CGI... the way it should be

Rating: 10/10 (8 July 2006)

Jurassic Park is most memorable for its groundbreaking special effects. It was not the first film to use computer-generated imaging, not by a long shot, but it was the first to take the bold step of using CGI, not stop-motion, to create life-like animals. It was very successful in this area; the special effects still hold up (mostly) today. However, even with this powerful new toy, the masterminds of this movie were wise not to overdo the special effects. Instead, different scenes of robotics, CGI, and some clever techniques (the vibrating water in the cup, for example) combine to give the illusion that there really were dinosaurs on that island.
Plot? A movie this big doesn't need a very deep plot, but the one in Jurassic Park is decent enough to make for an engaging thriller. Using a new cloning technique and some shady business skills, the eccentric John Hammond (Richard Attenborough) plans to open a theme park in a Costa Rican tropical island, with live dinosaurs as the main attraction... a guaranteed cash cow. But there's one flaw in his plan: nothing works the way it should. This becomes shockingly evident when a mishap at one of the pens results in one of his workers being eaten alive. Hoping to assure his worried investors that nothing is "really" wrong, Hammond persuades several experts into visiting the island to inspect it and come up with their own conclusions. It is during this visit that the worst break-down occurs, and the survivors find that they must get things back online so they can contact the mainland for help.
The cast here is impeccable. Sam Neill is perfect as the soft-spoken paleontologist turned action hero, Laura Dern plays her action scenes with authentic desperation, and Jeff Goldblum will make you wonder if he really is reading off memorized lines. Even the kids (Joseph Mazzello and Ariana Richards) aren't as bad as they could be.
This all makes for a great film, both memorable in and of itself, and as a reminder of how well CGI can be used. It doesn't have to be present in every scene (e.g. Star Wars), and it doesn't have to be used to create unrealistic battlefields and unbelievable creatures (e.g. just about every science fiction and action film in the last decade). When used as seasoning to an already good movie, it can make for brilliant film-making.