It's Called a Classic for a Reason

Rating: 10/10 (17 August 2014)

It took me almost fifteen years to properly enjoy this movie. The first time I witnessed it, I was twelve and I had just finished reading the book. I was devastated. They cut out so much and my poor little twelve year old brain couldn't understand why they couldn't fit EVERYTHING in the movie. Later I understood the need to cut stuff out but I was still angry over the fact that Hammond was supposed to die at the end of the story. It was the best death scene and they nixed it.
Then a few years ago, I caught the movie while channel surfing. Since I had no desire to watch any of my other options, I put the movie on and sat down with my laptop to work on a school paper. But something funny happened. I got pulled in.
The storyline was still the same but I had a better appreciation for it. I could see the commentary on scientific advances (something the author of the book was famous for) but I could look past them and just enjoy the movie. I didn't think about how they cut out this one really cool scene or the fact that Lex was supposed to be younger than Tim. I just watched. Sam Neill is wonderful as is Jeff Goldblum. The dinosaurs looked good and I'm not just talking about for that time. It was before the serious CG move and they were robots but somehow that just made them work better. I mean, dinosaurs aren't really known for their vast variety of facial expressions.
The soundtrack is perfect and created a new theme for my generation. My parents had Indiana Jones and Star Wars. We had Jurassic Park. I won't go on about the social and scientific commentaries in the movie because it could ruin it for you if you haven't considered them. It also helps that it boosted Spielberg's career. He wasn't exactly unknown at the time but it was definitely a step in the right direction for him and helped set him up to take on new projects (Schindler's List among them).
All in all, it's not called a classic because everything is perfect. It's called a classic because it created something new.