Jurassic Park Movie Review
Stephen Spielberg's fantastic action recipe on how to bring dinosaurs back to life! It is thrilling, contains philosophical messages & looks fantastic to date!
Genre: Action / Adventure / Sci-Fi / Thriller
Director: Steven Spielberg
Cast: Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, Joseph Mazzello, Ariana Richards, Richard Attenborough, Bob Peck, Wayne Knight, Martin Ferrero, BD Wong & Samuel L. Jackson.
Run Time: 127 min.
US Release: 11 June 1993
UK Release: 16 July 1993
German Release: 02 September 1993
Before Jurassic World is released in three weeks, I wanted to review Jurassic Park, The Lost World and Jurassic Park III. I therefore sat down yesterday and re-watched one of my favourite movies of all time. So, relax and enjoy reading my review of Jurassic Park!
Steven Spielberg directed this film in 1993, staring Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum Richard Attenborough and Samuel L. Jackson, among others. An adaption of the book written by Michael Crichton, Spielberg managed to redefine the monster genre which until then was usually a category in the B-movie sector.
— WARNING, THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS! —
The plot revolves around two paleontologists, who get invited to review a new theme park after an accident in the park leads to the death of a worker. It is revealed that the main attraction are genetically engineered dinosaurs, cloned from blood taken from mosquitoes that were fossilised in amber. Of course something goes awry during the test run and the dinosaurs break free.
The script was in fact written by Michael Crichton, the author of the same name novel. The story to this movie is amazing, it takes the science of genetics and cloning, to give the viewers a plausible reason how they came to open up a theme park with dinosaurs as an attraction. While some may argue that the reason is a little iffy, it is still a valid and credible explanation!
Another aspects that I appreciate about this story, is how it takes its time to show the giant reptiles. The movie starts of slow, hinting towards the possible existence of living monsters but it never shows the audience what it is completely, until it shows the very first Brachiosaurus to Dr. Alan Grant, thus creating a connection between the main character and the viewers. That scene managed to pull the rug from underneath my feet when I saw this flick for the first time. Spielberg's intention was to introduce the characters, before revealing the "WOW' factor and throwing our heroes into a survival adventure with dinosaurs.
The nostalgic feeling I personally get when seeing this movie, overwhelms me every time. I remember being seven years old, when my parents bought this film on VHS to watch it with me. The joy and scares I obtained when watching the dinosaurs, was like nothing I felt before. Apart from the well scripted plot and amazing cinematography, it is those memories that makes me love Jurassic Park.
The dialogue in this action-adventure is smart well written. Jeff Goldblum still makes me chuckle when he opens his mouth, and the way he explains the chaos theory to Laura Dern is magnificent. I know that the movie takes some liberties at portraying specific dinosaurs, such as the raptors but Sam Neill stating how some dinosaurs show similarities to birds is scientifically speaking spot-on! This film has some of the best conversations I have ever witnessed in a motion-picture!
Talking about Neill and Goldblum; these two actors are simply amazing! Their characters can’t been more different, yet they have a great chemistry on screen. Dr. Alan Grant is a paleontologist who hates any kind of change happening in his life. He is headstrong, dislikes children and suffers from a light form of technophobia. Dr. Ian Malcolm on the other hand has been divorced several times and is the father of three children. He is a mathematician and chaos-theorists with great charm. Malcolm behaves more like a rockstar than an actual professor and is a great side character. Some of the best comedic dialogues do come from his, yet he can also be very serious; like when he foretells the events that are going to happen.
Laura Dern’s character is equally amazing. She is a smart, beautiful and a strong woman who knows how to kick some butt. Her conversation with John Hammond finally makes him realise the mistake he has made, by playing with forces no one really understands. Richard Attenborough is fantastic as John Hammond, the founder of the park and Samuel L. Jackson, although having just a short screen time is also good.
More great characters include the two siblings Tim and Lex Murphy (Joseph Mazello and Ariana Richards). Though Tim is probably the better of the two characters, as Lex ends up being the reason why the group does get in danger, during the first T-Rex encounter. Both ultimately serve a purpose in the story, however, Alex uncontrolled emotions of panic, can get annoying at times. Interesting enough, both aren't those stupid children that are portrayed so often in films, being fantastic child actors in their time and giving a grand performance in this Spielberg production.
Spielberg simply knows how to wield a camera! This movie is filled with great panoramic shots that gives the audience an idea of how big some dinosaurs are. It also contains solid adrenalin pumping scenes, like when the T-Rex chases after the Jeep. That segment always gets me sitting on the edge of my couch. Another great shot used, is during Laura Dern's escape from the maintenance shed. Spielberg followes her by filming from the ground up, intensifying the emotion of terror. Since this movie is already 22 years old, some green screen effects can be clearly identified. Still, a large portion of those scenes still look good. In fact, they look better than some computer imagery used today. The best part of this movie, however, are the animatronic robots, that lend the dinosaurs their real looks!
Finally, John Williams' musical masterpiece gives the whole film a feeling of awe, and really sold the action sequences with the energetic trumpets blowing in the background. The score is one of my favourites and added so much to the movie's intensity and dream-like world!
Verdict: Jurassic Park is a movie that had a great impact in my life. It contains an amazing script, great performances by Jeff Goldblum, Sam Neill, and Richard Attenborough, and the cinematography is off this world. The effects that were used back then, still hold up and look amazing today. This is one of the greatest movies in cinema history and therefore deserves a perfect 10 out of 10.
I hope you enjoyed my review and if you want, leave you opinion about Jurassic Park in the comment section. My review for the Lost World will be up on Wednesday next week.