Jurassic Park (A+)
THIS IS ONE OF THE TEN BEST SCI-FI FILMS!
STARS...
Sam Neill, Laura Dern,
Jeff Goldblum, Wayne Knight, Richard Attenborough, Samuel
L. Jackson, and Martin Ferrero.
PLOT SUMMARY...
Live dinosaurs go on the rampage at an amusement park.
QUICK SCAN...
This film brings to mind, "Westworld". Jeff Goldblum
is impressive, in a flashy turn, as a genius, math wiz. By contrast,
Sam Neill (The Piano) offers a nice, low key performance as a good
guy paleontologist. The film's dinosaur FX, combining miniatures,
computer animation, and full size mechanical monsters, are incredible.
DIRECTOR: Steven Spielberg
YEAR & RATING: 1993 (PG-13)
BEST BETS:
A paleontologist and a paleobotanist are hard at work on a dig. They are contacted, concerning a pre-opening tour of Jurassic Park.
They arrive at the island thatJurassic Park was built on. So do a famed mathematician, a lawyer, and the builder/owner's grandchildren. When the power goes out during a tour, the adults and kids are threatened by dinosaurs. Some are injured. Some are eaten.
The owner's granddaughter gets the computers and power back one line, just in time. The survivors and the owner exit Jurassic Park.
Review:
Director Steven Spielberg's, JURASSIC PARK, in one of the all time
great Sci-Fi adventure flicks.
A paleontologist and and his female associate are on a dig uncovering
dinosaur fossils. They are invited to join an entrepreneur at his
special island amusement park.
At Jurassic Park the scientists, as well as a mathematician and the
owner's grandchildren, begin a tour of the park. The paleontologist
is amazed to see living, breathing dinosaurs.
Some elements in JURASSIC PARK seem similar to "The Lost World"
(1960), "Aliens" and of course, "Westworld" and
"Futureworld". And some scenes contain specific allusions
to other Spielberg movies. A scene where Laura Dern sifts through
a huge mound of triceratops dung, brings to mind the famous scene,
in "Close Encounters of the Third Kind," where Dreyfuss
builds a large, turd-like mound of clay.
Sam Neill ("Dead Calm") as a top flight paleontologist,
offers a nice, low key performance. It provides a great contrast to
Jeff Goldblum's flashy and neurotic "super star" math wiz.
Laura Dern ("Rambling Rose") as a young paleobotanist and
Neil's squeeze, is smart, pretty, and not afraid of getting dirty
in the line of work. She also looks good in shorts, which doesn't
hurt.
Sir Richard Attenborough ("Great Escape", "Miracle
on 34th Street") as John Hammond, the force behind JURASSIC PARK,
gives a broad, bordering on hammy, performance. It's a fine job, but
it's fun to think what the late Charles Laughton ("Island of
Lost Souls" 1933), or the late Burt Lancaster ("Island of
Dr. Moreau" 1977), might have done with the role.
The incredibly realistic dinosaurs were created with a mixture of
full size mechanical dinosaurs, miniatures, computer animation, and
even some guys in dinosaur suits. Stan Winston ("Terminator 2"),
created the full size robotic dinosaurs, as well as the models. Dennis
Muren headed the Industrial Light & Magic computer animation team.
While some have claimed that ALL the dinosaurs in JURASSIC PARK were
computer generated, this is simply not the case.
An animated short, early in the film, explains to our heros, as well
as the viewer, the process by which the dinosaurs were cloned. It's
fun, peppy, and a great, non-boring way to convey necessary story
exposition.
The John Williams score is particularly good. The blend of brass,
string section, and piano makes the main theme particularly warm,
almost nostalgic.
JURASSIC PARK should be highly watchable for most Sci-Fi fans. Children
under ten, the easily frightened, and those who don't dig dinosaurs
are well advised to steer clear of this film. JURASSIC PARK is a first
class Sci-Fi fright tour.