Jurassic ParkJurassic Park, the new film by Steven Spielberg, is a new leap in film making. The film makers wanted to make the audience believe that they were really looking at dinosaurs. With ILM's help, the producers used state of the art computers to create the dinosaurs. Going into the film, I didn't know if they had succeeded because I hadn't seen previews for it. Whenever a commercial came on about Jurassic Park, I turned the TV off. I had no desire to see them at that point. When I went into the theater, I was expecting some claymated dinosaurs or completely stupid special effects. What I saw instead, was an actual dinosaur.
It wasn't really a dinosaur. It was just a computer image with the actors looking up at trees and the sky. However, the dinosaur looked so real, that you almost forgot it was a special effect. The producers had done it. I was almost speechless. The only word I said was wow. I sat in awe of this marvelous creation and began to wonder how they had done it. This is the only flaw in the movie. The film makers made it so realistic, that the audience forgets about the plot and characters, but this is pretty good for the characters are flat and have no depth and the plot has lost a bit from the jump from the book to screen.
The movie is about a scientist, John Hammond, a rich millionaire, who wants to build a theme park, but not an ordinary one. He has a much bigger thought in mind. He created the park but investors were worried about it. They wanted an expert opinion so he hires two specialists in the dinosaur field, Alan Grant and Ellie Sattler (played by Sam Neill and Laura Dern). He flies them down, along with Ian Malcolm (played perfectly by Jeff Goldblum), to look at the park. When they arrive, they ride around and catch their first glimpse at what the park is about: dinosaurs.
They take a look around and decide to take a tour of the island. However, while on that tour, a storm brews over the island. The power to the tour cars goes out when a greedy slob, Dennis Nedry (Wayne Knight), who is working for a rival company, shuts down systems so he can escape with stolen embryos. They get stranded, right in front of the T-Rex paddock. This is the audience's first glimpse of the dreaded Tyrannosaurus Rex. This moment is one of the best in the film. The whole sequence of events is scary and exciting.
However, the raptors also escape while the power is out to the fences. The best sequence of this film is between here and the dramatic conclusion. They are walking over a hill and see a bunch of dinosaurs (that look a lot like ostriches) running in perfect hamony. What they don't realize is that the T-Rex is chasing them. They run away from the charging dinosaurs and the dinosaurs surround them, running panic-striken through the clearing. This moment right here is the best in the film. The special effects are fantastic because, not only are the dinosaurs running around them, but the camera is moving.
The only flaw, like I said, is the lack of plot from the book and the characters. The characters seem flat, except for maybe Malcolm and Nedry. The kids are good but it seems like the film makers needed a quick character builder for Grant. They made him hate kids. This seems like a cheap add-on to the character that we are supposed to believe, but we don't because it seems too unrealistic.
This film is rated PG-13 and for good cause. The film has a lot of violence, if not on the gory side, with a severed arm and a lamb's leg. The language has been toned down from the book and thankfully, some of the gross-out scenes from the book were not put into the movie. However, this movie is very fun and exciting, and very scary. This movie will scare little kids so don't take them to this. But for anyone else, enjoy the fantastic special effects and loud dinosaur sounds.