Flea Circus

Rating: 4/10 (5 June 2006)

We knew going into this there would be little to kindle the intellect -- Spielberg is only interested in stories that can be explained in comic book panels...
There's not much cinematic originality either, CGI notwithstanding. The primary visual element here is 'the hand' -- Spielberg's mainstay.
Everything is told through borrowings from other movies, mainly "King Kong" (from the first remake in '76), "Jaws" (the raptor pen), "Aliens"(the kitchen evasion and the dropped ceiling escape). Heck, even "Crocodile Dundee" makes an appearance.
So back to the intellect - Spielberg's in way over his head when he attempts to explicate chaos theory; Crichton's parallel novel is better for this, if that interests you.
Essentially, all complex systems must eventually behave unpredictably. The thing is, Spielberg never attempts anything complex, and never lets anything out of the control of the guiding hand...he just tries to purport the illusion of complexity: the flea circus writ large.
The entire movie is mirrored by the tour's animated DNA cartoon -- all of the content is meant for the consumption of mental ten year olds.
Malcolm is presented with the proper cerebral depth in the novel; Goldblum knows this is a joke, so he plays this as the comic relief. He's the only real fun here.