: Choose a book that takes place on an Island
Anne of Green Gables (Anne of Green Gables #1) by L. M. Montgomery
I’m not quite sure when I first read this book. I just recall that one day my mom gave me her copy and told me she thought I should read it as she was pretty sure I would like it.
I wasn’t sure if I would like it, but I decided to try it out. I started to read it and just couldn’t stop.
I just loved the character of Anne as it was like looking into a soul gazing mirror. We might not look a lot alike on the outside: she has red hair, I have brown; she is tall, I’m short; she has grey eyes, I have green; she’s from Edwardian Canada, and I’m an American girl of the 21st century. But the soul of our characters are exactly the same.
Anne has an overactive imagination, gets into all kinds of “scrapes” from not thinking it through, gets lost in imagining, has a fiery temper, wants to excel in school, has rivalry with another student, has to work hard for a scholarship to school, comes from an agricultural community; but through this all grows up to be a level-headed, still dreamy, young woman.
Seriously
I’ve read this book so many times, and went on to read the whole series. I liked the first three the best, but I just couldn’t enough of the story.
I also loved the character Gilbert Blythe.
I wish he was real because I would marry him in a heartbeat.
You all know how much I love the Austen men; Mr. Darcy, Mr. Tilney, Captain Wentworth, Mr. Knightley, Colonel Brandon, and such; but all of them, besides Captain Wentworth, come from money. My family is more like Gilbert’s; grew up in agricultural community, they couldn’t send me to college so I had to work and pay for it myself, just like Gilbert had to do. There is a better understanding and similarity in how we were raised that would form a better connection with him over any of the others.
Gilbert also knows how to work with Anne. When to give into her daydreams and imaginings,
and also when to help her come back into reality. Us imaginationaholics need that or else we will spend too much time in our heads.
One of my relationship goals is to find a boyfriend or husband who will be willing to dress up as Anne and Gilbert. I don’t know if that will ever be possible and if I do manage to find such a guy, I’m not sure anyone will even know who we are.
So I knew of course that my true literary self was Anne, but when I was a teenager one of my friends said to me one day.
“Hey Moreland, you remind me a lot of this character in a book I love. Have you ever read Anne of Green Gables? Because you are just like her.”
Boom! Proof that we are one and the same.
So the story is that two siblings, Matthew and Marilla Cutbert, past their prime, have decided that in order to continue running their farm, Green Gables, they need extra help. They decide to adopt an orphan boy, sending the message through the daughter of a friend. When Matthew goes to the station to pick him up, it turns out there was a serious miscommunication and they have a girl waiting.
Not good
Matthew takes her home, where Marilla is upset and determined to send her back. When she meets the woman who will take Anne instead, and sees how horrible she is, Marilla decides she will do her best to raise her.
Anne has had a hard life, her parents dying at a young age in poverty, then being shipped from family to family; mostly being used as a free baby-sitter than treated as a member of the family. She has spent a lot of her time alone or with children much younger than her, and has created habits that some, at that time, find strange. She has an extensive imagination, creates imaginary playmates, and when gets with people just talks and talks and talks.
I remember when I was in Wyoming, I was alone for a whole month, so then when I started hanging wit people that happiness of being with people made me run at the mouth.
Marilla has no idea how to raise children, let alone girls, let alone this girl; so at first she tries to stop this behavior, but eventually it grows on her. Anne gets into all kinds of troubles, making mistakes as she transition from unwanted, uneducated, accident prone girl; to a confident, loved, intelligent, and wonderful woman.
So I’m going to do this review a little different. I’m going to list through everything I liked, enjoyed, or stood out to me in the novel; instead of a page by page review.
A) Her Imagination
Her imagination is amzing. Not only does she dream of average things like games but creates all these back stories and tales for things she sees, people she meets, etc. And that it is so something I have done and still do. That’s the problem with having an overactive imagination, you can never turn it off. But the best thing of it is that the world is never boring.
I love the stories and descriptions she gives.
“It was pretty interesting to imagine things about them- to imagine that perhaps the girl who sat next to you was really the daughter of a belted earl, who had been stolen away from her parents in her infancy by a cruel nurse who died before she could confess.”
B) Appearances Can Be Deceiving
Anne was born with red hair and people have told her it was a pity, said it ugly, etc. Because she feels so ugly she believes that she is worthless and that she will never find someone to love her.
How funny when this book has had 50 million copies printed and been translated into 20 languages.
I think a LOT of us love her.
But her insecurities based on her past history and what she sees in the mirror blind her to the amazing soul she has, like Dashti in The Book of a Thousand Days. If only she could see how wonderful she really is.
