INSIDE OUT

GRADE: A+
Starrring the Voices of Amy Pohler, Phyllis Smith, Richard Kind, Bill Heder, Mindy Kaling, Lewis Black
Directed by Pete Docter and Ronaldo De Carmen
Rated PG
Reviewed by Paul & Patrick Gibbs

Six months into 2015, we find ourselves with a runaway pick as best film of the years so far, and we're thrilled to declare Pixar back to its creative zenith. Which is not to say we think they ever fully lost their touch, or even came close to that. They've never made a bad film, and even some of their lesser recent films such as Monster's University have been very good. But there was a time when you could count on every Pixar film to be so good that it was almost embarrassing how inferior most of the films allegedly made for adults were. Inside Out returns them to that level of achievement.

Inside Out takes place inside the mind of Riley, a little girl whose family has just moved from Minnesota to San Francisco. Her mind is dominated by her emotions, anthropomorphized characters lead by Joy (Amy Pohler), a plucky and determined force for happiness. Joy gently but firmly presides over headquarters, where she is joined by Fear (Bill Heder), Digust (Mindy Kaling), and the hilarious Anger. But Joy's biggest challenge is dealing with the mopey Sadness (Phyllis Smith of The Office, perhaps the most inspired piece of casting in a film where the casting is so good that Kyle Machlachlan successfulyl plays an average Dad without even a hint of criminal insanity). If this strikes some viewers of our generation or older as awfully similar to the premise of the short-lived 1990s sitcom Herman's Head, think about this: what if Herman's Head had actually been good? Where that show squandered an inventive premise, Pixar takes that premise and makes it equally inspired in terms of comedy, adventure and poignant drama.

The plot really takes off when Riley is thrust into the conflicting emotions of adolescence, personified by Joy and Sadness being accidentally removed from Headquarters and forced to find their way back, and a confused Fear, Disgust and Anger having to figure out how to run Riley's head without the dominant emotions. Joy and Sadness equally dominate the story both literally and figuratively. As much as "You'll laugh, you'll cry" is a tired cliche, it's unmistakably true here. Some of the film's highlights include the character of Bing Bong (voiced by Richard Kind), Riley's imaginary friend from her pr-school days. Bing Bong gives us some of the most touching moments in Pixar history.

Inside Out is so imaginative, so joyful, so full of nearly every emotion, that it takes what has been an overall very enjoyable summer movie season to new heights, and it's a sure bet that no other blockbuster of this season is going to beat it as the most overall satisfying effort. Not only is it what we hoped Herman's Head would be, it's what we hoped Being John Malkovich would be. This is truly a film for everybody, and if you find yourself saying "I'm a grown man, I don't want to see a movie about the feelings of a little girl", well, you probably have serious insecurity issues and a need to prove your masculinity, and a movie set inside your head would be both hilarious and terrifying. For everyone else, Inside Out is every bit the equal of the two previous triumphs from co-director Pete Docter  (Monsters, Inc and Up), and we're ready to declare it 2015 Best Animated Film Oscar winner right now, even with another Pixar film still coming. This is as good as animated movies (or summer movies in general) get.

JURASSIC WORLD

GRADE: A

Starring Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Nick Robinson, Ty Simpkins, Vincent D'Onfrio, B.D. Wong, Jake Johnson

Screenplay by Rick Jaffa & Amanda Silver and Colin Trevorrow & Derek Connelly

Directed by Colin Trevorrow

Rated PG-13 (violence, gore, profanity)

Reviewed by Paul and Patrick Gibbs

You'd be hard pressed to find anyone who fits more perfectly into the target audience for Jurassic World than the two of us. The original 1993 Jurassic Park is right up there with Raiders of the Lost Ark on our list of most beloved and repeatedly viewed films, and just as many fans seem to memorize their favorite films line for line, we have have Jurassic Park memorized nearly shot for shot, and we consider it perhaps the best directing class we ever took.  Our attachment to the film is so strong that the sight of a particular dinosaur springing into action in the new film inspired actual tears. We saw the 2013 3D reissue 5 times. We took our T-Rex action figure to the press screening.  Keep all of this in mind as you read this review,  recognizing that it makes us either the best or worst opinion to trust on the long awaited dinosaur sequel. Aside from a near criminal deficiency of Jeff Goldblum, for us Jurassic World was a geek's paradise.

The story begins just over 20 years after John Hammond's failed attempt to create a theme park with live, genetically engineered dinosaurs, only now Hammond's dream is a reality (though without Hammond, who passed away along with Lord Richard Attenborough, the actor who portrayed him). The new park is a Disney World style super resort, still on the island Isla Nublar off the coast of Costa Rica (Isla Sorna, where previous sequels The Lost World and Jurassic Park III took place, is never mentioned, though contrary to some rumors those films are not contradicted or de-cannonized, merely not directly referenced). We enter the park along with Zach and Gray (Nick Robinson and Ty Simpkins), a pair of brothers who are sent there by their about to be divorced parents (apparently the appropriate thing to do with your children when getting a divorce is to send them to be eaten by dinosaurs). Zach and Gray are in the meager care of their aunt Clare Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard), a somewhat sterotyoically uptight career woman who just needs to meet Chris Pratt and settle down. Clare is second in command to Masrani (Irffan Khan, the grown up "pi" from Life of Pi), the Indian billionaire who aquired the InGen corporation from Hammond. Because crowds are now used to dinosaurs and need some new to wow them, Masrani has commissioned original Jurassic Park geneticist Henry Wu (B.D. Wong, the only original human cast member to return) to create a hybrid dinosaur called Indominus Rex, a fearsome cross breed of T-Rex and . . . mysterious other sources Wu won't tell anyone about.


