Back in 1993, this little movie called Jurassic Park roared into theaters. What Steven Spielberg did with a shark 20 years earlier, he did again here with dinosaurs. I can’t recall whether I saw this film in theaters or not. I was only 10, so I doubt it, but I definitely remember watching it at home on VHS. This movie was right up my alley, I’m not only a geek over movies. I also really love science and although the science here is a bit of a stretch, I was only 10 and didn’t know better yet, so I ate it up. I could just imagine this actually happening in a few years time like the filmmakers were revealing this new scientific technique to the world and the archaeologists and biologists were watching saying, “why didn’t we think of that?”
Adapted from a Michael Crichton novel of the same name, Jurassic Park was a great success both critically and commercially. It was the highest grossing film of 1993 bringing in nearly $1 billion dollars worldwide. That number was unheard of in 1993. Not until Titanic floated along in 1997 did anyone even come close to that number. It won 3 Oscars for its visual and sound effects and is currently sitting at an 8.1 of 10 on IMDb which places it as the 203rd best film of all time according to their top 250.
Jurassic Park was never too far from my VCR. It was one of those movies I just couldn’t get enough of. I wasn’t the only one who loved the movie. It has become a classic. Following the success of the the first movie, they decided to make 2 sequels, The Lost World (1997) and Jurassic Park III (2001), which were met with moderate success and dismal reviews.) Then, 20 years after its original release someone had the great idea to re-release the film in 3D. This pushed the total gross receipts for the film over 1 billion dollars and it currently is the 21st richest film of all time.
In 2015, Jurassic World was released and although it blew up the box office becoming the 4th highest grossing film of all time, if you adjust Jurassic Park‘s numbers for inflation, it still fell short of the original’s great run. So just in case you’ve been hiding under a rock for the past 20 years and haven’t seen or heard about Jurassic Park, here is a brief synopsis:
On Isla Nublar, a small island 120 miles off the coast of Costa Rica, John Hammond like a kind of twisted Walt Disney (played by the loveable Richard Attenborough) , decides to create a new type of theme park; there are no giant mice or cartoon characters here (except for a very informative Mr. DNA). Instead of illusion, the attractions at this theme park are all too real. If you’re thinking about a zoo, it’s like that but much more flashy and the featured attractions of this zoo aren’t your run-of-the-mill animals; this park is full of real dinosaurs. The park has had some issues, so John invites a group of people to come and experience the park and hopefully give their endorsement. However, a storm is brewing and it doesn’t look like this is going to be your typical walk in the park.
The group that Mr. Hammond invites includes, Dr. Alan Grant (Sam Neill), a paleontologist and Dr. Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern), a paleobotonist. They make their living digging up fossils and studying them, they don’t know that they are about to witness a scientific discovery that will put them out of a job. I mean, who wants to look at the bones of a creature that you can see alive? They are joined by an irritating lawyer of little consequence and Dr. Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum), a chaos theory mathematician, and the final two members of the group are John’s grand kids Lex and Tim.
One of my favorite part of the movie is the opening 40 minutes which runs dramatically slower in pace than the rest of the film. I was a bit afraid my kids would begin to nod off as they watched while some of the less entertaining plot points were lined up. The group of eager explorers arrive on the island, ushered in by John Williams amazing score. They take jeeps from the helipad to the welcome center and along the way they run into a group of dinosaurs, they are completely taken by surprised and in awe. Once they arrive at the visitor center, they take a tour explaining how all of this had been made possible. During which they get to observe a baby raptor being born. This section features some really great dialogue about the ethical underpinnings of cloning and the pride of man.
As the movie progresses and our group takes their safari type tour to see the live dinosaurs, the excitement ramps up. Due to a combination of an impending tropical storm and sabotage by Newman the greedy computer programmer, Dennis Nedry (Wayne Knight), the power to all of the electrical fences goes offline. The T-Rex breaks through the fence and attempts to eat the kids in the car. Our group is split up as one of the vehicles plummets into the T-Rex enclosure. I’m not going to go scene by scene through the whole movie, but it is exciting and very entertaining. One of the most intense scenes features two raptors and the two grand kids. This is probably the scariest part in the movie, as evidenced by a fair amount of gasps and eye-hiding from my kids. However, spoiler alert, our main characters escape the rampage and everyone makes it to the helicopter and lives to fight again in the sequel.
My favorite character, even as a kid, was Dr. Ian Malcolm. Besides the humor he adds to the movie, he also brings up some great moral points. During a discussion about the park, Dr. Malcolm states, “Don’t you see the danger, John, inherent in what you’re doing here? Genetic power is the most awesome force the planet’s ever seen, but you wield it like a kid that’s found his dad’s gun.” After some more discussion he concludes by saying, “Yeah, yeah, but your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could that they didn’t stop to think if they should.”
In the words of Uncle Ben, “With great power comes great responsibility.” Just because we have the power to do something doesn’t mean that we should. Another main point that he brings up is the chaos theory. While very interesting to nerds like me, I’m not going to go into detail about it. But the gist of it is that even if we think we are in control, we really aren’t. John Hammond believed that the park was perfectly safe and under his control, but in the end Malcolm was right. Often times we want to be in control of what happens in our lives, but all to often we find out that we have no control.
So in conclusion, I think this is a great action movie. It has a little bit of everything in it: humor, suspense a chase scene, and best of all giant dinosaurs! The music, which was written by John Williams, is great throughout the movie. And despite being an action movie, Jurassic Park brings up some thought provoking ideas. Just because you have the power to do something doesn’t mean you should and who is really in control?
What do you think? Is Jurassic Park one of your favorites? What did you think of Jurassic World in comparison? Sound off in the comments below!