C) Naming and Renaming
Anne loves to name things. She names everything from plants, to trees, to objects, etc.
“What is the name of that geranium on the windowsill, please?’
‘That’s the apple-scented geranium.’
‘Oh, I don’t mean that sort of a name. I mean just a name you gave it yourself?…Oh, I like things to have handles even if they are only geraniums. It makes them seem more like people.”
I do that too. I’ve named all my electronics, for instance my printer is Eramus; to everyday objects I use a lot-like my kettle which is Geoffrey. It is fun and better than saying it.
And if Anne doesn’t like something, she changes the name.
“When I don’t like the name of a place or a person I always imagine a new one and always think of them so.”
I do that all the time. Remember Metropolis? Freder Frederson was a dumb name to me, so he became Alan instead.
Yes!
D) Matthew Has Never Stood Up to Marilla Before, This Being the Only Exception
Matthew is nice, so nice he never asserts himself, argues, or tries to get his way over another. Marilla wants to send Anne back to the orphanage, but Matthew speaks up. For the first time in his life, he has been contrary to Marilla.
“[Marilla] What good would she be to us?’
‘We might be some good to her.’ said Matthew suddenly and unexpectedly.”
Even though seeing the cruel woman who was going to take her made Marilla change her mind about getting rid of Anne; I believe that Matthew’s insistence helped give her a push in that direction as well.
E) Anne’s Optimism
Anne has been through so much in life. With people not wanting her, others using her; unhappiness and cynicism is something you would expect her to have, to be a prime part of her life. But does she? NO. She is completely optimistic, hopeful, and consistently sunny even in the grayest of situations. We should all try to strive to be a lot more like her. She makes the best of every situation and enjoys life.
F) I Speak Fluently in Book Quotes
Anne loves to read, although she hasn’t been able to do it as much as she would have liked. But she is constantly quoting from whatever she has read, having such things pop up randomly in conversations.
“Well that is another hope gone. My life is a perfect graveyard of buired hopes. That’s a sentence I read in a book once, and I say itover to comfort myself whenever I’m disappointed in anything.”
Now you might recall I’ve mentioned before that I like to speak in movie quotes, I do the same things with books I’ve read. Most people don’t know what I’m talking about, but it is still fun.
G) Compares Herself to Books/Book Heroines
What can I say? I do this constantly. I think I’ve done it a thousand times in the past, and am currently doing it right now.
I just can’t help it!
H) Bosom Friends
Finding a best friend is hard. But being without one is worse.
We all wish we can have a bosom friend, but not all are luckily enough to find one. And if we do find opne, it is hard to keep them.
But as Anne says, they are the most important and we need to honor them and try to keep those bonds strong!
And what a good friend Anne is, I hope I’m half as good a friend as she is.
“And I can give Diana half of them, can’t I? The other half will taste twice as sweet to me if I give some to her. It’s delightful to think I have something to give her.”
I) Gilbert Blythe
I have always had a thing for guys who were
And I realize, as I read this long before Pride & Prejudice, Gilbert Blythe is probably the reason why.
“[Gilbert Blythe] was a tall boy, with curly brown hair, roguish hazel eyes, and a mouth that twisted into a teasing smile.”
J) Anne Shirley’s Temper
How many of you have a temper? I know I do. When I was younger I didn’t control it very well and would blow up. Especially if it was something that really hurt me.
So Anne is the same way. Gilbert wants her attention, but Anne isn’t here, but in her imagination. So Gilbert does the only thing he can think of: he gets her attention by calling her carrots.
Anne becomes so enraged she smacks her slate over his head.
This was the scene in the book that made my friend think of me. She said that she could see me doing this…and this is the truth. I have done this more times than I care to admit to guys who acted like jerks to me when I was younger. Happily I use my words now, but this was definitely me.
K) Holding a Grudge
I used to hold grudges all the time and I still do a bit, but try not to. After Gilbert hurt her Anne resolves never to forgive him and starts up a rivalry in that she must beat him in everything.
L) Making Mistakes
Anne makes a ton of mistakes, but with every one she always turns them into a positive. And I try to do that all the time. I mean it is inevitable, we are going to mess up as we aren’t perfect. But there is always one thing to hold on to:
M) Matthew Goes Shopping, the Dad Mistake
One of the best parts of the book is when Matthew goes shopping for Anne’s dress. He gets so flustered that he ends up buying a rake and twenty pounds of sugar.
Eventually he gets the neighbor to make her the right dress. Such a dad thing to do; try to get his daughter a dress and fails.
