When I think of truly iconic films, as in those films that everybody knows immediately just by looking at a still, or just by hearing a snippet of audio, or maybe in a few notes of the soundtrack, Jurassic Park is without a doubt one of those films. Almost thirty years ago Steven Spielberg adapted Michael Chrichton’s best-selling novel into a silver screen epic that many considered to be impossible. A pioneer of CGI in blockbuster films, Jurassic Park is beloved by all who have seen it and has spawned a number of sequels to appeal to dino-fans the world over. With the franchises sixth film, Jurassic World: Dominion, releasing soon, I decided to take a look back at the whole series. So, join me on an adventure sixty-five million years in the making as we venture into Jurassic Park.
Following an accident involving a staff member at his newly completed theme park, John Hammond (Richard Attenborough) enlists the aid of palaeontologist Dr. Alan Grant (Sam Neil), palaeobotanist Dr. Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern), and mathematician Dr. Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) to certify the safety of Jurassic Park to Donald Gerrano (Martin Ferrero), a lawyer representing the parks investors, as well as inviting his grandchildren Tim & Lex (Joseph Mazzello & Ariana Richards) along to verify the appeal of the park on a child demographic.
Upon arrival the team of doctors are stunned by what Hammond has achieved, resurrecting once extinct dinosaurs using advanced DNA modification.
However, disgruntled computer programmer Denis Nedry (Wayne Knight) has involved himself in a spot of corporate espionage to earn some extra money from one of Hammonds competitors. In his attempt to steal a number of dinosaur embryos he deactivates the park security systems, in turn releasing a number of the parks deadly attractions from their cages. Separated and hunted by the dinosaurs, the doctors and Hammond must work with Chief Engineer, Ray Arnold (Samuel L. Jackson), and Game Warden, Robert Muldoon (Bob Peck), to restore power to the park and call for evacuation.
Following an accident involving a staff member at his newly completed theme park, John Hammond (Richard Attenborough) enlists the aid of palaeontologist Dr. Alan Grant (Sam Neil), palaeobotanist Dr. Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern), and mathematician Dr. Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) to certify the safety of Jurassic Park to Donald Gerrano (Martin Ferrero), a lawyer representing the parks investors, as well as inviting his grandchildren Tim & Lex (Joseph Mazzello & Ariana Richards) along to verify the appeal of the park on a child demographic.
Upon arrival the team of doctors are stunned by what Hammond has achieved, resurrecting once extinct dinosaurs using advanced DNA modification.
However, disgruntled computer programmer Denis Nedry (Wayne Knight) has involved himself in a spot of corporate espionage to earn some extra money from one of Hammonds competitors. In his attempt to steal a number of dinosaur embryos he deactivates the park security systems, in turn releasing a number of the parks deadly attractions from their cages. Separated and hunted by the dinosaurs, the doctors and Hammond must work with Chief Engineer, Ray Arnold (Samuel L. Jackson), and Game Warden, Robert Muldoon (Bob Peck), to restore power to the park and call for evacuation.
There’s little I can say about Jurassic Park that hasn’t already been said before, but it is an indisputable classic and without a doubt one of the greatest films ever made. Even after all these years the magic of the whole thing never weakens, and the amazing CGI and sound design is still incredible to witness.
So, let’s start with the special effects, seeing as they are such a huge part of the film. With the aid of Lucasfilm’s special effects division, Industrial Light and Magic, Spielberg used a combination of animatronic figures and CGI to bring the dinosaurs to life in jaw dropping detail. I remember watching this film as a kid and being blown away by how real the dinosaurs looked. Now obviously no CGI is going to look amazing after thirty years, but it still surprises me just how ahead of its time Jurassic Park was, with much of its CGI having held up significantly better than films that released even a decade later. The first time you’re shown a dinosaur it is enough to genuinely make you stop and go ‘wow’, and whilst now with the aid of High Definition displays you can definitely see some flat textures and the model lighting doesn’t quite match the rest of the scene to make the dinosaurs stand out as obviously fake, but it’s not crude like much of the CGI work of the 90’s and early 00’s. I expect going back to a VHS copy of the film with the grain and a generally lower quality picture, I can imagine these CGI dinosaurs still look reasonably good.
As for the animatronics, they still look amazing. The level of detail that has gone into these models is incredible, and they do often move in an incredibly lifelike manner. They don’t look stiff or repeat a set number of movements over and over again, they react to the scene perfectly and are always framed in a way that makes them look very lifelike.
A lot of what sells the illusion is the fantastic performances by everyone involved. There weren’t an awful lot of films that had used digital effects to this scale in the early 90’s, so to have actors respond so naturally to things that aren’t there when it’s likely they would never have done so before is crazy. This applies to Sam Neill and Laura Dern in particular as they have the most screentime with dinosaurs in the entire film but also the most believable performances around them. Arguably the weakest interactions with the dinosaurs come from the child actors, Mazzello & Richards, but even then, they’re still pretty good (I only counted one instance where Mazzello was looking in a different location to where the dinosaur was), especially with the likes of the Velociraptor kitchen sequence near the end of the film.
