'Indiana Jones' and 'Jaws' in one exciting, dino-sized bundle of fun.

Rating: 10/10 (24 May 2007)

Review summary: An instant contemporary thrill classic.
I have seen many Dinosaur movies in my life, mostly in my childhood. Okay, so I'm pretty much a suck-up for Dino films when I was younger, but none of these and more can diminish the charm of "Jurassic Park". Despite the many films of this kind that I've seen, I couldn't stand to look away from this film. Why? Simple, it's my favorite. Sure, it's not the very best film of all time, mainly because it's one of the films that ushered the age of the famous (or to most, infamous) CGI. The very term "visual marvel" is defined when I first saw a Brachiosaurus grazing while its puny human watchers are befuddled with wonder. What follows still remains one of the most thrilling, most exciting adventures ever put on screen, perhaps Spielberg's own best adventure since RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK.
But I don't just like this movie for the certain charm, or for the boasting CGI dinosaur effects that surpassed anything of its era, but it was really well-one movie in more ways the one. It has a talented direction by Spielberg that made him one of the best filmmakers of Hollywood. It was also unique and very interesting. Another thing would be John Williams superb score and fine performances from the cast. Come to think of it, the CGI and other gimmicks are just peppered to make the film even better (I have seen some screen test featuring the dinosaurs being in stop-motion, not in CGI). This is just some of the reasons why this stands out different from other Dino flicks ("Godzilla" (1998) anyone?).
This is definitely not Spielberg's very best movie (for his dreams have come true with "Schindler's List" the following year, which swept the Oscars including "Best Picture" and "Best Director"). But this is no doubt, one of the films he will be best remembered for. It may just be one of my favorite films of all time. Forget the fact that this isn't a movie about human characters or deeper plotting. See it for the still-stunning dinosaur effects and heart-pounding thrill-a-minute situations and find your satisfaction to see a monster movie of A-list caliber. It's the best dinosaur flick ever (like there are any other films that fit the category).
Rating: ***** out of 5.