One time when I was at school, my dress’ zipper broke so they called my parents, and my dad came right over. Except he didn’t bring one dress; he didn’t know what to do so he brought every dress in the closet.
Not good
N) Let’s Act Out a Story
Anne and her friends act out the story of the poem The Lady of Shalott by Alfred Lloyd Tennyson. They get a boat and put Anne in it, sending her down the river. She loses the oars and the boat springs a leak. Eventually she is stuck in the river.
Not good
And about to drown, but who should save her?
Gilbert.
I love this part. First, how sweet that he saves her life.
How sweet!
And secondly, I have never had this happen but I have tried to act stories out and had them fail.
O) Gilbert and Anne
After Gilbert saves Anne he tries to talk to her and get her forgiveness, and it is just the sweetest scene ever.
“I’m awfully sorry I made fun of your hair that time. I didn’t mean to vex you and I only meant it for a joke…I think your hair is awfully pretty now-honest I do. Let’s be friends.”
So sweet!
How sweet!
He’s crazy about her. If only she could see…
P) I Will Never Forgive You
Gilbert cutely asks for Anne’s forgiveness, bur Anne says no. She is holding onto the grudge and continues to do it for a long time. I have to admit that I was the same way. Me and Anne we have Mr. Darcy temperaments.
Q) Romance Sucks
So Anne decides that romance is over. After almost drowning, she’s done.
But Matthew warns her that not all romance isn’t bad.
“Don’t give up all your romance, Anne,’ he whispered, shyly, ‘a little of it is a good thing-not too much of course-but keep a little of it, Anne, keep a little of it.”
R) Anne starts softening
Anne starts softening about Gilbert,even though she doesn’t realize it.
“Gilbert looks awfully determined. I suppose he’s making up his mind, here and now, to win the medal. What a splendid chin he has!“
She looks at him, watching him a lot. She see’s him out with Ruby Gillis, and doesn’t like it.
She has tons of girlfriends, but thinks it would be nice to have a guy as a friend. And Gilbert is so smart, they could spend a lot of time together talking about all kinds of stuff. Watch her Gilbert, soon you will have your in. Just wait a bit longer.
S) Gilbert Gives Up His School for Anne
After Matthew dies, Anne decides to stall her scholarship to help Marilla with Green Gables as Matthew is gone and Marilla’s eyesight is horrible. Gilbert gets the Avonlea school, while Anne will have to travel out to White Sands. However, Gilbert goes to the board and has them switch schools so that Anne can stay there with Marilla.
The whole point of him not going to continue his education was because he needed to earn money to pay for it. So now he switches schools and will have to pay board, eating into the funds he has been trying to save.
How romantic!
And even though nothing turns out quite like she hopes, she’s lost those she cared for, built new friendships, teaching instead of being schooled; Anne can still find joy in life.
“God’s in his heaven, all’s right with the world…”
Wow
Just love it. If you haven’t read it, read it. If you have read it, read it again!
Today’s Christmas Carol is Good King Wenceslas. Good King Wenceslas is based on the historical Saint Wenceslaus I. The carol is telling the story about Wenceslaus and his page going out in the cold to deliver alms for the poor.
The song was written in 1853, with the lyrics by John Mason Neale and the music borrowed from the 13th century carol Tempus adest floridum.
I chose the version by Bing Crosby, as you all know how much I love him!
Yes it is that time of the year, our new tradition of a 30 Day Challenge. As I am a book lover and just can’t get enough books, I decided this year we will cover that love.
As any book lover knows, it is difficult to choose a favorite book.
So this will either fit the category of the book challenge, or will be a book I love. I’m hoping to meld both, but I know that won’t happen for every one of them. I also ran into a few issues finding 30, so I had to get a tad creative.
I am also going to skip the Jane Austen novels as I always talk about them on this blog. I’m going to try and do books I haven’t mentioned already, but no promises on that.
I can’t help it.
Now every time I try to do something in December, it tends to fail. I just get toooo busy.
Day 27) One, Two, Buckle My Shoe: Shoes symbolize wealth. Choose a novel that involves wealth or fashion
Day 28) Three, Four, Shut the Door: Doors symbolize new beginnings. Choose a novel where a character has to start over
Day 29) Five, Six, Pick Up Sticks: Sticks symbolize power, strength, or judicial decisions. Choose a book that revolves around a powerful ruler or ruling.
Day 30) Seven, Eight, Lay Them Straight: Straight means upright. Choose a book with a moral or strong moral character
Additional one to keep the Symmetry
Day 31) Nine, Ten, A Big Fat Hen: Hens symbolize motherhood. Choose a book that revolves around a family or strong motherly character.
