A blockbuster that delivers

Rating: 8/10 (17 January 2006)

You go to see Jurassic Park for the dinosaurs. And you will not be disappointed. If you are looking for well-developed human characters, great dialogue or top-notch acting Jurassic Park is hit-or-miss. There are some interesting characters, some snappy, witty lines and a few notable acting performances. But there are also some one-note, rather dull characters, some truly inane conversation and some performances which leave something to be desired. But have I mentioned the dinosaurs? A remarkable technical achievement for its time Jurassic Park places fully realized, totally believable dinosaurs right smack-dab into this live-action movie. Watching the human characters interact with each other can at times be rather dull. Watching the human characters interact with these amazing dinosaurs, many of whom are bent on eating the humans for dinner, makes it all worthwhile.
The plot, such as it is, is really rather simple and serves only as a way to get hungry dinosaurs chasing after terrified humans. Through a miracle of science wealthy John Hammond, played in one of the film's better performances by Richard Attenborough, is set to open a new theme park where real, living, breathing dinosaurs are the attraction. Before the park can open lawyers insist he gets the park approved and declared safe by a team of scientists. Enter dinosaur experts Alan Grant and Ellie Satler and chaos theory proponent Ian Malcolm. While Sam Neill shines in the role of Grant, really holding the whole film together, Laura Dern as Satler comes off as a bit of a cliché, the woman in peril trying to prove she's as tough as the guys. And Jeff Goldblum's portrayal of Malcolm, who thinks the park is a really, really bad idea, conjures up memories of the rather annoying guy you knew who always couldn't wait to tell you how much smarter he was than you.
Anyhow, suffice to say that once our threesome of experts enter the park (with Hammond's grandchildren in tow because, well we need some kids in danger don't we?) things go terribly wrong. Dinosaurs break loose and these magnificent creatures are bent on destruction. So for the rest of the film, dinosaurs chase humans, humans try to avoid being eaten by said dinosaurs and Malcolm gets to say "I told you so" a whole lot. You expect moments of great drama, sheer terror and somewhat unbearable suspense and Jurassic Park delivers. The movie promised a great dinosaur action-adventure and it delivered on that promise. Yes, you have to sit through some cheesy dialogue and some annoying performances. Dern is kind of dull, Goldblum somewhat too smart for his own good and the young actors playing the grandchildren quite obviously too inexperienced to handle much of what goes on around them. And the less said about Wayne Knight's cartoonish portrayal of blubbering idiot (yet supposedly brilliant computer technician) Dennis Nedry the better. So yes, Jurassic Park has its flaws. But once those dinosaurs are let loose the film is a rollicking good time and one can't ask for much more than that.