Meanwhile, Owen Grady  (Chris Pratt) is a somewhat brash former Naval Officer and current raptor whisperer, who shares a special bond with the fierce antagonist predators of the original film. While Owen's bond with the raptors is peaceful and gentle, Vic Hoskins (Vincent D'Onofrio) head of InGen security and Mauser to Owen's Mahoney  (even we don't understand why we worked in that reference) has much darker designs. Owen's relationship with the raptors has generated a lot of negative fan reaction leading up to the film's release, and it's likely to be the most debated aspect of the movie, but they're not as tame and docile as they appear in the trailers. But the big threat this time is Indominus Rex, and of course things go wrong and, to paraphrase Dr. Ian Malcolm, the "ooh, ahh" turns to running and screaming.

Little if any attempt is made to make this film accessible to people who haven't seen the 1993 original.  If you don't know how dinosaurs were genetically engineered back from extinction, this film isn't going to tell you. It was especially for people like us who have seen Spielberg's film upwards of 100 times, and director Colin Trevorrow  (the delightful Safety Not Guaranteed ) is clearly as big a Jurassic Park geek as we are, reveling in every homage and reference to the first film and even some subtle reference Spielberg film.). When it comes to staging eye-popping dino-action and spectacle and crafting suspense sequences, Trevorrow isn't Spielberg, but he shows a tremendous amount of talent, and he kind of settles into the movie as it goes. The film is relentless in its quest to be every bit the thrill ride audiences want it to be, leaving you jumping in your seat and gripping your arm rests tight from the moment the action begins until the moment it ends. And while the effects are predictably a bit CGI heavy this time around, they're still very high in quality, and there is some welcome animatronic work.

As always with this franchise, the human characters are secondary to the dinos, but Chris Pratt demonstrates that Guardians of the Galaxy was no accident and he has genuine movie star potential (after this we can finally reluctantly say the nothing but rumor reports of him as a new Indiana Jones might work). And for once Bryce Dallas Howard appears in a blockbuster where she isn't wasted. While the "will they or won't they?" romance between the two of them is predictable and sometimes silly, it's certainly not as painful as the Parent Trap dynamic that was in play for Jurassic Park III, and there's enough chemistry between the two to make them strong leads for the film. Robinson and Simpkins are thankfully likable and endearing as the requisite kids ( a little older than usual in Robinson's case), and their relationship works and is surprisingly touching even while feeling ocassionally contrived. Perhaps the standout of the actors is Jake Johnson  (Safety Not Guaranteed, New Girl), who is hilarious as a park controller who geek's out to stories and memorabilia from the original park.

But, as mentioned before, this is a dinosaur thrill ride, not a character piece. Director Trevorrow has created some spectacularly successful set pieces, including an attack by flying  pteranadons (a nice homage to Hitchcock's The Birds) and the climactic dinosaur showdown. While in terms of story, Jurassic World doesn't give audiences anything brilliantly new or insightful (just a somewhat muted version of the "man was not meant to tamper with nature" theme of the franchise), nobody was expecting it to. Its purpose is to bring us spectacle and excitement, and it does so to huge success, providing more than enough bang for its buck to make it one of the summer's biggest hits. While it's impossible to fully recreate the effect of seeing Spielberg's original for the first time now for a 2015 audience that has not only seen that film over and over but 22 years worth of CG creature features inspired by it, Trevorrow and company have done as good a job at bringing back that sense of wonder and excitement as could be expected by using the "Remember when we first saw Jurassic Park? That was awesome." There are some silly moments and characterizations, but let's be honest, there always have been in this franchixe, even the first film. And if we can admit that, anyone can.

Jurassic World isn't  great art, it's a popcorn sequel. But it's a darn effective popcorn sequel. For us it was a dazzling and thrilling return to Isla Nublar, and while we aren't likely to re-watch it as frequently as did (and frankly still do) the original, you can bet we'll be going back to the theater to view this multiple times. This is why people go to movies in the summer, and it's likely to leave most fans enraptored  (we apologize,  we needed a word there). If you're a fan, it's great fun. If you're not a fan, why are you even still reading this?

Jurassic World is rated PG-13 for the expected dinosaur mayhem, but the level of violence to both people and dinosaurs does exceed the previous films by a little bit. We took our nephew to see the 3D re-release of the original two years ago but are unsure we'd take him to see this one now.  Take the rating seriously and think twice about bringing anyone under 13.