The Problem With Criticism
Here’s some great news! The first chapter of Never Never has been almost completely finished, minus a few little things that I’ll do before posting the comics up. Don’t forget to keep checking every Wednesday at www.nevernevercomic.com for updates, and back here for more news!
Also in good news, The First Panel has been slowly, slowly growing, and we have some cover art submissions so far, which is great! Don’t forget that the submission deadline for the first issue is the 30th of September - that’s over three months from now, hopefully enough time for people to get things in.
So I have a bit of a Peeve to pet. For those who don’t know, Peeves are annoying little ghost animals that hound you until you pet them, when they’ll finally leave you alone for a while. There are a ton of people bitching about Jurassic World out there lately, either about how the CGI ruined it, or how the plot is the same as always, or there’s no characterization. I understand the need to break things down and analyze them - I am an English major after all - but there’s a big difference between analyzing for discussion and just ripping things down because you feel you can or you have to.
No doubt, there was a time in my life when I did that, and I feel its draw, the hooks and barbs in my skin, but I think we have to move past that at some point. Jurassic World was a pretty damn good movie. Sure, it used CGI instead of animatronics (there were still “real life” dinos, just for note), but it still looked really good. Sure, the plot was similar, but, oddly enough, the plot of JW was actually deeper than than of JP. ANY of the original Jurassic Park movies. Some of the characterizations were deeper, and the movie itself took on, in my opinion, a bit of a grander, more adventure-y feel. I felt like I was immersed in that world more this time around than with the original.
There’s something to be said for enjoying a movie for what it is, and Jurassic World felt more like a rebooting of the classic movie for a new time and generation than it did a true sequel. And I think it did a pretty damn good job of being that, and of being a monster movie. It was fun, it was thrilling, it had thrills and chills, and just enough - maybe a little too much - blood and gore.
Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t perfect, it doesn’t beat out the original, but it is a respectable entry into the series. Just like the new Godzilla brought some new blood into the world, so did Jurassic World.