Pixar Studios released their latest emotional journey at Cannes in mid May. A month and a half later, I saw Inside Out at the Edinburgh International Film Festival (a full month before the UK release date). Surrounding the notion that each person is led by a selection of primary emotions, Inside Out is the story of Riley and her emotions Joy, Anger, Fear, Disgust and Sadness. At 11 years old, Riley's family uproots and moves from Minnesota to San Fransisco and during this move her emotions begin to lose control. Sadness discovers she can alter memories and Joy panics that she's losing control of young Riley. As these two emotions clash, they are sucked out of their safe headquarters and find themselves lost in the cavernous long term memory section of Riley's brain.
The films message is clear throughout. It's not healthy to bottle up or conceal your feelings nor is it healthy to hide the stereotypically 'bad' emotions. Inside Out shows its audiences that sometimes allowing yourself to cry and be sad is better for your longterm happiness. In typical Pixar fashion, the film ends happily with all five emotions reunited in their headquarters and working together on each memory. An interesting, secondary, message that came across was the similarities and distinctions between people. The film delves into both of Riley's parents brains during their first family dinner in San Fransisco. Both brains have the same primary emotions as Riley but they are slightly different in their dynamics. For example, Riley's Mother had emotions with long hair and were led by Sadness (but not a destructive Sadness like the one in Riley's brain). Whereas, Riley's Father's emotions were led by Anger and had moustaches. This is one of the ways in which the film's visual design was outstanding. Each character was the same yet different. Clearly differentiated from each other yet they all were clearly connected.
Speaking of the design... Wow. It seems like year after year, Pixar and Disney are producing better, more visually stunning work. I found myself particularly fascinated by the skin of each emotion. Almost like they were made of particles, their skin was not solid. Each particle looked soft and glistened like glitter. Especially against the stark darkness of the 'memory dump', Joy's skin was beautifully animated to stand out against the background. Another captivating aspect of the film's overall aesthetic was the use of colour. Obviously each emotion is assigned a colour that's commonly associated or the colour that is culturally appropriated to suggest a connection to a particular feeling. But outside of this, the mind landscape was filled with bright colours, colour blocking and shining balls symbolising individual memories. During the abstract thought scene, the use of colour and design was hilarious. Of course, made funnier by the running commentary from Sadness.
I laughed out loud from beginning to end and teared up twice. Inside Out was beautiful and will likely be referred to in the future as 'classic' Pixar. Also, if you're not going to see this film at the cinema, have a look for Lava - Pixar's new short. A beautiful, musical short about a lonely volcano - it was such a wonderful way to start this film. It was probably my favourite pre-film short from Pixar since Day/Night.
It is back. Fourteen years after the release of Jurassic Park III, everyone's favourite dinosaur franchise is back. To say this film was eagerly anticipated would be an understatement. Originally scheduled for a 2005 release, fans have been waiting ten years for this film. Each time the trailer appeared in the cinema, audiences hushed and everyone's full attention was directed towards the screen. After seeing the trailer for Jurassic World, about 50 times, I was hopeful that the film would live up to expectations and surpass the successes of its predecessors. A big question on the lips of thousands of die hard movie lovers is: will it be better that Jurassic Park (1993)? I've never had much interest in the second and third movies of the franchise... but the first. The first Jurassic Park was and always will be astounding. But from the promotional material released, interviews and the clear advanced technology - compared to 1993 - seen in the new film got me very, very excited. I saw the film on June 11th 2015, the day it was released here in the UK. I was not going to waste any time!
Produced, written and directed by an entirely new team of creative minds, Jurassic World stars Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard (not to be confused with Jessica Chastain!). The franchise's only returning actor, from previous instalments is B.D Wong - someone whom I only really recognise from his time on Law & Order: SVU but good for him! Director Colin Trevorrow, who also had a hand in the screenplay, guides his cast through the story of genetic mutation gone wrong. Again. Led by Pratt and Howard as Owen and Claire, the film explores the risks and failures behind genetic modification in dinosaurs. The new genetically engineered dino, Indominis Rex, is quickly discovered to have out-smarted its creators and escapes the enclosure to cause havoc in the theme park. I won't go into further plot details, in an attempt to keep this review as spoiler free as possible, but an aspect I thoroughly enjoyed was the subplot surrounding the use of the velociraptors as trained animal weapons by a private contract company!
I respected the films ability to acknowledge its past. Not only is Jurassic Park referenced but it is mentioned regularly throughout. There are visual reminders of the iconic moments from past films too, including the original squiggle animation and the waterfall from the first instalment of the series. Moments of comic relief were welcome breaks from tense dinosaur hunting and evading! Jake Johnson, who most people know from New Girl, was a fantastic addition to the team and acted as a representation of many Dino-film fans! During the film he sports a classic Jurassic Park t-shirt and decorates his work station with plastic dinosaur figurines. This was an example of respectful film making. The creative team are not ignoring the franchise's roots and the iconic images that made it so popular. This gives me hope that the new Star Wars films will be equally as accepting of the world that had already been accepted and loved by so many.
I found myself wanting less and more at times. Less of the scenes focusing on the young brothers and more of dinosaur hunting, training and killing. The brothers were a lovely addition to the film and provided depth and emotion to the otherwise cold character Claire, but there were more than several moments of unnecessary plot development for two characters who don't really matter. In particular, the scene on the monorail when Gray is telling his older brother Zach that their parents are likely getting divorced... was really boring. Especially considering the end of the film as the audience receives no indication of the families future whether that be together or apart. It was sweet to see the two bond and come together during hardship/potential death, but I would have rather had 20 minutes more of dinosaur footage. The only other aspects of the film that irked me were Howard's perfectly styled hair - no one's hair goes from bone straight to perfectly wavy without getting it wet or popping in some curlers - and everyone's ability to out run dinosaurs. Seriously, why were all of the main characters who didn't die able to out run dinosaurs that were sometimes over 10 times their size? **SPOILERS** In particular it really annoyed me that little Bryce Dallas Howard took it upon herself to lead a T-Rex into battle by running ahead of it (in heels) with a flare. He would have easily stepped over her, on her, or eaten her within three seconds of his paddock door being opened so forgive me if I found it a little unbelievable that one of the biggest and most dangerous dinosaurs just slowed his pace down so that Howard could act like the hero.
As for the things that really made the film shine... The cast were well picked and performed well. The plot could allow for over dramatic acting but actually there were few cringe worthy moments. Howard and Pratt's on screen chemistry was sweet, though a little forced and underdeveloped at times. But a film like this should not be focusing on love interest story lines! The dinosaurs should be the real stars of the film and I believe they came close. The Velociraptors, who were surprising underdogs, were well depicted and creatively distinguished from each other - with Pratt's favourite having a blue stripe down his back. The main bitch herself, Indominis Rex, was also a wonderful display of CGI technology. Her ability to camouflage made for an interesting scene that would have looked a lot less impressive back in 1993. Even during the final dino-on-dino fight scene, the image on screen was sharp and clear. Something that doesn't always occur in CGI heavy 3D films!
Overall I was incredibly pleased with the film and will see it again, probably in 2D so I can have a proper scan of all the smaller elements in the film. This is a fantastic reinvention and extension of an existing, wonderful franchise. Hopefully this begins a trend of respectful film making in regards to remakes and modern day sequels.
