A Rollercoaster ride from start to finish.

Rating: Null/10 (2 February 2002)

Caution: a few spoilers throughout.

The top film of 1993, Jurassic Park did a lot to pave the way for computer generated special effects. With a great premise and a top notch cast, Spielberg offers a special effects thrill ride that is impossible to forget.

The premise is simple enough. Billionaire John Hammond (Attenborough), has created a zoological theme park that is getting ready to open. His problem is that a group of lawyers who are participating in funding want three scientists to give their approval. He enlists Phaleontoligist Alan Grant (Neill), Phaleobotonist Ellie Sattler (Dern), and Mathematician Ian Malcolm (A hilarious Goldblum), to give their approval. Also among the visiting group is a representative of the park's backers, Lawyer Donald Gennaro (Ferrero). What Hammond doesn't tell the visitors is that the park is made up of cloned dinosaurs. Everyone is enamored with the dinos. Everyone except Malcolm, that is. He has warned Hammond that the park is destined to collapse, according to his mathematical predictions. Hammond doesn't agree and invites his grandchildren Tim and Lex Murphy (Mazzelo and Richards) to view the park. Also of note in the list of characters is the park's Game Warden, Robert Muldoon (A very good Peck). The tour begins and the park's security system fails, due to disgruntled park employee Dennis Nedry's (Knight) tampering with of the system. Needless to say, The dinos get out, people are injured (Including Malcolm) and Grant is forced to lead the kids through the park.

Speilberg pulls the same tricks here that he did with his first mega hit, Jaws, casting actors instead of superstars. While it's arguable which role would represten Quint (Either Neill's or Peck's) The Hooper character is definitely represented by Goldblum.
Now, on to the acting: Neill is ideal as the phaleontologist. Dern is very good as Ellie, Attenborough IS Hammond. And Bob Peck offers a very interesting portrayal as Muldoon. In the smaller roles, Samuel L. Jackson, Wayne Knight, B.D. Wong, and Martin Ferrero do very well with what they're given, and Joseph Mazzelo and Ariana Richards are a perfect pair for the two kids.
But the show is consistently stolen by Jeff Goldblum as Ian Malcolm. The character has so many hilarious one-liners that you are laughing constantly. After a Jeep with him, Peck and Dern narrowly escapes being destroyed by the T-Rex, he nonchalantly remarks "Think they'll have that on the tour?" While I like everything that Neill does, his character doesn't have as much humor as Goldblum's character does. It's too bad that he doesn't have as much to do in the movie's last act. It's also too bad that Goldblum didn't have as good a showcase for the Malcolm role, in the vastly inferior The Lost World: Jurassic Park!
Bottom line, sit down in a chair, forget the difficulties of cloning, and let yourself be amazed!
10/10 *****/*****