Yay, dinosaurs!

Rating: 8/10 (1 September 2003)

When I was a kid, I was really into dinosaurs. So when Jurassic Park came to the movie theaters it was like all my dreams had come true. The dinosaurs lived again. Well, I was eight. I grew up a little and the two sequels never really felt the same (Plus the fact that they are, especially #2, lame). And recently, when I re-watched the original movie I found it was actually kind of childish (well, it's a Spielberg movie) and full of the plot holes so big, T-Rex could get through them (and it did. In the end, when it entered the museum silently.).
Although the movie is twelve years old, its computer-created dinosaurs still look very realistic. That's a small wonder, regarding that most movies with effects a few years old look obsolete now, like Spider-Man or the Star Wars prequels. They rank alongside King Kong and Harryhausen's Thalos as stunning effects made with love, that make them last throughout ages. And no, dinos are not on the screen a second too little. Just look at what happened, when they were on the screen all the time in the Lost World! I'll have to say the movie is well paced meaning it's a good mixture of live actors talking and CG dinosaurs trying to eat them. The actors are good, the best being Sir Richard Attenburough. Wayne "Newman" Knight is a fun baddie, whereas Samuel L. Jackson has a rare role, where he doesn't steal every scene. In fact, you'll probably forget that he's even in it quite soon. And even the children are OK.
As this is a childhood movie for me, I can't get through a comment without talking some more about the dinosaurs. They are, of course, the real stars of the show. The best are the raptors, of course. I also like the Dilophosaurus (the one that kills Wayne Knight), but that may be due to the action figure I had, which could spit just like in the movie.
****
the Best Part (SPOILER): When the children are hiding in the kitchen and the raptors come in was scary as a kid, but it's still ace.