A lot to endure to see dinosaurs

Rating: 4/10 (20 May 2002)

I first saw this movie in 1993 for one simple reason: DINOSAURS! 15 minutes into the film, I stood with Dr. Alan Grant (Sam Neill) and Dr Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern), craning my neck upwards to stare in awe at a 40-foot tall Brachiosaurus pulling leaves off the tops of eucalyptus trees. For it's time, the special effects were astounding, and still are today. But more important, they did their job, they left me feeling as though i had truly walked among dinosaurs. I had seen them presented not as bizarre monsters, but simply as animals, as part of nature. I left the theater largely satisfied.
Unfortunately, this movie fares much worse upon second viewing. All the trademark Spielberg cliche's are brought out in full force: shafts of light penetrating smoke and mist; painful sequences of expository dialog, such as Dr. Grant's encounter with an obnoxious kid at a Dinosaur Dig in Montana; long, slow zoom-in shots of dumbstruck actors with astonished looks on their faces; overwrought action scenes in with even the suspense becomes tedious. The dialog is not even entertainingly campy, it's just plain awful. In 1993 in a dark theater, the thrill of seeing a few minutes of these marvelous dinosaurs roaming the countryside vastly outweighed such annoyances. Chancing upon a viewing in a video store, or renting it for my son, the annoyances become just too distracting.
John William's score is, as usual, tremendous. The signature tune captures the sense of awe and majesty in gazing upon an animal that has not walked the earth for over 100 million years. Of the cast, Richard Attenborough, Wayne Knight and Sam Jackson are the most satisfying. I recommend this movie only if, like me, you just really really want to see dinosaurs. (4/10)