A Lot Better Than It Appears To Be

Rating: 9/10 (22 April 2015)

I remember having a conversation with my cousin, asking him why Jurassic Park intrigued him if his priority when it comes to film is good character development. He said it has good philosophical discussion, and he pointed out the scene he was referring to: the "life finds a way" scene, and I had forgotten this gem within the movie. And recently a friend of mine pointed out that Dr. Grant ties two female ends of seat belts together to strap himself in which is a great metaphor for this motif of the dinosaurs supposedly being all female.
These philosophical aspects, including the amazing scene focusing on a debate of whether it is responsible to try to add dinosaurs back into the swing of things altogether, raise the movie up higher than the mere B movie critics believe it to be. But is there anything wrong with the overall fun and excitement of this seemingly simple people? We see dinosaurs on-screen for the first time in a much different way - both with the use of animatronics and digitally. We also have the quirky characters such as Wayne Knight and Jeff Goldblum's characters to add to the fun.
The film is pretty aware of itself, making references to King Kong and displaying the dinosaurs as a spectacle to future park-goers, just as the idea of the effects to make the dinosaurs are a spectacle to us as movie-goers. It also draws attention to its potential horror towards little kids with Dr. Grant illustrating the idea of a velociraptor to a cocky kid, and the grandkids that tag along for the park ride that are shown screaming on-screen.
What a great, underrated movie by Spielberg.