Yep, Jurassic Park III sees the return of Dr. Grant, Sam Neil. 😀 It was supposed to have Jeff Goldblum too, but he injured himself and dropped out.
A lot of people don’t really like this film either.
However, I really like it. I like all the Jurassic Park films. 😀
This version isn’t based on any books of Michael Crichton, but was a newly created plot with a few pieces from the orginal scripts. They took the aviary scene in her from the orginal Jurassic Park novel. But more about that later.
So the film starts off with two people parasailing around Site B of Jurassic Park, where The Lost World took place. They go into a fog, and the next scene are gone!
Dr. Grant has become famous for his discoveries, but more people want to know about the Jurassic Park incidents than what he has found.
Dr. Grant: [Dr. Grant is giving a lecture] Now, are there any questions?
[everyone in the audience raises their hand] Dr. Grant: Questions not related to Jurassic Park
[many people lower their hand] Dr. Grant: Or the incident in San Diego, which I did not witness.
[everyone else lowers their hand]
Dr. Grant goes to visit Ellie who is married with a baby. (Now this is something I hate, in the book Ellie & Dr. Grant weren’t dating she was already engaged, so I hated in the films how they were dating in the first film but then weren’t together in the last one.) Dr. Grant and his assistant Billy are working together to create a larynx of a Velociraptor. The two are appraoached by a couple, the Kirbys, who like to go on wild adventure trips and want to have an air tour of Jurrassic Park. They got a special permit and will only be up in the air. Dr. Grant is adamant, no way, but then the Kirby’s place an extremely large check in his face that changes his mind.
While on the plane, Dr. Grant discovers that the two are lying. They have actually been planning the whole time to stop on the island. Dr. Grant tries to get them to stop, when he gets knocked out.
So Dr. Grant is on the island. Although its not the same one, as he was on Site A originally. They try and leave, but are stopped by a Spinosaurus, something that was’t on InGen’s list. As they try to escape, a T-Rex appears and they manage to escape right before the Spinosaurus snaps the T–Rex‘s neck.
As they are moving through the island, and being followed by the Kirbys & Co., they discover parasail remains.
This when the whole story comes out. It turns out that the Kirbys are divorced. The wife is remarried and her husband and the Kirby’s son went parasailing and disappeared. The father, played by William H. Macy, went to the traveling agency and hires a guy. The guy who is a “mercenary” and “knows guys” doesn’t really know or do anything he said he could. And the check is completely fake too. They are looking for their son Eric and needed a guide, so they tricked Dr. Grant. Unfortunately, Dr. Grant was never on Site B, so he’s like I don’t know what is out here.
The group is trying to make its way through the island without dying, and they end up in the actual area where the dinos were constructed. The one they showed them in Jurassic Park was all for show, but isn’t the real area. When they are there they get attacked by Raptors.
What’s interesting about this portrayl of the raptors is that the designers wanted to incorporate the archeological findings. Scientists have discovered that Raptors were covered in feathers made out of keratin. They couldn’t go completely over the top, so they just put the feathers on the head.
The group gets seperated and Dr. Grant finds himself all alone. He is saved by a young boy, Eric Kirby. Eric Kirby, against all odds, has managed to survive 8 weeks on the island. He’s been living off candy, uses dino pee to scare things off, etc. Eric used to be a big fan of Dr. Grant too.
Erik: Be careful with that. T-Rex. It scares some of the smaller ones away but attracts one really big one with the fin.
Dr. Grant: This is T-Rex pee?
[Eric nods yes]
Dr. Grant: How’d you get it?
Erik: You don’t wanna know.
Erik: I read both of your books. I liked the first one more. Before you were on the island. You liked dinosaurs back then.
Dr. Grant: Back then they hadn’t tried to eat me yet.
Dr. Grant: Did you read Malcolm’s book?
[Erik nods]
Dr. Grant: So?
Erik: I don’t know. It was kinda preachy. And too much Chaos. Everything Chaos. It just seemed like the guy was high on himself.
Dr. Grant: That’s two things we have in common.
The two go out looking for the rest of the group when Eric hears his father’s satellite phone.
I love the Spinosaurus there, he reminds me of my dog Katy, when she gets all riled up and you have her chew toy, she makes that face, posed to attack.
The group manages to escape and head to the compound, hoping to find some radio equipment to call for help. After they catch their breath, Billy asks for his bag back, and Dr. Grant tells him he is fine carrying it. Billy keeps insisting and insisting that Grant hand over the bag. This makes Dr. Grant very suspicious and he looks inside, discovering that there are raptor eggs in there. Along the way, Billy found some and took them, hoping that when they got off the island he could sell them. That’s why they have been chased by raptors.
