Hollywood Special Effects Stunned Me

I as a junior artist started my visit to America on December 5th, 2007. Of all the cities I visited, Hollywood gave me the greatest fun and deepest impression.

December 12th was the day we visited Hollywood. From afar, Beverly Hills loomed large with the Hollywood sign. Seeing the familiar hills that I had seen in movies many a time, I knew we were approaching the world of movies. In less than 20 minutes, we arrived at the Universal Studios Hollywood. My excitement knew no bounds. How could I not have been excited? World-class thrillers are produced here. I had dreamed of visiting Hollywood and now here was Hollywood, real and spreading in front of me.

The sign of Hollywood in golden color shone brightly on the spinning earth in the fountain at the entrance.The first attraction was a statue of a filming crew at work. Near the statues were some boutiques where things about spider-man and mummies were on sale. Checking a map, I saw that many sites were scattered across the park.

I boarded a sightseeing bus and the studio tour started. A guide spoke in English.I did not understand a word, but I enjoyed the sights. Suddenly the bus stopped. I looked around and found some lonely houses in dilapidated conditions beside a valley. Then it began to rain. Pretty soon the drizzle turned into a downpour. After a deafening thunderclap, a flood suddenly roared out of the valley toward us. It nearly overwhelmed the bus. Some of us screamed. But soon we sighed in relief, realizing that all the noises and dangers were Hollywood special effects. Pretty soon we entered a cave. I heard the loud siren of a police car. Before I could make sense of the noise, a helicopter dropped out of the sky and crashed onto a power pole nearby. The tail of the helicopter burst into flames and a few police cars were smashed. Televisions sets nearby all broke the latest news of a terrorist attack. I was terribly frightened, thinking I was trapped in a terror assault. Suddenly a giant ape appeared out of nowhere and pulled our bus toward it with one hand and tried to smash us with the other hand. But fortunately our bus raced out of the cave into safety. Before I could breathe safely, I spotted white smoke rising up and pretty soon we saw an airplane wreck. The plane was broken into several sections, shoes, walking canes and diapers scattered everywhere and the plane emitted strange noises. The whole scene looked horrifying. Then we learned that it was another set. The plane was bought for 30,000 dollars but several millions more were spent on the setup of this accident scene.

Another big excitement was the Jurassic Park. The entrance was flanked by towering primitive trees. After we were safely fastened in our seats in a boat, we set off into the ancient times. The park clerks there clapped their hands to see us off, some shouting humorously: “Here go the people who fear no death!” We entered a chillingly quiet world. I could hear the waters of the river, sensing that danger was lurking somewhere. When we approached a foggy place, we saw the towering trees again. And dinosaurs appeared. Suddenly, a gigantic tyrannosaur roared and appeared above our heads. It opened its blood-stained jaws and tried to snatch us into its mouth. Before I could respond, the boat suddenly dropped. We escaped the muscular jaws. All the persons in the boat screamed in horror. Again, we safely arrived at the other shore and left the horror of dinosaurs behind.

After the dinosaurs, Father and I went to see the Hollywood Walk of Fame starting at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre. The theater did not look very Chinese in my eyes and I learned that the architect had never visited China. It is said that the walk of fame has more than 2,300 stars and that Jack Lee is the only Chinese star honored here. Shops along the avenue sold souvenirs and movie toys such as imitation Oscar statues and movie characters. I ran into actors dressed as movie characters in the avenue such as the superman and the spider-man. Tourists posed with them for photos and they paid 2 dollar tip for each photo.

The one-week American tour soon came to an end. I was deeply impressed. Hollywood and Los Angeles are my favorite. I will be back, USA.

Note: Wu Yue is a grandson of Wu Zixiong, a glass-engraving master based in Taizhou, Zhejiang Province. The 11-year-old Wu Yue is the youngest glass artist in China. He began to study the family art in 2004 under the guidance of his grandfather and father. He can now create art glass now. Wu Yue has performed his glass-carving arts in Japan, Korea, Canada and USA.