"Life finds a way… to let us enjoy dinos in theaters"
Filthy rich millionaire John Hammond (Richard Attenborough) is about to open a dinosaur theme park. He invites a couple of experts to satisfy his investors. During a preview tour things go awfully wrong.
While ‘Jurassic Park’ is too simplistic to be a perfect movie it is blockbuster cinema at its very best. Spielberg grabs you by the throat from the get go and you instantly know you’re in for quite a ride.
The story is simple but effective. Author Michael Crichton did his very best to make the cloning dinosaurs part plausible. When you have living giant meat-eaters in your amusement park it’s not hard to come up with something which causes things to go south so fast before you can say T-rex.
The movie works because it doesn’t take itself too seriously. The characters are somewhat underdeveloped but their main purpose is to serve as dino treats. The Ian Malcolm character (Jeff Goldblum) is of little use but he’s funny. Grumpy Dr. Grant (Sam Neill) is the perfect counterpart. You can’t help but root for these characters.
What makes the movie stand out are the ground-breaking special effects. Even to this day it’s remarkable what ILM and Stan Winston’s crew achieved. Although a 'Jaws' approach would have perhaps worked better (Love the shot of the T-rex’ leg in the mud) the dinos look so realistic.
What ‘Jurassic Park’ does have in common with 'Jaws' is John Williams’ score. Although not as ominous and iconic as 'Jaws', Williams went for wonderment this time around. Perhaps not regarded as his most famous work it’s amazing. When the experts travel to the island Williams’ score does indeed give you a sense of wonderment. The scene where the visitors first lay eyes on the dinosaurs is movie magic.
Rereleased for its 25th anniversary it’s safe to say we rarely have had more fun in the cinema than while watching 'Jurassic Park'.
This is my idea of a perfect movie. I mean, it's not perfect, perfect, but it's pretty close. To start off the score is just amazing and iconic and really drives the awe of this film. And these characters are developed so quickly but are also so good. All of the actors give fantastic performances. Sam Neill, Jeff Goldblum, Laura Dern, and Richard Attenborough give classic performances and even the supporting actors like Wayne Knight, Samuel L. Jackson, and especially Bob Peck as Muldoon. What really struck me this time I watched it was how the action really doesn't even start until halfway through the movie, and then from there the action is nonstop.
I think that since it was paced like this, it allows us to get attached to the characters which makes the action so much more impactful and suspenseful. And even with that first hour that is primarily dialogue, it's still so engaging since the script is tightly written, it has some compelling conversations on the control that humans have, is well shot, and has some humor that feels natural in the dialogue and is in character. The humor is never forced in situations that are tense unless it's expected form that character, like Ian Malcolm.
And then that second half... my God, it's so good. This isn't an action movie to me, it's a suspenseful thriller. There's no humans fighting dinosaurs, exploding cars and planes, and the action is used relatively sparingly. The CGI is also used sparingly and only when it is needed. Both the practical effects and CGI look great still. Speilberg really crafted amazing characters, tense scenes like with the Tyrannosaurus breakout and the Raptors in the kitchen, and iconic shots. This was my favorite movie as a kid because of the cool-looking dinosaurs, and is still one of my favorites because of it's insanely great characters and suspenseful scenes.