Dr. Grant is furiuous with Billy. And who can blame him. I mean that it has to be tempting to steal those eggs, but come on Billy these aren’t chickens.
Billy Brennan: You have to believe me, this was a stupid decision but I did it with the best intentions. Dr. Grant: With the best intentions? Some of the worst things imaginable have been done with the best intentions. You know what, Billy? As far as I’m concerned, you’re no better than the people that built this place.
They then make their way into a large outdoor cage that hold pteradactyls and other pteranodons. This one of the freakiest scenes in the whole movie. It is super creepy with the fog and the birds. When my sis, niece, and I went to the San Diego Safari Park they have the birdhouse/plant area, it looked JUST like the aviary in Jurassic Park III. I kept saying that if I go in, there are going to be pteradactyls in there that are going to try to kill me. It freaked my niece out soooooooooooooooo bad!!! She started crying and said she wasn’t going to go in. We had to say so many things to convonce her that she would be okay.
Anyways so they get in the aviary they think is abandoned, but it turns out there is something hiding in there.
The group is reeling from Billy’s death, and make their way down the river on a boat. They float by the Spinosaurus’ poop and find the satillette phone. The Spinoisaurus comes upon them and they begin to fight to get away.
Dr. Grant manages to get out “Site B River” on the satillete phone to Ellie before he loses it to the river. They manage to get away again. The Kirbys are now all reunited and happy and want to be together.
They are almost free when they are come upon by the raptors. They sense that the Mrs. Kirby, Amanda, is a female and go straight for her. Dr. Grant saves the day when he uses Billy’s larynx creation. He blows in it just right so that it sounds like other Raptors are calling for help.
After they manage to get out of there they take off to the coast where the Coast Guard, Marines, and Navy are waiting for them. They even manage to find Billy.
Billy Brennan: I rescued your hat. Dr. Grant: Well… that’s the important thing.
They all make it home okay.
So a couple of years ago they were talking about making a Jurassic Park 4 film, which my friend Margarita and I were super excited about it. But then they canceled when Michael Crichton unexpectedly died.
However, now that it is back on and supposed to be out in theaters in 2015, I am so jazzed! In a few years I can include it in the Horrorfests. 😀
Well that concludes our Jurassic Park Week. 😀
Here’s a cover page/poster I made for my Halloween countdown on Facebook.
So The Lost World: Jurassic Park II is the sequel to the first film and based on the the written sequel. Now many out there say that this movie sucks and is the worse out of the three films but I have to say it isn’t that bad. It is pretty good and some of the things wrong with it are not solely the writer’s and director’s fault. The book wasn’t nearly as good as the original so of course the film was only ok as well. However, even though it will never be as amazing as it’s older brother Jurassic Park, it still has some great things in it.
So the plot of this film is that Ian Malcolm has told everyone all about Jurassic Park (even though he signed a contract saying he wouldn’t) and has therefore been thrown through the InGen shredder, every bit of his respectability and credibility has been destroyed. He is approached by Hammond who has turned over a new leaf and wants him to help the dinosaurs. Apparently some evolved from the lysine dependency and are running loose on the “real island”. The island that Dr. Grant, Malcolm, and team went on was only the decorated park, not the real place where they created the dinosaurs. Hammond wants to turn this second island into a wildlife preserve, but his evil nephew has taken control of the company and wants to ship the dinosaurs over to create a park in San Diego. To make matters worse Malcolm’s girlfriend Sarah is already over on the island, and when Malcolm goes his daughter Kelly stows away with him. As you can imagine there are some crazy scenes on the island and in CA when the dinos run amuck.
What’s also interesting about this film is that there were quite a few pieces taken friom the first novel and placed in here, such as the procompsognathus that attack the young girl; one guy being killed by Procompsognathids (Hammond in the novel). Also in the novel, the opposing group on the island is not led by Peter Ludlow, the evil nephew, but by Lewis Dodgson, head of the rival company BioSyn, who had hired Dennis Nedry in the previous film/book. Dodgson hides from the T-Rex under a Jeep with Sarah Harding, who kicks him out to lead the T-Rex away. The T-Rex takes him home to its nest to feed to its young. This is closely paralleled by the fate of Ludlow in the film.
1) Jeff Goldblum
First of all Jeff Goldblum! Jeff Goldblum is in this film, already that makes it pretty amazing. I mean it would have been even more amazing if Sam Neil was in it too, but hey, Jeff Goldblum is really amazing,
2) Free the Dinos!
