The Namesake (2006)

I love the novel The Namesake. And while this movie is very beautiful, I don't think the adaptation does the novel justice. What it lacks is time. The joy of reading Jhumpa Lahiri is inhabiting the lives of her characters. You can't do that in a two hour movie that had to cut out all the character development, some of the most touching scenes from the novel. It doesn't even fully explain the traditional naming process that encounters a hitch when grandma dies. Such a sprawling story makes adaptation difficult. I know you can't expect a perfect 1:1 translation, but I think I loved the novel too much to be satisfied with anything less. Irrfan Khan and Tabu are precisely what I envisioned in my head. Kal Penn not so much, but he may never escape Harold and Kumar.

Jurassic World (2015)

The newest installment in the Jurassic Park series is a lot like the original. It is a solid movie, but lacks originality. It understandably introduces Jurassic Park to a younger generation unfamiliar with the original. But having seen Jurassic Park, this seemed a little too safe. Even the dinosaurs were not very imaginative. The whole premise of the movie is that the dinosaurs are genetically engineered. But they still look like dinosaurs the way we know them. Where's the creativity? I guess the Mosasaurus is kind of cool. The new, terrifying Indominus Rex looked almost indistinguishable from the T Rex to me. Spielberg's dinosaurs were so lifelike to begin with that the advancements in computer technology and special effects did not produce anything that really impressed me. The original animatronics were perhaps even scarier.

That being said, it is still a fun movie, if a little predictable. There is lots of action. I particularly liked the gyrosphere ride, that lets the park attendees roam among the dinosaurs in the safety of a hamster ball. It would make for an enjoyable real ride, and it is really cool. Chris Pratt is a very likable hero  even if just two years ago I would've never picked him for a hero-type. Michael Giacchino does a good job with the score, integrating John Williams's memorable themes into his own original music.