Jurassic Park (1993)
“If there’s one thing the history of evolution has taught us, it’s that life will not be contained. Life breaks free, it expands to new territories, and crashes through barriers painfully, maybe even dangerously, but, uh, well, there it is.” – Dr Ian Malcolm
Jurassic Park (1993)
Directed by: Steven Spielberg
Written by: Michael Crichton, David Koepp
Starring: Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, Richard Attenborough
Quite simply, one of the best movies ever made. This probably gives you some indication of what this review is going to be like, but I honestly can’t find any flaws with J-Park.
Based on the novel of the same name by Michael Crichton, Jurassic Park follows three dinosaur experts, Dr Ian Grant (Neill), Dr Ellie Sadler (Dern), and Dr Ian Malcolm (Goldblum), who are invited by Dr Hammond (Attenborough – fun fact: David Attenborough’s brother!) to inspect his new theme park, Jurassic Park. As the name suggests, Dr Hammond has discovered how to genetically clone dinosaurs and package them into a modern day zoo. However, when a storm hits the island and they lose power, the dinosaurs break out of their enclosures and the small team have to try and survive.
It’s hard to state how huge this movie was when it came out 27 years ago, so here’s some context: It had Spielberg at the helm, coming off a decade of Jaws, E.T., and the Indiana Jones franchise, and who also directed Schindler’s List in 1993. It was the highest-grossing movie ever at the time (until Titanic came along in 1997 to knock it off), and also won three Academy Awards for sound mixing and special effects. So…it was huge. This movie was such a phenomenon it spawned a franchise with four commercially successful sequels (a fifth coming in 2022) with over $5 billion USD in worldwide box office revenue. And 27 year later, no one bothers to compete with the franchise because their movies are so good - they have the monopoly on dinosaur movies, with the competition now extinct.
So what made this film such a big hit? And why do audiences keep coming back? In one word, dinosaurs. It seems like everyone can remember a time when they played with little dinosaur toys or learnt their scientific names. I, for one, remember going through a phase of wanting to be a palaeontologist. This movie not only taps into this nostalgia from our childhood, the dinosaur special effects and models are so realistic it makes the ridiculousness of the plot seem almost plausible. The dinosaurs are the stars of this movie, and Spielberg doesn’t let you forget it. With a combination of animatronics and computer generated imagery, all the dinosaurs look real, authentic - lifelike even. Three decades later, when nearly every comic-book movie is flooded with CGI, the effects still hold up – which is a testament to how ageless this film is. This, combined with amazing sound editing and an ominous score, and Spielberg had created a fearsome villain to compete with his shark from Jaws, and with it, a successful blueprint for the franchise. The audience came along for the adrenaline-filled thrill ride, and stayed to be a ‘part of the action’ with the main characters.
Which brings me to the cast, and the script, and everything else. As with any ‘monster’ movie, the script isn’t particularly nuanced, and you aren’t going to get much depth to the characters. However, Crichton ensures that within about ten minutes you learn everything you need to – Hammond is in over his head, Grant hates children but loves dinosaurs, Ellie loves Grant, children and dinosaurs, and Malcolm is a sleazy yet lovable lothario. All the supporting characters are stereotypes – an overweight IT man, a “blood sucking lawyer”, a manly head of security, and the innocent yet annoying grandchildren – but this simplicity helps the film. There’s so much stuff going on that adding depth to these characters would be distracting. And the cast play their roles perfectly, with flawless performances by the main four (special shoutout to Goldblum for just being himself for 128 mins), and some amazing cameos by Samuel L Jackson, Wayne Knight, Bob Peck and the two kids (Ariana Richards and Joseph Mazzello). The score by John Williams (arguably the greatest composer of all time - Star Wars, Jaws, Home Alone, Superman, Indiana Jones, Harry Potter) is iconic and adds to the mystique/thrill of the dinosaurs.
And finally, the set-pieces are outrageously good. There are so many rewatchable scenes in this movie it’s ridiculous. From the initial arrival on the island, to the T-Rex encounter, to the kitchen scene, to the final confrontation, Spielberg does everything he can to put you in the scene. That is, you’ll be asking “how would I get out of this situation?” so many times in this movie that it becomes almost like a Goosebumps book. You want to choose your own adventure because you want to be at the park making decisions with the characters. Being able to leverage the viewer in this way is what makes Jurrasic Park such a blockbuster, and is why I love this franchise.
Check it out, check out the sequels, and tell me you wouldn’t go to Jurassic Park in real life.
Rating: 9.5/10
Some additional fun facts/movie trivia I found:
The following actors were considered for these roles:
- Dr Alan Grant: William Hurt and Harrison Ford
- Dr Ian Malcolm: Jim Carrey (what???)
- Dr Ellie Sadler: Robin Wright