John Hammond’s nephew, the evil Peter, is trying to capture and cage the dinos and send them over to CA. The group goes over and frees all the dinosaurs. I love this scene because it makes me thnk of one of my fav parts of E.T.
3) The Car Goes Over the Cliff!
In Jurassic Park, we have the scene where the T-Rex knocks the car over the edge of the wall. In this one we have a siimilar scene where a very angry T-Rex almost knocks the RV over the edge of a cliff.
4) The School Cut You From the Team?
So Malcolm, Sarah, and Kelly are being chased by velociraptors in a very intense scene. It is really good, almost as good as in the orginal. Then Kelly, who was cut from her school’s gymnastic team, does this huge number and takes a raptor out, impaling him. Pretty cool!
5) T-Rex in San Diego
Okay, now this has to be one of the best parts of the film as the T-Rex is running amuck in CA, like a modern day, American version of Godzilla.
I love this scene when the little boy discovers a dino in his backyard. 😀
Utter destruction
Pretty sweet! Not as cool as the first but pretty great! 😀
Here’s a poster/cover page I made this year for my facebook Halloween countdown.
You’re implying that a group composed entirely of female animals will… breed? No, I’m, I’m simply saying that life, uh… finds a way.
I LOVE THIS MOVIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ❤ IT IS ONE OF MY ABSOLUTE FAVS!!!!!!!!!!
First of all let me welcome you to my Jurassic Park Marathon!!! Yay! All this week Jurassic Park films! 🙂
So I love this movie, I absolutely do. I love the book too, but the movie was so amazing because of the people they chose to play the characters, they were absolutely perfect! Well it was a Michael Crichton/Steven Spielberg film.
Crichton got the idea for this when he was writing the screenplay Westworld. I love that movie too!
I was such a huge dino nut when I was a kid, I absolutely love this movie.
I’m the kid on the left
So why is this movie so awesome? Let’s get on it.
So John Hammond, CEO of InGen a genetic company has bought an island off of Costa Rica and created a place where Dinosaurs can roam again. Unfortunately for him, they have had far too many accidents so his lawyer is forcing him to bring in some experts to okay the park.
Unbeknownst to Hammond, one of his employees, Dennis Nedry, is selling him out. InGen’s biggest competitor offered Nedry a ton of money to bring dino embryos.
So back in the U.S., Dr. Alan Grant, paleontologist, and paleobotanist, Dr. Ellie Slatter are out on a site digging up bones.
Dr. Grant is played by the very hunky Sam Neil.
Love this guy!
One of the best scenes in the film is when a kid makes fun of the dino bones and Grant rips him a new one.
Soon after the group is disrupted by a helicopter and have to quickly cover up the bones. This helicopter is Hammond who offers to fund their group for many, many years if they come and visit his park. They are totally down for that and promptly agree.
Along with Dr. Grant & Ellie, the lawyer brings mathematician, Ian Malcolm, who is played by none other than the very attractive Jeff Goldblum.
He’s got such a great voice!
So this past January I went to visit my sister who lives near San Diego. When I was flying down there, I was trying to buckle up my seatbelt, but it wouldn’t work. I totally felt like Dr. Grant right there.
So they land on the island and the the group is wondering what this park is all about. The only one who knows what it holds is John Hammond. They are driving onto the compound when Dr. Grant sees it….a dino.
They are given the spiel of what Jurassic Park is all about. At the visitor center they find out, through a very cheesy video, that the cloning of the dinos was accomplished by extracting the DNA of dinosaurs from mosquitoes that had been preserved in amber. The strands of DNA were incomplete, so they took DNA from frogs and used the frog DNA to fill in the gaps. The dinosaurs were all made to be female and created without a specific lysine to be only given through the food supplied by the feeders so that if there was ever an issue they would stop the feeeding and all would die.
Dr. Grant gets out of the appointed seats and takes off to check out the lab and see the baby dinos. Some are hatching at that moment and Dr. Grant sees a baby raptor.
