OFF: GODZILLA REVIEW

[Matthew Braun]

When I wrote:
>>While this had plot holes you could drive a truck through, I'll take them
>>over the colossally stupid characters with which Spielberg populated both
>>of his dino movies.

Jean Lansford <lansford at VNET.NET> asked:
>You mean Crichton, don't you?  I wasn't particularly impressed with
>the original book versions of the characters.
While I haven't read the book, you're the first person I've heard say the
book characters were lame.  I'd heard the book ones were reasonable, and
the movie ones (in comparison) dolts.

and "Andrew A. Apold" <mordru at GEKKO.NET> said:
>Except those weren't Spielberg characters, they were Chrichton characters.
>And in the original book they were interesting, reasonable individuals.
Granted.  And it is for exactly that reason that I said what I said.
If they are interesting in the book but not in the movie, are they the same
characters? Crichton (book author) put interesting people in the book.  If
Spielberg (movie author--though not screenwriter) didn't put those dull
people in the script, he made them dull with the film.

Obviously, I can't definitively say who is responsibile for the changes,
but I tend to place the ball of blame in Mr. Spielberg's court, because a)
he was the director, and would've had Crichton make changes if he wasn't
happy with the script, and b) because the movie contained certain
Spielbergesque hallmarks (including the emphasis on Family Values(tm) that
the plot also (apparently) acquired).  The director is ultimately respons-
ible for the content of a film, at least as much as the screenwriter.
(Unless the studio insists on changes, or if (s)he's assigned to a movie
(s)he doesn't really want to do--that's another case.  It doesn't apply
here anyway.)  Spielberg wanted to do this movie, so I give him the
raspberries.

>I guess it's hard to seperate some of the two, while they didn't live up to
>what the book JP (which I enjoyed) had them as, it's like a reference to a
>character you know there is more to.
A lot of people have told me that the book is considerably better than the
movie.  I haven't read the book, and IMHO, the film didn't really intimate
that there WAS more to the characters than what was shown, and so I deem
them dopey. :-)

                                        m@