a spectacular combination of terror and majesty

Rating: 10/10 (27 September 2009)

One of my favorite movies from the time I was growing up in the 90s was Steven Spielberg's 1993 box office hit "Jurassic Park", which to this present day, is still one of the most popular science-fiction movies of all time. When I was obsessed with the film as a child, I loved it mostly because of the dinosaurs. Looking back on the movie as an adult, I think I like it even more than I did before because now I see the realism that Spielberg was challenging his special effects wizards to create and I'm not talking strictly about how convincing the CGI and animatronic animals are.
"Jurassic Park" is based on a Michael Crichton techno-thriller of the same name, one of my favorite books. As in the book, scientists are invited to inspect and become the first visitors to a wealthy entrepreneur's island resort, where he is exhibiting exotic animals. Upon arriving at the island, the scientists and skeptics soon discover that the park is populated with genetically engineered dinosaurs separated from the visitors by electric fences. When the park loses power and the dinosaurs break free, the scientists soon find themselves running from the creatures they've been studying, but all the while awing the majesty of these fabulous animals.
In my introduction, I said the primary reason why I admire "Jurassic Park" so much now is because of the way Spielberg portrayed the dinosaurs. And again, I'm not congratulating the team just because the dinosaurs look realistic. Realistic special effects are a package order in Hollywood. The team was challenged at the time, but they were destined to succeed. No, what I am talking about is the way the dinosaurs are represented. In previous dinosaurs movies, dinosaurs were either scary or awesome, but never both. They were either objects of terror or monoliths of majesty. Here, Spielberg decided to work the same magic he had done with the aliens in "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" (1977) and make the dinosaurs behave not as characters in a monster picture, but as real animals. One of the opening shots displays the dinosaurs in full-view in broad daylight and the characters as well as the audience are overwhelmed by the sense of awe and majesty and wonder that would be so natural if dinosaurs really did walk the earth again. And even the carnivorous dinosaurs have their own sense of awe, finding ways to scare the audience as well as amaze them.
And that, I think, is the real power of the first "Jurassic Park" film. In the two sequels, the dinosaurs were degenerated down into playing the standard monsters on the loose and the sense of majesty was more or less swept away. But the first film stands out not only as a breakthrough in special effects, but because it shows Spielberg utilizing the two techniques on the audience that made him a revolutionary and significant filmmaker: thrills and awe. And "Jurassic Park" has a terrific blend of both.