John Hammond: [as they gather around a baby dinosaur hatching from its egg] I’ve been present for the birth of every little creature on this island. Dr. Ian Malcolm: Surely not the ones that are bred in the wild? Henry Wu: Actually they can’t breed in the wild. Population control is one of our security precautions. There’s no unauthorized breeding in Jurassic Park. Dr. Ian Malcolm: How do you know they can’t breed? Henry Wu: Well, because all the animals in Jurassic Park are female. We’ve engineered them that way. [they take the baby dinosaur out of its egg. A robot arm picks up the shell out of Grant’s hand and puts it back down] Dr. Ian Malcolm: But again, how do you know they’re all female? Does somebody go out into the park and pull up the dinosaurs’ skirts? Henry Wu: We control their chromosomes. It’s really not that difficult. All vertebrate embryos are inherently female anyway, they just require an extra hormone given at the right developmental stage to make them male. We simply deny them that. Dr. Ian Malcolm: John, the kind of control you’re attempting simply is… it’s not possible. If there is one thing the history of evolution has taught us it’s that life will not be contained. Life breaks free, it expands to new territories and crashes through barriers, painfully, maybe even dangerously, but, uh… well, there it is. John Hammond: [sardonically] There it is. Henry Wu: You’re implying that a group composed entirely of female animals will… breed? Dr. Ian Malcolm: No, I’m, I’m simply saying that life, uh… finds a way.
Everyone but the lawyer questions whether Hammond has really thought about the ramifications
Dr. Ian Malcolm: Gee, the lack of humility before nature that’s being displayed here, uh… staggers me. Don’t you see the danger, John, inherent in what you’re doing here? Genetic power is the most awesome force the planet’s ever seen, but you wield it like a kid that’s found his dad’s gun…the problem with the scientific power that you’re using here, it didn’t require any discipline to attain it…You didn’t earn the knowledge for yourselves, so you don’t take any responsibility for it. You stood on the shoulders of geniuses to accomplish something as fast as you could, and before you even knew what you had, you patented it, and packaged it, and slapped it on a plastic lunchbox, and now…your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could that they didn’t stop to think if they should…
Dr. Ellie Sattler: Well, the question is, how can you know anything about an extinct ecosystem? And therefore, how could you ever assume that you can control it? I mean, you have plants in this building that are poisonous, you picked them because they look good, but these are aggressive living things that have no idea what century they’re in, and they’ll defend themselves, violently if necessary.
Dr. Alan Grant: Dinosaurs and man, two species separated by 65 million years of evolution have just been suddenly thrown back into the mix together. How can we possibly have the slightest idea what to expect?
John Hammond: [laughing] I don’t believe it. I don’t believe it! You’re meant to come down here and defend me against these characters, and the only one I’ve got on my side is the blood-sucking lawyer!
Donald Gennaro: Thank you.
After lunch and debate they all go out to check out the park. On the way they are joined by Hammond’s grandchildren, Lex and Tim. The groups go out in two different cars and view two no shows and a sick triceratops. Now I know how this feels. While visiting my sister in San Diego we went to the wildlife preserve, and since it is a natural habitat those animals can hide super well. In fact the whole day there I kept think that this is like Jurassic Park.
One of the best scenes is this one.
Ellie leaves with the Vet so the cars now have Lex, Tim, & Gennaro the lawyer in one, and Malcolm and Alan in the other.
Back at the compound, a huge storm is headed for the island amd all the ferries are leaving early. This disrupts Nedry’s plan as the time is shortened for his plan, but he decides to go for it, shutting down all different parts of the system, electric fences, and the motorized cars the group are in.
Nedry’s plan doesn’t work as the rain causes him to be confused and he loses his glasses, the embryos, and his life. Don’t make fun of a dino.
One area that is shut down is the T-Rex’s fence, where all the cars are in front of.
Tim gets stuck in the car and thrown off the side into a tree. Dr. Grant and Lex scale down the wall to get away and help him. Ellie and Muldoon, the keeper, come looking for everyone, but find Malcolm. They pick him up and have to leave as they are chased away by a T-Rex.
Dr. Ian Malcolm: [as they escape the T-Rex chasing after them in the Jeep] You think they’ll have that on the tour?
Dr. Grant goes up in the tree to get Tim, but as they are climbing down they have to hurry even faster as the car falls down as well. The end up having the car fall on them and being trapped again. They find shelter and rest.
Back at the compund, they can’t get around the stuff Nedry set up and decide to do a complete shut down and then restart the system. However, the system doesn’t restart. NOw everything is shut down.
The next day Dr. Grant and the kids roam through the park. They discover that the dinosaurs are having children, they cannot be controlled. They had used frog DNA to make the dinos complete, but some frogs change sex multiple times before they decide on one.
Dr. Alan Grant: [finding egg shells] Oh my God. Do you know what this is? This is a dinosaur egg. The dinosaurs are breeding. Tim: But Grandpa said all the dinosaurs were girls. Dr. Alan Grant: Amphibian DNA. Lex: What’s that? Dr. Alan Grant: Well, on the tour, the film said they used frog DNA to fill in the gene sequence gaps. They mutated the dinosaur genetic code and blended it with that of a frog’s. Now, some West African frogs have been known to spontaneously change sex from male to female in a single sex environment. Malcolm was right. Look…life found a way.
