'Jurassic Park' is a technological achievement, but not infallible

Rating: 8/10 (8 June 2015)

In 1990, Michael Crichton released a successful novel under the name of Jurassic Park. Steven Spielberg took an interest in the novel, and so, with the full cooperation of Crichton, the two began work on adapting the novel into a feature film. The film was released in 1993, to rave reviews, and soon spawned a film franchise that is planning it's fourth release in the next few weeks. Let us venture into the film where it all began.
Jurassic Park follows a group hand-picked by the CEO of a powerful company to inspect the CEO's new park composed entirely of genetically modified dinosaurs. However, as the group takes a tour of the park, things suddenly go south and it's now a fight to survive the stormy night, without becoming a dino's next meal.
Okay, I'm not gonna lie. I didn't see Jurassic Park at all until about two or three days before writing this review. So, maybe I don't have the rose-colored glasses that most people have when it comes to talking about this movie. Either way, I do agree with most when I say it's an enjoyable film, however, I have my qualms with the film.
Let's start with the positives. The acting is great from all. Sam Neill and Laura Dern as Alan Grant and Ellie Sattler do excellent jobs, especially in some of the later climatic scenes. Jeff Goldblum as Ian Malcolm is a riot for me, considering I love how he just keeps doing the "uhs" and the "uhms," it's actually really funny if you think about it. Richard Attenborough as John Hammond was quite the treat, especially since he managed to convey that mystical wonder you would come to expect from anyone who just spent all that time building a freaking Dino park. The kids in the film (Ariana Richards and Joseph Mazzello) also did a great job. I was surprised I didn't hate them.
The special effects blew me away, especially considering they were done in a time where CGI was relatively new and most of the dinosaur shots (from farther away) were all CGI. It's quite amazing, to be honest. And actually kind of funny, because while the dinosaurs look so real here (and still hold up), in other films involving dinosaurs (I'm looking at you, Transformers 4), they look really fake. Have we really regressed that far?
The music by John Williams is great, as per usual with a composer like him. I swear, I will never get that damn theme song out of my head, it's that catchy. The cinematography is amazing as well. In some of the shots of the park, it's kind of hard to believe that the dinosaurs aren't really there and that the island didn't exactly exist. It looks all beautiful though, even on the DVD set I watched it with.
I think my biggest problem with the film is how slow the first act of the film is. The film only really gets going when the kids arrive, and before that, it's a lot of expositional dialogue. Don't get me wrong, some of it is interesting, but there becomes a point where it's a bit too much to just have all of this dialogue and no dino action.
Overall, however, Jurassic Park is a very solid film. The acting, special effects, cinematography and music are great, as I expected them to be. While it does have some plotting and pacing issues, it is still a film that holds up very well, and is definitely a timeless classic for all to enjoy.