Movie Review: Jurassic Park (1993)
Jurassic Park is a great movie. It’s a triumph of imagination and special effects, and it just might be director Steven Spielberg’s last great blockbuster. I think of it as the last of an era when it comes to blockbuster filmmaking, in fact. It feels like the last of the wave of intelligently made blockbusters that started with Spielberg’s Jaws and of course Star Wars. Not too long after this, Independence Day was released, which I think paved the way for movies like Transformers and The Fast and the Furious.
It’s not a perfect movie. Its human characters are a bit lacking, with the exception of Dr. Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum). None of the performances are bad, but few of the characters are interesting. I like Malcolm, of course, and I also really like the park’s founder, John Hammond (Richard Attenborough). He’s a much more innocent character than he is in the Michael Crichton novel, and he’s presented as a childlike idealist, someone fairly sympathetic even after he’s made so many mistakes.
The dinosaur scenes are of course wonderful, and the highlight of the film. I like how it doesn’t immediately get into action and terror. I mean, technically it does, since the first scene has someone killed by a velociraptor, but then the movie calms down. When everyone arrives at the park and sees the first brachiosaurus, you’re filled with genuine wonder. In 1993, the wonder was mainly because you had never seen something quite like that in terms of visual effects. Today, aside from the technical aspects, the scene still works. Who hasn’t wanted to see a dinosaur virtually their entire life? The scene transports you.
The effect of John Williams’s score cannot be overstated here. So many moments throughout Spielberg’s work seem to work mainly because of him.
Of course, the scenes with the carnivores attacking are tremendously thrilling, but I think it’s that sense of wonder that puts this movie above most films of its kind. Unlike the sequels, this movie isn’t a monster movie. It does such a great job of capturing you imagination.
I’m not going to say a whole lot more. This has been my favorite movie for most of my life (it passed up Jaws when I was probably about seven), and I revisit it frequently.
Rating: 10/10
