Jurassic Park (1993)
Starring: Sam Neil, Laura Dern, and Jeff Goldblum.
Plot: 120 miles off the coast of Costa Rica, John Hammond is in the process of creating the world's greatest biological preserve. But instead of lions, tigers, or bears, this park contains living, breathing dinosaurs, brought back from blood found in ancient mosquitoes trapped in amber. However, he needs experts to sign off on the park in order to maintain funding from his investors. This includes two paleontologists and a mathematician, who predicts that the park will go horribly wrong due to a lack of respect for the power they're wielding. When his predictions start to come true, the group must try to survive a park full of dinosaurs on the loose.
Good: This film has a great and diverse cast. Sam Neil plays a great leading man as Dr. Alan Grant, who pulls off the scientist aspect to his character. He also does a great job at showing the evolution of Grant from a child-hating grump to someone who legitimately cares for the kids he helps during the movie. Jeff Goldblum as Dr. Ian Malcolm was an inspired choice, with his charm and charisma turned up to eleven. He can be very entertaining to watch. The rest of the cast does a good job, including Richard Attenborough as the kindly but naive John Hammond, and Bob Peck as the delightfully hammy Robert Muldoon. The music in this film (done by John Williams) is iconic, and one of my all time favorite scores. It can have you on the edge of your seat with suspense, sit in quiet reflection, or cheer with delight with ease. The action is also excellent, from the T. Rex attack in the rain, to the Dilophosaurus sneaking up on Nedry, to the suspenseful Velociraptor hunt in the kitchen. Of course, you can't talk about Jurassic Park without also mentioning its special effects. The practical effects used on the close ups of the dinosaurs are amazing, with may of them looking like there are real dinosaurs on set. Two scenes that show this off the best are the sick Triceratops scene and the Tyrannosaurus escape. The computer generated dinosaurs, even though they have dated a little bit, still looks amazing, even surpassing some modern day CGI creations. This combination of practical and computer effects makes the dinosaurs really come to life. The dinosaurs even sound real, from the ear splitting T.Rex roar to the terrifying Velociraptor raptor scream.
Bad: Although the kid actors in the film play their parts well, their characters feel kind of superfluous to the story most of the time, and can sometimes act pretty annoying. This especially happens to Lex, asking dumb questions and screaming when it's unnecessary. Luckily, this doesn't happen too much in the film, but it makes an impression when it does. Also, while the way the dinosaurs were depicted was pretty close to what science thought of them at the time, they haven't aged that well. We now know that Velociraptors were much smaller (about the size of a turkey) and had feathers, Brachiosaurus couldn't make loud noises, and none of the dinosaurs would've made booming noises when they walked (just look at an elephant walking). However, this is more of a minor nitpick, as the people making the film were trying to portray the dinosaurs as accurately as possible, and science just moved on.
Trivia:
Final Verdict: While it does have some very minor flaws, Jurassic Park is still an amazing movie, and one of my favorite films of all time. It has great action, amazing music, and top notch special effects. This is a must see for anyone who ever wanted to see dinosaurs come to life, or if you just want to appreciate all the hard work that went into it. I highly recommend it.
Next time, we'll once again fight against the Nazis. However, this time, it'll be in a much more serious tone, with Schindler's List.
Good: This film has a great and diverse cast. Sam Neil plays a great leading man as Dr. Alan Grant, who pulls off the scientist aspect to his character. He also does a great job at showing the evolution of Grant from a child-hating grump to someone who legitimately cares for the kids he helps during the movie. Jeff Goldblum as Dr. Ian Malcolm was an inspired choice, with his charm and charisma turned up to eleven. He can be very entertaining to watch. The rest of the cast does a good job, including Richard Attenborough as the kindly but naive John Hammond, and Bob Peck as the delightfully hammy Robert Muldoon. The music in this film (done by John Williams) is iconic, and one of my all time favorite scores. It can have you on the edge of your seat with suspense, sit in quiet reflection, or cheer with delight with ease. The action is also excellent, from the T. Rex attack in the rain, to the Dilophosaurus sneaking up on Nedry, to the suspenseful Velociraptor hunt in the kitchen. Of course, you can't talk about Jurassic Park without also mentioning its special effects. The practical effects used on the close ups of the dinosaurs are amazing, with may of them looking like there are real dinosaurs on set. Two scenes that show this off the best are the sick Triceratops scene and the Tyrannosaurus escape. The computer generated dinosaurs, even though they have dated a little bit, still looks amazing, even surpassing some modern day CGI creations. This combination of practical and computer effects makes the dinosaurs really come to life. The dinosaurs even sound real, from the ear splitting T.Rex roar to the terrifying Velociraptor raptor scream.
Bad: Although the kid actors in the film play their parts well, their characters feel kind of superfluous to the story most of the time, and can sometimes act pretty annoying. This especially happens to Lex, asking dumb questions and screaming when it's unnecessary. Luckily, this doesn't happen too much in the film, but it makes an impression when it does. Also, while the way the dinosaurs were depicted was pretty close to what science thought of them at the time, they haven't aged that well. We now know that Velociraptors were much smaller (about the size of a turkey) and had feathers, Brachiosaurus couldn't make loud noises, and none of the dinosaurs would've made booming noises when they walked (just look at an elephant walking). However, this is more of a minor nitpick, as the people making the film were trying to portray the dinosaurs as accurately as possible, and science just moved on.
Trivia:
- The T. Rex animatronic was not meant to break the glass on the top of the car when it attacked the kids, so it produced genuine screams from the actors.
- The Tyrannosaur's famous roar was a combination of dog, penguin, tiger, alligator, and elephant noises.
- On one of Nedry's computer screens, you can see Jaws playing when he's arguing with Hammond.
- Universal bought the rights to Michael Crichton's novel before it was published.
Final Verdict: While it does have some very minor flaws, Jurassic Park is still an amazing movie, and one of my favorite films of all time. It has great action, amazing music, and top notch special effects. This is a must see for anyone who ever wanted to see dinosaurs come to life, or if you just want to appreciate all the hard work that went into it. I highly recommend it.
Next time, we'll once again fight against the Nazis. However, this time, it'll be in a much more serious tone, with Schindler's List.
Stay Tuned
Great review of one of my favorite movies. The descriptions are very accurate (I especially like how you describe the sometimes-annoying kids!). I love the trivia.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for your feedback! I really enjoy comparing opinions on certain movies.
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