Rating: 5/5
Classification: M
Year of release: 1993
Run-time: 2 hours 7 minutes
Director: Steven Spielberg
Cast: Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, Richard Attenborough
Genre: Adventure, Sci-Fi, Thriller
This review contains SPOILERS
Jurassic Park is based on the novel by Michael Crichton of the same name about a theme park with the same name as the title where scientists have created full sized living dinosaurs from prehistoric DNA. As the park is complete and ready to be open for the public the founder of the park billionaire John Hammond (Richard Attenborough) asks Palaeontologists Dr. Alan Grant (Sam Neill) and Dr. Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern), mathematician Dr. Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) and lawyer Donald Gennaro (Martin Ferrero) to accompany John on a preview tour of the park after John has heard many safety concerns about the park.
Those who have seen this movie and are fans of Jurassic Park probably already know how ground-breaking and monumental this movie is, Jurassic Park is simply a one of a kind big screen blockbuster that has its legacy well and truly cemented in moviegoers memories for eternity. 25 years after its release the special effects are just as jaw dropping as they were 25 years ago, Jurassic Park has special effects that are the envy of just about any other dinosaur movie, never before had audiences seen dinosaurs in such a gigantic and realistic sight at least in a movie. But the characters in this movie also relate to seeing living and breathing dinosaurs for the first time as if they were never extinct.
One of the movie’s pivotal scenes when Alan Grant and Ellie Sattler walk with John Hammond to see the brachiosaurus for the first time, not only are the special effects amazing but every actor in this scene perfectly reacts in awe and joy of seeing dinosaurs and even after seeing this movie countless times this scene still gives me chills to this day, John Williams’ score is the icing on the cake. The moral issues of bringing dinosaurs back to life after being extinct for millions of years are also addressed very well in this movie, the line Ian Malcolm says about how the scientists spent “Time wondering if they could that they did not stop to think if they should.” This is a line that perfectly signifies why there would be sceptics and safety concerns about doing something as huge as making dinosaurs exist once more.
As everyone who has seen this movie knows the park has a major power shutdown and the dinosaurs break out of captivity and roam free around the Island. The tonal shift transitions perfectly from the human characters being overwhelmed in amazement, awe and joy of seeing the dinosaurs to being afraid of them and fighting for survival. Both sides of these tonal shifts make for classic scenes in every sense of the word, because not only seeing dinosaurs for the first time and seeing how the park functions and getting to know the human characters is very interesting. After the dinosaurs break out of captivity the movie has its fair share of thrilling chase scenes and edge of your seat showdowns between the humans and dinosaurs makes for outstanding big screen entertainment. Jurassic Park was the perfect movie to bring dinosaurs to the big screen and easily earns its place among director Steven Spielberg’s tent-pole movies. With thrilling chase scenes, an amazing score from John Williams and some of the best special effects ever put to film, Jurassic Park is well and truly a film that a vast majority of film buffs will have fond memories about. The fact that Steven Spielberg made both Jurassic Park and Schindler’s List in the same year just speaks volumes of what an amazing director he is.