None of the actors in this film are bad though, like there’s definitely standout performers like Neill & Dern but everyone brings their best and it makes it so easy to make this world real.
So, let’s start with the special effects, seeing as they are such a huge part of the film. With the aid of Lucasfilm’s special effects division, Industrial Light and Magic, Spielberg used a combination of animatronic figures and CGI to bring the dinosaurs to life in jaw dropping detail. I remember watching this film as a kid and being blown away by how real the dinosaurs looked. Now obviously no CGI is going to look amazing after thirty years, but it still surprises me just how ahead of its time Jurassic Park was, with much of its CGI having held up significantly better than films that released even a decade later. The first time you’re shown a dinosaur it is enough to genuinely make you stop and go ‘wow’, and whilst now with the aid of High Definition displays you can definitely see some flat textures and the model lighting doesn’t quite match the rest of the scene to make the dinosaurs stand out as obviously fake, but it’s not crude like much of the CGI work of the 90’s and early 00’s. I expect going back to a VHS copy of the film with the grain and a generally lower quality picture, I can imagine these CGI dinosaurs still look reasonably good.
As for the animatronics, they still look amazing. The level of detail that has gone into these models is incredible, and they do often move in an incredibly lifelike manner. They don’t look stiff or repeat a set number of movements over and over again, they react to the scene perfectly and are always framed in a way that makes them look very lifelike.
A lot of what sells the illusion is the fantastic performances by everyone involved. There weren’t an awful lot of films that had used digital effects to this scale in the early 90’s, so to have actors respond so naturally to things that aren’t there when it’s likely they would never have done so before is crazy. This applies to Sam Neill and Laura Dern in particular as they have the most screentime with dinosaurs in the entire film but also the most believable performances around them. Arguably the weakest interactions with the dinosaurs come from the child actors, Mazzello & Richards, but even then, they’re still pretty good (I only counted one instance where Mazzello was looking in a different location to where the dinosaur was), especially with the likes of the Velociraptor kitchen sequence near the end of the film.
None of the actors in this film are bad though, like there’s definitely standout performers like Neill & Dern but everyone brings their best and it makes it so easy to make this world real.
A major aspect of what goes into making the film so incredible is John Williams’ incredible score. Not only is the Jurassic Park theme tune one of the most iconic pieces of film music of all time, but it’s just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to what the rest of the film has to offer. Jurassic Park sounds simply incredible, and part of that may come from Spielberg’s hand in the creation of Digital Theatre Systems (DTS) whilst directing Jurassic Park. DTS was the first major competitor to Dolby when it came to sound design in films and now is used as a benchmark for pretty much everything. Whilst that certainly gives Williams’ score some real depth, it also gives so much life to the sound effects with dino roars and screeches having some real power behind them unlike any monster movie before it.
It’s been over a decade since I last watched Jurassic Park and I entirely forgot about how much of the setup of the film is about corporations and that the entire dinosaurs getting loose is because of one employee’s greed. I was surprised that it took an entire hour for the dinosaurs to actually become a threat, and I was shocked to realise just how terrifying the entire experience is.
As a child I remember loving the film because dinosaurs, but I don’t think it ever clicked in my head how scary the film can be. Obviously, monster movies are nothing new but even in comparison to the comparatively more destructive and high-octane Jurassic World films, Jurassic Park manages to come out on top in terms of sheer terror because of the reliance on animatronic dinosaurs in the claustrophobic environments. Something that even its immediate successors lost sight of I feel.
Jurassic Park is one of those films that everyone must watch at least once in their lives. It’s completely captivating, and even all these years later just as magical as it was in the 90’s. The whole film is practically flawless and stands as one of Spielberg’s greatest cinematic achievements. It’s a fun adventure film for the whole family, but it’s also not afraid to show some teeth without ever really displaying on-screen violence. A masterclass in cinematic genius, Jurassic Park truly is one of the greatest films ever made.
It’s been over a decade since I last watched Jurassic Park and I entirely forgot about how much of the setup of the film is about corporations and that the entire dinosaurs getting loose is because of one employee’s greed. I was surprised that it took an entire hour for the dinosaurs to actually become a threat, and I was shocked to realise just how terrifying the entire experience is.
As a child I remember loving the film because dinosaurs, but I don’t think it ever clicked in my head how scary the film can be. Obviously, monster movies are nothing new but even in comparison to the comparatively more destructive and high-octane Jurassic World films, Jurassic Park manages to come out on top in terms of sheer terror because of the reliance on animatronic dinosaurs in the claustrophobic environments. Something that even its immediate successors lost sight of I feel.
Jurassic Park is one of those films that everyone must watch at least once in their lives. It’s completely captivating, and even all these years later just as magical as it was in the 90’s. The whole film is practically flawless and stands as one of Spielberg’s greatest cinematic achievements. It’s a fun adventure film for the whole family, but it’s also not afraid to show some teeth without ever really displaying on-screen violence. A masterclass in cinematic genius, Jurassic Park truly is one of the greatest films ever made.