As they continue through the park the discover that the animals are all loose and running free in a more natural way. They are also hunting each other.
Back at the compound; Malcolm, Ellie, Hammond, & Muldoon wait for one of the employees, Ray Arnold, who was sent out to the electrical building to restart it manually. Ellie can’t wait any longer, so she and Muldoon run to the area but get hunted by Velociraptors. Muldooon doesn’t make it. While Ellie begins the restart at the same time Tim, Lex, & Dr. Grant are climbing over an electric fence. I love this scene as it is so intense.
Poor Tim. He makes it out okay, but he has had the worst of it out of everybody. First his idol (Dr. Grant) doesn’t want to talk to him, his car gets attacked by a T-Rex, he gets stuck in a car and thrown into a tree, he throws up on himself, he gets out of the tree but the car falls on him, he almost gets run over by a stampede of dinos, gets electrocuted, and the trips not over.
Ellie gets attacked by Velociraptors, but manages to get away from them.
Now I took a class on Dinosaurs and the way they are portrayed on the screen is not how they believe they looked in real life, they think they had feathers and were colorful.
Anyways, Dr. Grant leaves the kids in the compund so they can eat, while he goes looking for Ellie. They are reunited and head back to the compound.
In the compound Lex and Tim are in one of the scrariest scenes ever!!!
They manage to get back with Dr. Grant & Ellie and they all head over to the computer system so Ellie can restart it. However, the raptors attack and she has to help Dr. Grant with the doors as they are are electrical. While they do that Lex reboots the system. They call Hammond and make him call a helicopter. A raptor starts attacking them and they have to crawl into the air vents to get out. They end up having to battle them later.
T-Rex = Awesome
Raptor = Awesome
T-Rex and Raptor fight = Super Awesome
They all end up getting away. Hammond having realized that his idea is not thought through all the way, Malcolm with his broken leg, Dr. Grant and Ellie closer than ever, and Dr. Grant having formed a great relationship with the kids and realizing kids would be great to have one day.
Now even though the movie has a LOT of differences from the book but it is so amzing of a story.
Now even though this movie, Frankenstein, and The Bride of Frankenstein show you that one shouldn’t try to take life into their own hands, still scientists just won’t listen.
Here’s a cover photo/poster I made as part of my countdown to Halloween this year.
![John Hammond: [as they gather around a baby dinosaur hatching from its egg] I've been present for the birth of every little creature on this island. Dr. Ian Malcolm: Surely not the ones that are bred in the wild? Henry Wu: Actually they can't breed in the wild. Population control is one of our security precautions. There's no unauthorized breeding in Jurassic Park. Dr. Ian Malcolm: How do you know they can't breed? Henry Wu: Well, because all the animals in Jurassic Park are female. We've engineered them that way. [they take the baby dinosaur out of its egg. A robot arm picks up the shell out of Grant's hand and puts it back down] Dr. Ian Malcolm: But again, how do you know they're all female? Does somebody go out into the park and pull up the dinosaurs' skirts? Henry Wu: We control their chromosomes. It's really not that difficult. All vertebrate embryos are inherently female anyway, they just require an extra hormone given at the right developmental stage to make them male. We simply deny them that. Dr. Ian Malcolm: John, the kind of control you're attempting simply is... it's not possible. If there is one thing the history of evolution has taught us it's that life will not be contained. Life breaks free, it expands to new territories and crashes through barriers, painfully, maybe even dangerously, but, uh... well, there it is. John Hammond: [sardonically] There it is. Henry Wu: You're implying that a group composed entirely of female animals will... breed? Dr. Ian Malcolm: No, I'm, I'm simply saying that life, uh... finds a way.](https://janeaustenrunsmylife.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/jurassic-park-dinosaur-egg-5.jpg)
![Dr. Alan Grant: [finding egg shells] Oh my God. Do you know what this is? This is a dinosaur egg. The dinosaurs are breeding. Tim: But Grandpa said all the dinosaurs were girls. Dr. Alan Grant: Amphibian DNA. Lex: What's that? Dr. Alan Grant: Well, on the tour, the film said they used frog DNA to fill in the gene sequence gaps. They mutated the dinosaur genetic code and blended it with that of a frog's. Now, some West African frogs have been known to spontaneously change sex from male to female in a single sex environment. Malcolm was right. Look... [we see a trail of baby dinosaur footprints] Dr. Alan Grant: Life found a way.](https://janeaustenrunsmylife.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/jp93-eggs1.jpg)
