God creates dinosaurs. God destroys dinosaurs. God creates man. Man destroys God. Man creates dinosaurs.

Rating: 8/10 (15 June 2006)

It's been a long time since Steven Spielberg made his last great move as a director. In fact, his last great achievement could have been "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" (1989), but it was generally a facsimile of "Raiders of the Lost Ark" (1981). His latest landmark was probably "E.T." (1982). So maybe that it was time to unleash a hurricane...
In 1993, with the computer revolution at full speed, Spielberg effectively used the latest technologies in order to create a movie about the latest technologies. Using computer-generated-effects from George Lucas' Industrial Light & Magic Company, Spielberg and his special effects team created "Jurassic Park", perhaps the greatest dinosaur movie of all time and, at the moment, the most technologically advanced movie ever released.
"Jurassic Park" stars Sam Neill as paleontologist Alan Grant and Laura Dern as his girlfriend, paleobotanist Ellie Satler. They're both invited, along with professor Ian Malcom, a cynical scientist played by Jeff Goldblum, to visit an attraction park created by a biotechnological company headed by eccentric John Hammond (played by Richard Attenborough).
But Jurassic Park isn't your local carnival. It's a faunistic reserve housing real dinosaurs and plants from the prehistoric era. Dinosaurs, as we learn in the movie, have been made with DNA coming from the blood of fossilized mosquitoes, which had bitten dinosaurs 100 millions years ago.
Accompanied by Hammond's grandchildren Tim and Lex (played by Joseph Mazzello and Ariana Richards), Grant, Satler, Malcolm and a bureaucratic lawyer (Martin Ferrero) are sent on an interactive tour inside the jungle in order to observe the dinosaurs.
However, the initial wonder turns into a nightmarish ride when the security systems are sabotaged by unscrupulous computer specialist Dennis (Wayne Knight), who attempts to steal dinosaurs' embryos and to sell them to a concurrent firm. With the security off, dinosaurs (including deadly Tyrannosaurus Rex and Velociraptors) can easily seep into the park and become threats for everybody.
So, from now on, what was just a gentle jungle ride turns into a life-or-die cat-and-mouse game with the dinosaurs and a single false move can easily become a deadly mistake. It's at this moment that Spielberg's movie turns into a harrowing adventure thriller as only him can make.
But the movie's calmest moments principally involve fairly good character development and greatly interesting philosophical debates that take place inside the film, and not in a movie-fan committee reunion. We're introduced to the concept of nature's rights, as well as the limits of technological progress, which is ironic, due to the fact that the movie itself involves so much technological progress.
Actors are generally good, but some are above the others. Beginning with Sam Neill, who is awesome as professor Grant and he embodies his paleontologist role like if he was one of them. Director Richard Attenborough is also noticeable as John Hammond and he shows that he's good for acting, too. But my best regards go to Jeff Goldblum and his Ian Malcolm role. Malcolm is that type of character who never delivers a phrase that is not quotable. His cynical and philosophical speeches are very interesting and surprisingly entertaining. I particularly love the phrase that is also the title of my review.
But the best aspects of the movie are the dinosaurs themselves. The CGI-created beasts appear so real that we can almost forget the computer illusion. It's a step forward inside the film industry and it shows the powers of the computer era. It helps to show that Industrial Light & Magic are the best among all of the industry's special effects teams.
With a movie like "Jurassic Park", it's not surprising that people developed a sudden interest for dinosaurs, paleontology, computers and scientific progress. In a movie so well done, with sublime special effects, thrilling scenes and entertaining characters, it was also not surprising that it became the highest-grossing movie of them all at the time.