140 Character Movie Review – #140RVW
Near perfect example of an event movie; Spielberg isn’t the only one capable of delivering one of these, but it sometimes feels that way…
Spoiler-free Movie Review of Jurassic Park:
It would be difficult to overstate how huge this film was in the summer of 1993. Jurassic Park nicely illustrates the definition of event movie. When the film was released in the summer of 1993 it was the first time I remember standing in a massive line for a movie since Return of the Jedi. It was the first time since Batman that people insisted on going to a good theater with a big screen to see the picture.
The book is splendid and more rewarding certainly, but the film stands on its own legs quite well and even adds some touches that improve the story, particularly the characterizations of Hammond and the grandkids. For all of his considerable talents with “big ideas” plots and storytelling, character development was never Michael Crichton’s long suit. When your stories are this good, that’s not as much of a deal-killer as it normally would be…
I think I was the only person in my family who didn’t read the novel before seeing Jurassic Park. The book came out in November of 1990, at which point I was a senior in high school and likely focused on my own crap. Besides, my dad and my sister are the scientists in the family; they actually read the books that these things are based on (and which I only try to read). I’m more like my mother – I want a good story. I tried several times to get through James Gleick’s Chaos and all of the Jack Horner, Robert Bakker and Steven Jay Gould books in order to better understand the science involved, but the lack of narrative in which to frame the concepts involved always loses my interest. One of the reasons I like Crichton’s writing so much, I suppose; he had a true gift for researching dry medical, scientific or business concepts and then weaving a tale from them.
The idea for the book was so ridiculously attractive, it’s small wonder that Crichton was able to demand a huge chunk of change and points before the novel even saw release. Steven Spielberg had the inside track, since he was already developing the tv series ER with Crichton, and it’s probably for the best that he got the rights. There’s something about “dinosaur theme park” that makes you involuntarily think Spielberg. But the other teams involved included Tim Burton, Joe Dante and Richard Donner, all of whom would have been capable of great things.
The novel really is excellent. Usual Crichton blend of detailed subject matter infused with thriller-type storyline. One thing the book conveys so much better than a film is capable of is the business concepts behind this venture. Both in Jurassic Park and in the sequel novel The Lost World, the story provides a credibility to the whole dinosaur experiment. What seems like a summer-movie conceit in the films is actually more than plausible as laid out in the books. This isn’t “hey what if we had these alien robots that could turn into cars” thrill-seeking; these are serious issues scientists, venture capitalists and ethicists are dealing with right now. Far from being science fiction, Jurassic Park possesses the Jules Vernian trait of being more like premature science fact.
David Koepp reworked Crichton’s adapted screenplay into something fit for the screen, even if it did drop some of the depth in translation. The dialogue is hugely quotable, smart and funny, and the film showcases a masterful delivery of exposition; Spielberg is somewhat known for this, but I don’t think he gets enough credit. His pictures deal in big concepts to a very broad audience with a populist approach, yet a whole lot of information gets imparted in a quickly paced and usually relatively brief amount of time. At 127 minutes, Jurassic Park is a fast-moving tale that never outstays it’s welcome.
Good actors, though not given a ton to work with. First acting appearance by Richard Attenborough in years. Jeff Goldblum as Ian Malcolm, the rock star, chaotician – it’s a great film role, but the characterization makes a lot more sense if you’ve read the book. The lunch scene in the first act is the best in the film – really captures spirit of the book’s lessons and the thrust of the ethical dilemma facing scientists. And again, great delivery of exposition.
I don’t want to focus too much on the visuals, for while they are of course the main draw, it’s a mistake to think of this solely as an FX picture. The film is absolutely a master class of filmmaking legends showing their stuff. There’s a good mix of CG, miniatures and full-size animatronic models. The sound design is breathtaking, quite literally, and it’s delivered perfectly since Spielberg invested in the creation of the film sound standard DTS for the picture. The credits for Jurassic Park read like a VFX Hall of Fame roster: Dennis Muren, Stan Winston, Phil Tippett and Michael Lantieri; Gary Summers, Gary Rydstrom, Shawn Murphy, Ron Judkins and Richard Hymns. And of course who could forget the score from maestro John Williams…
Jurassic Park truly is an amazing picture. Spielberg is just so good at building suspense; movie is so suspenseful that you don’t even realize that there’s only about 20 minutes of actual dinosaur footage in the whole thing. From the fantastic opening on, you really know you are in good hands. Spielberg is really flexing his muscles here with the adventure/suspense ratio. They make great decisions, like forgoing music in the T-Rex set-piece scene; that’s a gutsy move only made by experienced filmmakers who have honed their craft to an art form.
The film could really have stopped after the 1st scene with the dinosaurs twenty minutes in, such is the power of that reveal. Even though CG has developed so much in the past few decades, these effects still stand up amazingly well, communicating the sense of awe at being alongside these creatures. That is the real triumph of Jurassic Park – not the visuals themselves but the masterful way in which the FX enable the storytelling.
Poster:
Trailer:
Bechdel Test:
Pass, barely
The Representation Test Score: C (5 pts)
(http://therepresentationproject.org/grading-hollywood-the-representation-test/)
| Main Cast | Sam Neill Dr. Alan Grant, Laura Dern Dr. Ellie Sattler, Jeff Goldblum Dr. Ian Malcolm, Richard Attenborough John Hammond |
| Rating | PG-13 |
| Release Date | Fri 11 Jun 1993 UTC |
| Director | Steven Spielberg |
| Genres | Adventure, Sci-Fi, Thriller |
| Plot | During a preview tour, a theme park suffers a major power breakdown that allows its cloned dinosaur exhibits to run amok. |
| Poster |  |
| Runtime | 127 |
| Tagline | Life finds a way. |
| Writers | Michael Crichton (novel), Michael Crichton (screenplay) … |
| Year | 1993 |
