A Feminist Look at Jurassic World

I gave my review of Jurassic World. It wasn't terrible, but it was hugely disappointing. And the most disappointing thing was the script. And, yet, I want to talk in a little more depth about a curious aspect of that script. See, it passes the two major current tests for feminism. And it had a couple other pro-femme moments. But was it a feminist movie?

(Note, I tried to keep it as spoiler-free as I could, but there were some specific scenes that needed to be referenced.)

Jurassic World

Starting with an apology. Sort of. Yes, I know that I'm three weeks late on this one. But, hey, I was out of the country. I seriously contemplated going to see it in Denmark, because how cool would that be. Fortunately, I didn't waste my vacation time on this.

Short version: The effects were spectacular. Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard were both really good. The direction and cinematography were both good. But the script was a godawful mess. And that reduced what could have been a really good movie down to something I wouldn't mind having on in the background while I work.

And Seen Again

We just got back from a Disney Cruise. One of the perks of cruising with Disney is that you get to see a bunch of Disney movies for free. (Well, as free as "included with your $1000 a day vacation" can get.) This time around, it happened to include the premiere (*cough* actually called Prem-EAR *cough*) of Inside Out (reviewed here). But I wanted to cover a few of the others I had a chance to see (or at least see most of).

Inside Out

Short version: This movie easily lives up to the Pixar standard. It is a fairly obvious and standard plot, but executed with grace and style that gives it fresh appeal. The characters are wonderfully sketched out, especially considering that they are intentionally one-dimensional. And, yes, you will cry. If you don't, you're a monster.

Go see it. Now.